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Maria Geffen

@geffenlab.bsky.social

Brain scientist who studies how we hear and form memories of sounds 🧠 πŸ§¬πŸ”¬πŸ§ͺ; prof at Penn. LovesπŸ§˜β€β™€οΈπŸš΄β€β™€οΈβœˆοΈπŸ₯πŸ§ΆπŸ“·β›·οΈπŸ”️. Mom to πŸ‘¦πŸ‘§πŸ‘¦πŸˆπŸˆ. Lab: hosting.med.UPenn.edu/hearing

2,819 Followers  |  610 Following  |  89 Posts  |  Joined: 04.08.2023  |  1.8039

Latest posts by geffenlab.bsky.social on Bluesky

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In Cambridge in the 1970s, my dad, Colin Blakemore, worked and lectured on sensitive periods of sensory development. In my Cambridge undergrad lectures on this topic, I show a clip from one of his TV shows, which describes sensitive periods for sound categorisation, and features Prof Janet Werker:

01.02.2026 14:09 β€” πŸ‘ 32    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

@cajal-training.bsky.social @gjorjulijana.bsky.social

31.01.2026 21:20 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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The Brain Prize Course - Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience - CAJAL […]

A special year for the Cajal Course in Computational Neuroscience: the BRAIN Prize winners Haim Sompolinsky and Larry Abbott will join us as keynote speakers. And we will bring you the same great roster of instructors as every year. Applications are now open! cajal-training.org/on-site/comp...

31.01.2026 21:20 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I love that about J Neuroscience.

31.01.2026 21:09 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

wishing you luck on both fronts!

31.01.2026 21:09 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Congrats, Erica! How fabulous!

31.01.2026 21:07 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

sigh...

18.01.2026 22:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Question re new biosketch format on sciEnv: under the previous nih biosketch format, we could list 5 references under personal statement and then additional 4 references per contribution to science (up to 25 references total). It seems that now it’s down to 10 references total. Is that right?

16.01.2026 01:10 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Amazing news! Big congrats and wishing you a Happy New Year!

22.12.2025 20:59 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Lovely meeting you, Denise, and thanks for hosting!

03.12.2025 02:06 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Why We Still Need Animal Research in a World of AI and Organoids The portrayal of uncaring scientists without any thought for the animals being used in their research is far from the truth.

While I’m a big fan of new technologies that help us study human biology…there’s still no replacement for animal research! See my article in Gen News. www.genengnews.com/topics/trans...

12.07.2025 02:56 β€” πŸ‘ 106    πŸ” 47    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 4

#NIH colleagues fight for true #HHS leadership. Health has no political affiliation. Sign the #BethesdaDeclaration if you agree.

14.06.2025 18:52 β€” πŸ‘ 42    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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NEW: Democracy is alive in Philly!

Amazing scenes in Philadelphia as thousands hit the streets for the anti-Trump protest.

#NoKings #50501Movement

14.06.2025 17:42 β€” πŸ‘ 13814    πŸ” 3145    πŸ’¬ 166    πŸ“Œ 240
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Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and family donate $50 million to CHOP and Penn for autism institute The purpose of the new Lurie Autism Institute is to expand research already being done at CHOP and Penn, form a global hub for research, and attract more scientists to the field.

A great deal of hope in these uncertain times for the autism communityβ€” Jeffrey Lurie and family announced a large gift to create the Penn-CHOP Lurie Autism Research Institute to support cross-disciplinary and collaborative research. Let’s go do it! www.inquirer.com/health/upenn...

10.06.2025 23:04 β€” πŸ‘ 52    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 2

Thank you @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social for standing up. We all appreciate you and your colleagues for your courage!

10.06.2025 13:24 β€” πŸ‘ 35    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Today, my NIH colleagues and I did something scary but really important. We spoke up about egregious harms we are seeing happen to research participants and public health through thoughtless and politicized policies at NIH. 🧡1/3

apnews.com/article/nih-...

10.06.2025 04:10 β€” πŸ‘ 1041    πŸ” 254    πŸ’¬ 36    πŸ“Œ 20
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"We are speaking on behalf of hundreds of NIH staff who are standing up together to say: WE DISSENT.

I am so scared about doing this but I am trying to be brave for my kids because it's only gonna get harder to speak up."

Thank you to Dr. Jenna Norton and NIH scientists for your courage!

09.06.2025 17:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1152    πŸ” 403    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 31
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If you weren't angry enough already, here are the rates of non-competitive renewals through May.

4008 Non-competitive renewals were due to be funded in May.

The total funded was 99!

Some is due to terminations, but most is due to slow grant making due to DOGE review and other impediments.

1/2

09.06.2025 13:22 β€” πŸ‘ 215    πŸ” 154    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 19

Sign on to support the NIH staff in their demand to restore funding and infrastructure for life-saving research!

09.06.2025 18:58 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Your Neighborhood Scientist cultivating community-based conversations around science, science policy, and scientists

Alsoβ€”I direct the science communication nonprofit @your.neighborhoodscientist.org ! Check us out at neighborhoodscientist.org 😊

22.05.2025 14:07 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Your talk was fabulous!

22.05.2025 18:57 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Huge thanks to all my colleagues for your generous contributions! The Eagles Autism Challenge 5K was a blast! It was amazing to end the run at the stadium. And it’s not too late to donate to the foundation that does so much for autism research and accommodations through the link below!

17.05.2025 18:56 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

So sad to hear this @hhmi.org program that supports talented young scientists is cancelled, especially after the application deadline. Audrey came up with a really exciting project and worked so hard on her application!

16.05.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks for another fabulous EARS season. As we're preparing for next year's edition, we are soliciting feedback and suggestions. Please fill out this survey with your suggestions by 5/20/25: forms.gle/R64F9V3Wz7uf...

13.05.2025 18:05 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Tune it at 1 pm ET today!

13.05.2025 15:47 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

EARS seminar tomorrow, Tuesday, May 13 1 pm ET:

Maria Chait (the Ear Institute, UCL)
@mariachait.bsky.social
β€œInferring Instantaneous Auditory Attention from Ocular Dynamics”
pennmedicine.zoom.us/j/96672201477.

12.05.2025 14:51 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Everybody has that one VIP friend who boosts you up by dragging all your other buddies down.

02.05.2025 14:36 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Excited to share my PhD paper is out! We studied how motion vision is processed beyond the optic lobes to help flies walk straight. It has been a wonderful collaboration with @michaelreiser.bsky.social, @dddavi.bsky.social and many others not in bluesky!
Paper + digest here: bsky.app/profile/cham...

02.05.2025 07:25 β€” πŸ‘ 45    πŸ” 21    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0

Congrats! This is huge!!!

01.05.2025 22:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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