ZVR Lab

After NINDS director ouster, 40 neuroscience organizations press U.S. Congress for oversight over hiring process A letter signed by the groups asks Congress to ensure that scientific expertise remains a priority in the search for a new director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

A letter signed by 40 neuroscience groups asks Congress to ensure that scientific expertise remains a priority in the search for a new director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

By @avaskham.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...

The 25th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Address @urochester.bsky.social is on January 29, with keynote speaker Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II. Registration for this free event (in-person or virtual) closes tomorrow, January 22 ⤵️ events.rochester.edu/event/mlk-ad...

Got 2 minutes? Click the link to send an email to your Reps and Senators to restore incremental funding and ensure timely grant awards at the NIH: actnow.aamc.org/a/take-actio...

(I did this today and it was super easy.)
#neuroskyence #research

Flyer for University of Rochester Young Investigator Extramural Seminar Series (NEUROYES) with text reading: NEURO-YES Visiting Speaker (Hosted by Neuroscience dept) Julia Gauberg, MSc, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Neurobiology University of California San Diego Thursday, February 5, 2026, 10:00-11:00 AM 3-6408- K-307 Auditorium (In-person only) NFIA links neuromuscular circuit assembly to metabolic resilience in motor neurons

We're excited to welcome Julia Gauberg, MSc, PhD, of @ucsandiego.bsky.social to our NEUROYES speaker series! Dr. Gauberg will present "NFIA links neuromuscular circuit assembly to metabolic resilience in motor neurons."

🗓️Thursday, February 5 at 10am
#URochesterResearch @urneuroscience.bsky.social

2025 was quite the year! We celebrated a publication, graduation, and a thesis competition! Congratulations, @zvrlab.bsky.social, I'm excited to see what 2026 holds for our #URochesterResearch. 🎉📸

Congratulations, Oviya! 🎉

@zvrlab.bsky.social #neuroskyence research on #learning and #anxiety ranked in the Top 5 Most Read Articles about #URochesterResearch for 2025! 🌟
⤵️
www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publica...

Faculty Q&A: Sunday Francis, PhD The assistant professor of Neuroscience, researches transdiagnostic symptoms (TMS), like compulsivity, of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). She aims to impact individuals regardless of their diagnos...

Following her favorite advice- “Do what you enjoy, do what you love.”

Dr. Francis joins #URochesterResearch to study transdiagnostic symptoms, like compulsivity, of neurodevelopmental disorders, aiming to impact individuals regardless of their diagnosis
@urochestersmd.bsky.social

ICYMI: @phildeming.bsky.social presented his🧠research at the first installment of the @urneuroscience.bsky.social #NEUROYES speaker series on December 11 @urochestersmd.bsky.social. Thank you, Dr. Deming!
(Next up in February: Dr. Julia Gauberg from @ucsandiego.bsky.social)
#URochesterResearch

Abigail Bossa stands in front of a large projector screen in an auditorium, holding a microphone while delivering her 3-Minute Thesis to the audience. Slide text: "From Brain Scans to Solutions: Understanding How Trauma and the Environment Shapes the Brain, Abigail Bossa, PhD Candidate in Translational Biomedical Science. Background & Importance: Trauma can lead to emotional distress and PTSD; Some people stay mentally healthy and resilient to PTSD symptoms; Others experience behavioral changes and live in a constant state of fear. Research Focus & Methods: Identifying brain changes that protect people from the development of PTSD; labeled illustrations of VR goggles and an MRI machine; Socio-economic factors & the environment. Ultimate Goal & Implications: Biomarker for Resilience; Guide personalized interventions; Trauma prevention strategies & policies.

Abigail Bossa stands in a room in front of a chalkboard, smiling as she holds up her 3-Minute Thesis Competition awards, Sub-Heat Winner and First Place Winner.

🏆Thrilled to report that PhD student @abigailbossa.bsky.social earned FIRST PLACE in the 3-Minute Thesis Competition! Abby presented "From Brain Scans to Solutions: Understanding How Trauma and the Environment Shapes the Brain". Congratulations, Abby! #URochesterResearch @urochestersmd.bsky.social

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Final Competition

Today at 4pm in 104 Hoyt Auditorium @urochester.bsky.social, our own @abigailbossa.bsky.social competes as a finalist in the 3 Minute Thesis Final Competition! Best of luck Abby! 🌟

Reception & awards ceremony following this FREE event:
events.rochester.edu/event/three-...

14-year-old invents emergency origami structure, all manta and devil rays get protections, 100,000 free school lunches in London, turning hopelessness into kind deeds…

How are you making the planet better?

Read more about our research and our favorite PI, @zvr-bsj.bsky.social, on the gallery page: www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publica...

📣Exciting news for #URochesterResearch and @urochester.bsky.social!

#neuroskyence #VRcademicsky #VR/AR/XR/MR #cogsci

Image of a word cloud in the shape of the letter Z, with the words representing the core values of ZVR Lab, including Kindness, Respect, Accountability, Accessibility, Collaboration, Empathy, Curiosity, Honesty, Academic Integrity, Appreciation, Acknowledgement, Safe Space, Quality over Quantity.

Today is World Kindness Day. #Kindness is one of our core values in the ZVR Lab.

How will you spread kindness today?
#WorldKindnessDay #URochesterResearch #neuroskyence

@zvr-bsj.bsky.social Congrats on your latest publication! 🎉
#URochesterResearch #neuroskyence 🧠

Five people walk down a hallway, dressed all in black and wearing badges reading FBI (Functional Brain Investigators).

Logo with a graphic of a brain in the middle of a blue background, surrounded by gold leaves, reading "FUNCTIONAL BRAIN INVESTIGATION UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER" created for Halloween 2025.

🎃Happy Halloween from the @zvrlab.bsky.social FBI (Functional Brain Investigation)! Our investigators are off to identify the elusive psychological & neural signatures of #PTSD and #anxiety disorders. 🧠
#URochesterResearch #neuroimaging #neuroskyence
@zvr-bsj.bsky.social @urneuroscience.bsky.social

Neural correlates of human fear conditioning and sources of variability in 2199 individuals - Nature Communications A large brain imaging study of over 2000 people worldwide shows that fear conditioning engages brain regions linked to emotion and attention, with differences in individuals with anxiety or depression...

In a #monster-sized analysis, @zvr-bsj.bsky.social et. al used #fMRI to look at the #brains of 2199 individuals across 9 countries to learn more about what happens in the 🧠 during human #fear #conditioning. Good reading on fear for the spookiest day of the year! 🎃😱🌎
#URochesterResearch #neuroskyence

Person presenting to a group in a lecture hall

Person presenting to a group in a lecture hall

Person presenting to a group in a lecture hall

Sometimes it only takes 5 minutes to spark a new collaboration – our annual Seeds for Collaboration featured researchers studying intellectual and developmental disabilities, mercury, and rapidly testing many drugs #URochesterResearch @wilmotcancer.bsky.social @urochestersmd.bsky.social

There's still time to register! 👇

YouTube video by Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience Can the Brain Be Repaired by Replacing Its Cells?

Dr. Steve Goldman has taken his research from birds to people, demonstrating that stimulating natural brain processes may help repair damaged neural networks in Huntington's & other diseases #URochesterResearch

🎧Latest episode of Neuroscience Perspectives w/ @johnfoxe.bsky.social

Graphic reading "100 years School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Rochester" featuring the 1850 Meliora shield logo.

On September 17, the @urochester.bsky.social School of Medicine and Dentistry celebrated 100 years of #meloria (ever better). Happy #centennial, @urochestersmd.bsky.social! 🎂

How does alcohol impact brain cells?

Mariah Marrero in the Arefin Lab @urochestersmd.bsky.social uses advanced imaging techniques to study the impact alcohol use disorders have on astrocytes & the brain's communication network #URochesterResearch In a Neuro Minute🧠

Data‐Driven Approach to Dynamic Resting State Functional Connectivity in Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder: An ENIGMA‐PGC PTSD Study In a large global sample of people with trauma exposure, we utilized a data-driven approach to evaluate resting state brain network dynamics. Neither static nor dynamic functional connectivity dynami...

@zvr-bsj.bsky.social and the international @enigmabrains.bsky.social PTSD working group collaborated on a global study of resting state functional connectivity in PTSD. ⤵️
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
🧵2/2
#URochesterResearch @urneuroscience.bsky.social @urochestersmd.bsky.social

Excellent writing by @lucinauddin.bsky.social on the importance of multinational collaboration in #neuroscience research, and how US mandates are jeopardizing both funding and data access for international partners.
🧵1/2

Congratulations to our favorite PI, Ben Suarez-Jimenez, on this new publication! 👏 @zvr-bsj.bsky.social @urneuroscience.bsky.social #neuroskyence #neuroimaging #fear #conditioning

Some brains may be wired for pain—before it even starts

On Neuroscience Perspectives, Dr. @paulgeha.bsky.social discusses groundbreaking research on brain pathways that predict chronic pain risk

🎧 Full episode → bit.ly/4n7nAt9

@johnfoxe.bsky.social @urochestersmd.bsky.social #podcast

Yes, this, and follow #neuroskyence. Welcome to Bluesky!

Image of a large wall mounted computer monitor with text reading "THANK YOU, SHREYA!!! WE'LL MISS YOU!!" and various photos of of Shreya at poster presentations, the UR PREP Symposium and in the ZVR Lab with lab members.

Six ZVR Lab members smile and pose for a photo in the lab with Shreya, including, in the front row, Tanya Garg, Shreya Bavdekar, and Melanie Snell, and in the back row, Skylar DeWitt, Abigail Bossa, and Caitlin Sharp.

It's always bittersweet when a lab member says goodbye! 😭 Shreya Bavdekar is off to new adventures at @colorado.edu. Best of luck Shreya, your future is bright! We appreciate you. ❤️🌟 #URochesterResearch @urochestersmd.bsky.social @zvr-bsj.bsky.social @urneuroscience.bsky.social

So happy to see our NEUROCITY Scholars @urneuroscience.bsky.social making the most of their summer at @urochestersmd.bsky.social! 🌞🧠
#URochesterResearch #neuroskyence #science