Brian Sweis

Welcome to one of our newest @acnporg.bsky.social Associate Members, Dr. Brian Sweis 🎉

#WelcomeToACNP👋

Congrats to Brian Sweis, M.D., Ph.D. a new Associate Member of ACNP! Welcome!! 👋

Abstract submission open for The Mechanistic Basis of Foraging 2025 (U. Birmingham, 3-5 November)

uobevents.eventsair.com/the-mechanis...
Deadline: August 17

A meeting for all fascinated by the brain's role in foraging

Pls share!

Congrats!

This speaks to the importance of cross-species research that is constantly forward- & back-translated between the clinic & lab. The importance of animal models leading to unanticipated discoveries - even in the realm of human psychology - is invaluable, especially in psychiatry🧠 tinyurl.com/yur3j2n8

+ evidence that sensitivity to sunk costs & change-of-mind regret stem from a shared value function related to negative rumination & stress susceptibility. Congrats @neuromanonyc.bsky.social @ornaissler.bsky.social @ericjnestler.bsky.social @scottrussophd.bsky.social & team!🧠 @sinaibrain.bsky.social

Here, we discovered LINC00473 in mPFC specifically altered change-of-mind decisions in female mice only. This was driven by enhanced sensitivity to sunk costs and how much re-evaluating recent mistakes influenced future choices. This is the 1st demo of non-coding RNA playing a role in cognition 5/6

A recent study led by @ornaissler.bsky.social found levels of the non-coding RNA LINC00473 were reduced specifically in mPFC 🧠 of women but not men diagnosed with MDD, based on post-mortem human 🧠 tissue studies. Expressing LINC00473 in mPFC promotes resilience to stress in female mice only. 4/6 🐭

Women are 2x as likely to develop depression than men. Major depressive disorder can manifest w different symptoms b/t sexes, including alterations in negative rumination on the past. Combining clinical questions, behavioral neuroscience, & translational #neuroeconomics, we dove into this deeper 3/6

We found striking sex differences in only change-of-mind choices, and not initial value-based judgements, in mice 🐭 working for food rewards of varying costs (delays ⏰) & preferences (flavors 🧀🍌🍫🍇) on our #neuroeconomic foraging task, Restaurant Row, while on a limited daily time budget. 2/6

Change-of-mind neuroeconomic decision-making is modulated by LINC00473 in medial prefrontal cortex in a sex-dependent manner Long non-coding RNA LINC00473 in mPFC alters change-of-mind re-evaluative decision-making behavior related to negative rumination.

New paper alert!🚨📝

Paper: tinyurl.com/2cycsy6d
Press release: tinyurl.com/yur3j2n8

How the brain 🧠 engages in change-of-mind decisions taps into cognitive biases that depend on sensitivity to sunk costs & regret - both of which may contribute to negative rumination…however…🧵👇1/6 #ScienceAdvances

Screenshot of the top of the article, including the title, authors, and abstract.

What’s better than a one-channel #Miniscope? 🥁 A TWO-CHANNEL Miniscope!

Our new Miniscope2C is a dual-channel, open-source Miniscope that lets you record 2 fluorescent signals simultaneously in freely moving animals.

Read the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Last day for early-career scientists (advanced PhD, postdoc, and faculty) to apply for a McEwen Fellowship, an up-to-$6,000 individual award available for research related to animal models and the social determinants of health and aging.

Apply here: www.animalsocialaging-network.org/funding/fell...

"Science is an investment.

We will put forward a new 500 million package for 2025-2027 to support the best and the brightest researchers and scientists from Europe and around the world."

— President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu at the ‘Choose Europe for Science' event at La Sorbonne 🇫🇷

Application now open: Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS) is a highly competitive program that provides $700,000 awards over five years for physician-scientists, who are committed to an academic career. buff.ly/VdljzxQ #bwfcams

Important PSA:

#NeuroEconomics is an "or" not an "and" descriptor. You can be neuro, econ, or a little of both and we want to hear your work at Neuroecon this fall!

(You can also be a psychologist, or consumer behavior-ist and we want to hear you too - go ahead ask me how I'd know 😁)

Abstract Submission - Society For Neuroeconomics

Do you do research on decision-making? We want to hear it!

Late-breaking abstract submission for the Society for Neuroeconomics fall conference in Cambridge MA is *open*.

Submit your work and come hang out with us this fall!

neuroeconomics.org/abstract/

A simple action reduces high-fat diet intake and obesity in mice Diets that are high in fat cause overeating and weight gain in multiple species of animals, suggesting that high dietary fat is sufficient to cause ob…

This was a really fun project: We blocked obesity in mice by making them do a tiny bit of work for their food. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Remider!
Applications for the McEwen Career Development fellowship in Social Determinants of Health supported by the NIA-BSR High Priority Research Network animalsocialaging-network.org are now open!

apply here animalsocialaging-network.org/funding/fell...

Congrats!

Expanded view of hippocampal function comes into focus After decades of debate, the region’s role is being rewritten. Rather than using sensory input to simply log key points in time and space, the hippocampus may serve to contextualize our experiences…

Great piece from @thetransmitter.bsky.social about the field’s current understanding of the hippocampus! Honored for the nod to our recent paper among these many other excellent studies www.thetransmitter.org/memory/expan...

Love this 👏

10 years of social dynamics and over a year of vocalization by wild mice in the wild, simply amazing! Great work by @nickjourjine.bsky.social at the very precious mouse barn established by Barbara König

Graphical abstract for "Vocal communication is seasonal in social groups of wild, free-living house mice." The abstract has, from top to bottom, a title, four middle image panels, and two bottom text panels. Image title: "Vocal communication in social groups of wild-free living house mice" Middle image panels from left to right: (1) An aerial snap shot of the region where the study site is located, an agricultural landscape in rural Switzerland. (2) An image of the study site, a small barn in the forest inhabited by mice. (3) An image of a radio frequency identification (RFID) box used to track mouse social interactions. A mouse is entering the box from the left while another sits outside. (4) A spectrogram showing example vocalizations - one low frequency squeak and one ultrasonic call - recorded from an RFID box. Bottom panels: Left: Data Collection  - 10 years of RFID-based tracking data (from 6,946 mice) - 15 months of acoustic monitoring (totaling 6,594 hours) - Machine learning for vocal detection and labeling (CNN) Right: Key Findings - Vocalization is seasonal (most in spring and summer) - Vocalization is associated with the presence of pups - Vocalization is correlated with social group dynamics

Very happy to share the latest from my postdoc‬!

10 yrs of mouse social networks + 1.25 yrs of acoustic data ➡️ insight into vocalization & sociality in a wild population of your favorite lab model 🐁

paper: bit.ly/4n93yyD
data: bit.ly/4lfFBEk
code: bit.ly/4kNnMwx

#bioacoustics #neuroskyence

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The application window for our Pilot awards and McEwen fellowship closes soon! If you have a project proposal that focuses on animal models and comparative studies to study the social elements of human aging, we encourage you to apply!

See more here: www.animalsocialaging-network.org/funding/

‘My duty is to call it out’: Judge accuses Trump administration of discrimination against minorities The Reagan-appointed judge ordered the NIH to restore funds for research related to racial minorities and LGBTQ+ people.

NEW: Judge Young, a 1985 Reagan appointee, delivered an extended rebuke of the Trump administration’s crackdown research grants it seems related to DEI or gender ideology.

w/ Danny Nguyen

www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

MORE YOUNG: "It is palpably clear that these directives and the set of terminated grants here also are designed to frustrate, to stop, research that may bear on the health – we’re talking about health here, the health of Americans, of our LGBTQ community. That’s appalling."

YOUNG: "I am hesitant to draw this conclusion, but I have an unflinching obligation to draw it – that this represents racial discrimination. And discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community. That’s what this is. I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out."

Trump’s Cuts to N.I.H. Grants Are Illegal, Federal Judge Rules

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

An NIH staffer reacts to today's ruling:
"I'm looking forward to the day that we are so slammed with work trying to reinstate everything that we had to terminate illegally — I'll work 24/7 to make that happen if I can."