Katie Bryant

Back in the lab and reflecting on all of the amazing science at last week’s Alcohol and the Nervous System GRS and GRC! So excited to co-chair the 2028 GRS with @katiegbry.bsky.social!

I am SO incredibly excited to announce the launch of a global list of Inspiring Black Scientists. You can use this list to nominate and connect with researchers. Please share and join us in highlighting these outstanding scientists for #BlackHistoryMonth and beyond!

www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...

Notice of Temporary Extension of Eligibility for the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00):
for Individuals whose final due date was September-November 2025 and January-March 2026. As always, reach out to your PO/IC contact to discuss.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning - Nature Neuroscience Dopamine encoding of reward prediction errors naturally fluctuates over females’ reproductive cycles with estrogenic signaling due to reduced expression of dopamine reuptake proteins.

Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#blueprint 1/7

A substantial part (but not all) of this increased investment is multi-year funded grants.

My current estimate is that multi-year funding has been used in lieu of ~2400 annually funded grants that could have been made.

2/2

We are looking forward to the 2026 #Alcohol GRC in Ventura, CA! The main meeting starts Feb 22, 2026 (GRS Feb 21-22). For both, we will be selecting additional invited talks from the submitted abstracts. For consideration, submit your abstract by Oct 10! #alcoholGRC2026 #alcoholGRS2026

A review of operant ethanol self-administration using the sipper model: Methodological advances and a novel standardized analysis tool Despite decades of research, no new FDA-approved medications for alcohol use disorder (AUD) have emerged in over 25 years. Enhancing the translational relevance of preclinical models by more precisely...

Excited to share a new lab preprint. This paper is entirely due to the efforts of @oliviaortelli.bsky.social, an incredibly talented PhD student (who is starting to look for a postdoc!). She combined her love of the Hank Sampson operant sipper tube drinking model...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

congratulation!! 🤩

congrats!!! 🎉

(1/3) Excited to introduce our new GRAB sensors for a series of steroid hormones! These tools enable real-time detection of steroid hormone dynamics in vivo🐭🧠. Happy to share these sensors and welcome any feedback! Please contact yulonglilab2018@gmail.com for information.

FDA-NIH Workshop: Reducing Animal Testing The FDA is hosting a workshop on reducing animal testing. The workshop is open to current FDA and NIH employees.

Public comments have been opened back up!

Research with animals is critical for providing evidence-based knowledge in the pursuit of human health. Broadly reducing research projects with animals threatens public health and will greatly stall the development of new therapeutics for diseases!

Sex and Genetic Differences in Behavioral Engagement of Crossed High Alcohol-Preferring and Low Alcohol-Preferring Mice - PubMed Excessive levels of alcohol consumption play a major role in numerous alcohol-related harms, including a heightened risk of developing problematic drinking behaviors. Those who develop alcohol use dis...

Check out our new paper on the behavioral engagement of cHAPs on a 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task. Congrats, Phillip and team!

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40492535/

When everything is "normal", writing and administering an NIH T32 program is crazy. Despite being an immense amount of work (probably the single most effort-demanding grant one can direct), it comes with no salary for the PI...

Does anyone know what's up with this message on NIAAA's website? "Due to HHS and NIH restructuring, this website will be maintained, but no new content will be added." I don't see that message on other institute pages...

and still no updated postings/notices for the NRSA parent F31 and F32 award mechanisms 🫠

Keeping an eye on this. What Katie shared on Friday has an estimated post date of 5/10, but has not been posted yet. There are currently NO F31 active opportunities to apply to, and very few F32. I don’t think a delay between expiration dates like this has ever happened before? What’s going on?

Looks like there is a new announcement forecasted for this weekend so hopefuly this is just a temp thing???https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/358830

And it doesn’t look like a replacement has been announced? What’s going on?

Parent F31 and F32 announcements were updated to expire yesterday

Me to my brain organoid in an operant chamber after animal research is defunded

the word alert is in a purple circle ALT: the word alert is in a purple circle

ACTION ITEM-----ACTION ITEM

Implementation of Schedule F

This is what a lot of us have been worried about.

This allows for many civil service positions to replaced with political appointees. This could include NIH institute directors and even POs.

BUT THERE IS A COMMENT PERIOD...

1/n

Internal budget document reveals extent of Trump’s proposed health cuts HHS would be asked to absorb a $40 billion cut, about one-third of its discretionary budget.

This is insane. $40 billion cut to HHS. 40% of NIH budget will be gone, 27 institutes will shrink down to 8. 44% of CDC budget will disappear, all work on chronic diseases will cease. Head Start will be eliminated.

SO PEOPLE WILL DIE because we want to give billionaires their tax cuts.

HOW DARE THEY COME FOR MY KERRYGOLD?!?!?!

Hi everyone, we are petitioning them to reconsider, if you are willing to co-sign our rebuttal because you or your trainees are personally interested in attending such a workshop, please add your name and professional affiliation to the end of the following document! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

New!

The House Continuing Resolution budget “adjustments” for NIH are drastic. Here are some examples:

Was notified this morning that the study section for which I was a reviewer, AA-4, has been dissolved and the SRO is now without a job.

What resources are there for NIH employees to help with finding new employment?

Glad to see this post getting some traction, because the Federal Register is the WHOLE ballgame, folks. To drive this point home, a recent EO declares that all posts to FR now must be approved by the White House. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

I've been stalking NIH Reporter to see if any new R01s fund at the 15% F&A rate, but... no new full R01s have funded since 2/10/2025, not a single R01 - across all of NIH - since 2/08. Only 18 grants have been newly funded - I am happy for the F31/F32/F30, R35, K99 trainees who have received $$.

Donate to Kathy Needs Your Help After Apartment Fire, organized by Patrick Mulholland A graduate student in the Department of Neuroscience (Kathy L.) at MUSC … Patrick Mulholland needs your support for Kathy Needs Your Help After Apartment Fire

Dear science community, an amazing grad student with @drjrink.bsky.social and I lost her belongings in an apartment fire this morning. She and her dog are safe but needs your help. Please consider donating

www.gofundme.com/f/kathy-need...