Melissa R. Warden, Ph.D.

Academic ASU Division Chief of Neuroscience in Arizona, United States | HonorHealth HonorHealth is hiring a Academic ASU Division Chief of Neuroscience in Arizona, United States. Review all of the job details and apply today!

ASU School of Medicine and Advanced Engineering, in partnership with HonorHealth, is seeking an Academic Division Chief of Neurosciences. Apply to lead academic programs, research, and innovation at the intersection of medicine & engineering: jobs.honorhealth.com/jobs/84402?l...

Guided by Noise: Correlated Variability Channels Task-Relevant Information in Sensory Neurons Shared trial-to-trial variability across sensory neurons is reliably reduced when perceptual performance improves, yet this variability is low-dimensional, so it could be ignored by an optimal readout...

One of the joys of being a scientist is the ability to think about a problem for a long time. Our new preprint solves a mystery that has been bugging me since I was a graduate student (which was, ahem, a while ago). 🧪🧠🧵1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Prefrontal gamma oscillations engage dynamic cell type-specific configurations to support flexible behavior Cognitive dysfunction in conditions such as schizophrenia involves disrupted communication between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and mediodorsal thalamus (MD). Parvalbumin interneurons (PVI) are known t...

Two preprints up! The first, led by Aarron Phensy, uses red+green voltage indicators to show that prefrontal gamma oscillations dynamically engage various cell types, creating multiple synchrony configurations, each tied to a distinct aspect of cognitive flexibility: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We'll have to have you out here for a visit! It is gorgeous, especially in the winter. So many beautiful landscapes :) And cacti, and mountains, and desert birds and rabbits.

I've been there for a year and love it - it's a highly supportive environment with lots of great people and resources, and easy collaboration with the main campus in Tucson (I teach down there). We don't currently have an NHP facility, but I'll ask if there are plans for development in this area.

Assistant, Associate or Full Professor (Tenure Track), Translational Neurosciences (Phoenix) - Phoenix, Arizona job with University of Arizona | 12842366 Assistant, Associate or Full Professor (Tenure Track), Translational Neurosciences (Phoenix) Posting Number req23491 Department COM Phx Translation...

The University of Arizona is holding an open-rank neuroscience faculty search, multiple tenure-track positions available! Positions will be in the new Department of Translational Neurosciences at the College of Medicine in Phoenix. tinyurl.com/42t8tcey

The first photos from the Vera Rubin Observatory are stunning — thanks in part to the University of Arizona, which helped build its mirror. Proud to see Arizona leading the way in space science.

Oscillatory Control of Cortical Space as a Computational Dimension Flexible cognition depends on the ability to represent and apply context, allowing the brain to interpret sensory input and guide behavior in a context-dependent manner. Recent work has proposed Spati...

New results: Oscillatory Control of Cortical Space as a Computational Dimension
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroscience

About 10 minutes, and it avoided the highways. Pretty cool!!

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YouTube video by Advanced LIGO Documentary Project "LIGO"

This documentary on LIGO, an NSF-sponsored project that first directly observed gravitational waves, is an amazing, realistic depiction of the process of doing science. youtu.be/dX4vCNi544w?...

In Phoenix we live in the future

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Stephen Colbert's Cyborgasm: Female Robot Companions | PETA's Robot Calf | 2025's Best Sex Toys

@iellwood.bsky.social on Colbert youtu.be/LVjB9J2FfRg?... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

For those interested, applications are still open for the Ph.D. program in Clinical Translational Sciences at the University of Arizona, deadline Feb. 1.

The mission of the PhD program is to train students to be skilled researchers who can successfully address both clinical and basic science /1

For more information, and to apply, go here: chs.arizona.edu/academics/cl...

@uarizona.bsky.social @uazhealthsciences.bsky.social /end

aspects of translational research. The program provides the opportunity to take courses and rotate in research labs in either Tucson or Phoenix, and areas of strength include neuroscience, cardiology, immunology, and cancer. /2

For those interested, applications are still open for the Ph.D. program in Clinical Translational Sciences at the University of Arizona, deadline Feb. 1.

The mission of the PhD program is to train students to be skilled researchers who can successfully address both clinical and basic science /1

Proud to present work from my graduate student Yating Yang that just posted on BioRxiv.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thrilled to present our latest BioRXiv on brain/body interactions during defensive freezing behaviour! (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). You might think that a frozen animal has, well, frozen muscle activity, right? Wrong! Underneath the still surface of a fly, something in the legs is beating… 🧵

A starter pack! Some of my favorite women in neuroscience (sorry if I forgot you, I will add!)

go.bsky.app/SCFmKoC

A neural basis of choking under pressure Incentives tend to drive improvements in performance. But when incentives get too high, we can “choke under pressure” and underperform right when it m…

When you fail to perform at your best right when it matters the most, what's going on in your brain? We can now provide an explanation: Exceptionally high stakes interfere with the neural signals of motor preparation. I'd love to hear - what do you think causes it?
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Yes!

The Warden Lab in the Department of Translational Neurosciences at the University of Arizona seeks candidates for a postdoctoral position. Many of our research projects are focused on neuromodulatory circuits and their inputs and outputs. We are interested in understanding how these circuits support motivated behavioral decision making, and we use a multidisciplinary approach combining imaging, optogenetics, anatomy, high-density freely moving neurophysiology, behavior, and computation. Ideal candidates will have a PhD in Neuroscience, Psychology, or related fields, and an interest in the neural mechanisms underlying motivated behavioral decision-making. A quantitative background, experience in imaging or electrophysiology, and proficiency in MATLAB/Python are desirable but not required. If interested, please send a cover letter, CV, and the names of three references to mrwarden@arizona.edu.

A postdoctoral position in the Warden lab is open! Our work is on neuromodulatory circuits and their inputs and outputs, and how these circuits support behavioral decision making. If interested, please reach out!