Ilana Witten

Congrats @malu-murugan.bsky.social! So well deserved!

our interpretations are very much inspired by your previous work!

Superior colliculus projections drive dopamine neuron activity and movement but not value To navigate dynamic environments, animals must rapidly integrate sensory information and respond appropriately to gather rewards and avoid threats. It is well established that dopamine (DA) neurons in...

Check out our latest, online now at @sfnjournals.bsky.social www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...

Persistent open chromatin state in early-life stress-activated cells of the VTA Scientific Reports - Persistent open chromatin state in early-life stress-activated cells of the VTA

Congratulations to Rebekah Rashford and team, it’s finally out! We tagged early life stress-activated neurons in VTA and found that chromatin those cells was much more open, even into adulthood, and that open CREs predicted greater gene expression in response to stress later in life
rdcu.be/eLa9z

Conservation and alteration of mammalian striatal interneurons - Nature An analysis of cell-type diversity in brain samples from a variety of mammalian species, both during development and in adult animals, reveals that the TAC3 initial class of striatal interneurons is c...

Our new manuscript, led by Emily Corrigan, examines inhibitory neuron diversity across approximately 160 million years of evolutionary divergence, as part of BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) developing brain atlas package: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

awesome! feedback is welcome!

How do VTA DA neurons sculpt downstream representations to reinforce actions? VERY excited about our new preprint (by Alex Pan Vazquez & @czimmerman.bsky.social )

Congratulations Malu!! So well deserved!!

I'm incredibly honored to receive the Janett Rosenberg Trubatch Career Development Award from @sfn.org SFN was the first research conference I ever attended and presented at. I feel truly humbled! Thanks to my fab research team who make me look good!

Join us for the second Neurobiology of Mental Health conference (May 2026) that will explore the biological mechanisms underlying mental health challenges and their treatment. Information and application on: lakeconferences.org. The deadline for applications is January 31st, 2026.

Has Your Scientific Work Been Cut? We Want to Hear.

NYT is looking for scientists to tell them about their projects that were cut by the administration for a new series on “lost science”: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

Neuroscience lecture by Dr. Chris Zimmerman on Body-Brain interactions in learning

Excited to hear the latest science updates from @czimmerman.bsky.social on Monday, 1-2 pm CST. You can join us too—either on Zoom or in person! bit.ly/3VOJrcy

Two flagship papers from the International Brain Laboratory, now out in ‪@Nature.com‬:
🧠 Brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09235-0
🧠 Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09226-1 +

Wrote a eulogy for the yellow letters in my office window. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Come work with us! @princetonneuro.bsky.social and the Department of Psychology at Princeton University are searching for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the area of human cognitive neuroscience, to be hired jointly in Psychology and Neuroscience: puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...

We're looking for a research assistant to work in our neuroscience lab at @princetonneuro.bsky.social @hhmi.org where we study learning and decision-making circuitry.

Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...

Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!

Serotonin drives choice-independent reconfiguration of distributed neural activity Serotonin (5-HT) is a central neuromodulator which is implicated in, amongst other functions, cognitive flexibility. 5-HT is released from the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) throughout nearly the entire f...

🚨Pre-print alert🚨

We stimulated serotonin with optogenetics while doing large-scale Neuropixel recordings across the mouse brain. We found strong widespread modulation of neural activity, but no effect on the choices of the mouse 🐭

How is this possible? Strap in! (1/9) 👇🧵

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

University of Utah Health Campus in winter. Image courtesy of the University of Utah.

I’m very excited to share that I will join the University of Utah Department of Neurobiology as an Assistant Professor in Jan 2026!! 🎉🏔️🏜️

My lab will focus on body–brain interactions in learning & memory — how do signals from our internal organs remodel the brain & behavior?

Am I pregnant? Pregnancy tests have been around since ancient Egypt, but did you know the first reliable at home test was the result of publicly funded science? The first hCG sensitive test was first developed by scientists at the NIH.

Learn more here: publicusaresearchbenefits.com/examples/202...

we're crowd-sourcing a searchable repository of tangible benefits stemming from federally-funded research. Come enjoy the great stories; or send in an idea; or volunteer to join the team.

publicusaresearchbenefits.com

please re-post so we get more great stories in there!

America cannot long remain free, nor first among nations, if it becomes the kind of place where universities are dismantled because they don't align politically with the current head of the government.

How we’re battling Trump’s science cuts across small-town America Neuroscientist Jessica Cantlon is urging scientists to use the power of local newspapers in the fight against US research-funding cuts.

Scientists whose Science Homecoming op-eds are mentioned in this Nature story include @flagel-lab.bsky.social @keananjoyner.bsky.social @magpine.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Opinion | Trump is killing one of our strongest exports The president wants to balance U.S. trade deficits? He can’t do it without this industry he hates.

Now there's a memorable stat!

"Colleges and universities are among America’s most competitive international exporters. In dollar terms, last year, the United States sold more educational services to the rest of the world than it sold in natural gas and coal combined."

wapo.st/3EvzMCI

My statement calling for the rightful return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia

A neural mechanism for learning from delayed postingestive feedback - Nature Illness signals from the gut reactivate and strengthen flavour representations in the amygdala to support learning from delayed postingestive feedback.

How do we associate the flavors we experience during a meal 🍽️😋 with postingestive effects like food poisoning 🤢🤮 that arise much later?

Our answer in @nature.com this week: Illness signals from the gut reactivate and strengthen flavor representations in the amygdala.

📄: nature.com/articles/s41...

How the brain remembers what gave you food poisoning We've all been there: one bad oyster ruins seafood forever. Now, Princeton neuroscientists have pinpointed how the brain stores memories for these powerful food aversions in mice. The new results reve...

One bad oyster, lasting brain change 🧠 Princeton neuroscientist @czimmerman.bsky.social reveals how a bad meal creates a lasting foul food memory.

📰: pni.princeton.edu/news/2025/ho...

Light sheet microscopy image showing neural activation (blue) during food poisoning in the central amygdala of the mouse brain. Credit: Christopher Zimmerman

Ever sworn off a food after a bad experience? Your brain knows what made you sick, even many hours later.

@czimmerman.bsky.social, from @princetonneuro.bsky.social studies how the brain learns from delayed post-ingestive feedback.

Read more in our Q&A:

www.sainsburywellcome.org/web/qa/it-mu...

To stop intimidation, Eisgruber needs your help When targeting one institution is a bald attempt to divide and conquer, as is the case with Columbia, it is essential for a coalition or group of institutions and individuals to stand up together.&nbs...

"We are passionate about science and its benefits to society, but we fear more what will happen if we do not help defend everyone’s fundamental rights." Op-ed I co-wrote w/ @samwang.bsky.social @jpillowtime.bsky.social @ilanawitten.bsky.social & David Tank www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025...

Opinion | There Is a Way for Democrats to Stop Trump and Save America (Gift Article) The Democratic Party can’t stop America’s spiral into autocracy and oligarchy unless it casts off its stale talking points and reimagines what it stands for.

"If you don’t like what is happening to this country, you don’t need to wait for someone to come along and save it: You need each other."

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/o...

Scientists have just cured pancreatic cancer in some patients with personalized mRNA vaccines. Pancreatic cancer. And this Trump administration wants to throw it all away.

They’re throwing away a cure for cancer.