Olu Ajilore, MD, PhD

Updated guidance on NIH grant application due dates (10/1/2025-12/5/2025), along with some other Info. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

a little boy is sitting at a desk with his hand on his chin and the words `` tick tock l '' written above him . ALT: a little boy is sitting at a desk with his hand on his chin and the words `` tick tock l '' written above him .

Still awaiting the concept of a plan....

👋 Hello new followers, check out our work on critical AI literacy (CAIL) 😊👇

We are thrilled to announce that the preliminary program for the 2026 GRC on the Frontal Cortex is now live!
www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
Registration is now open for both the GRC and our GRS, chaired by @albitc.bsky.social and @jorge-miranda.bsky.social!

Thank you to all who joined us for our first in-person event! 💜 We hope you left feeling inspired and empowered!

#WomenInNeuroscience #StoriesOfWiN #SFN2025

Can confirm. I am okay and more motivated than ever to speak up.

Nothing scares this administration more. Their power lies in our silence.

Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning - Nature Neuroscience Dopamine encoding of reward prediction errors naturally fluctuates over females’ reproductive cycles with estrogenic signaling due to reduced expression of dopamine reuptake proteins.

Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#blueprint 1/7

Neurovascular and metabolic changes across the AD spectrum, MVD pattern, and polar coordinates representation. A, The normal metabolic state continuum in healthy individuals is depicted by the black line. In contrast, the metabolic state across AD is represented by the orange line, illustrating the metabolic alterations observed throughout the disease's various phases, as proposed by the metabolic reprogramming theory. The red line represents the progression of perfusion across the disease, demonstrating how metabolism and perfusion become dysregulated until they eventually fail. During the hypermetabolic phase of the disease, oxidative phosphorylation undergoes upregulation as a compensatory response, leading to progressively oxidative damage. Furthermore, it is suggested that astrocytosis signaling precedes the onset of cognitive decline. B, Neurovascular and metabolic dysregulation were assessed by projecting the z score SUVR for each brain region onto Cartesian space. The x axis represents the z score changes in cerebral perfusion derived from CBF maps, while the y axis represents the z score change in glucose uptake derived from FDG. Brain regions toward the center of the plane are likely functioning at a normal level. A brain region is considered coupled if both signals are in the same direction (Cartesian quadrants 1 and 3) and uncoupled if they are opposite (Cartesian quadrants 2 and 4). We hypothesize the existence of a regional disease pathway (MVD pattern) that maps the disease progression and can accurately discern the MVD changes, which is: Type 1 Uncoupling → Type 2 Uncoupling → Prodromal → Neurometabolic-vascular Failure. C, Alternatively, Cartesian space readouts can be transformed into polar coordinates to visualize disease progression while preserving the MVD state. The distance from the origin represents the magnitude of the change, while the angle indicates the deviation of the change.

Neurometabolic and vascular dysfunction as an early diagnostic for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#Alzheimers #dementia #science #neuroscience #NeuroSkyence

Please share: Lists of food resources in Chicago area. (Pls donate time or money to these places only if you can spare either; I know many can't.) Food resource links via GCFD www.chicagosfoodbank.org plus Rep Quigley's list of food banks in various communities: quigley.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

‘The Pitt’ Has Inspired More Organ Donation and End-of-Life Planning, According to USC Norman Lear Center Study After just one season, Emmy-winning drama “The Pitt” is already having an impact on healthcare conversations. That’s the finding from a new study released Monday by the USC Norman Lear Center, which said “The Pitt” has shifted the conversation on issues such as organ donation and end-of-life planning. According to a group of 1,409 viewers […]

'The Pitt' Has Inspired More Organ Donation and End-of-Life Planning | Michael Schneider for Variety (@Variety)
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/the-pitt-organ-donation-end-of-life-planning-study-1236562186/

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending'

🧪 #resistrfk #defendresearch #standupforscience #RFKJr #Vaccines #HHS #CDC #antivax
75% of scientists considering emigrating. Many already have. "The science world is kinda ending."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLvO...

Screenshot of the NY Times Crossword app showing an 1825 day streak

5 year streak complete!

Typing patterns on smartphones offer clues to cognitive health, new research suggests Everyday smartphone use may reveal more about the brain than previously thought. Researchers found that slower typing speeds were linked to poorer cognitive performance, suggesting that phone keystrok...

Typing patterns on smartphones offer clues to cognitive health, new research suggests www.psypost.org/typing-patte...

Apply TODAY for the ACNP Early-Stage Investigator Assistance Program! ACNP 64th Annual Meeting: Jan. 12-15, 2026, Atlantis Paradise Island Resort. You must already have an in-person invite or be registered to attend the meeting in person to apply. tinyurl.com/ctck8yjn 🌴

Dense Phenotyping of Human Brain Network Organization Using Precision fMRI The advent of noninvasive imaging methods like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) transformed cognitive neuroscience, providing insights into large-scale brain networks and their link to cog...

Why do brain networks vary? Do these differences shape behavior? If every 🧠 is unique, how can we detect common features of brain organization?
@rodbraga.bsky.social and I dig in, in @annualreviews.bsky.social (ahead of print):
go.illinois.edu/Gratton2025-...

#neuroskyence #psychscisky #MedSky
🧵👇

The Trump administration and its allies have taken several steps to ensure that medical schools in the US dismantle all diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

It is patients who will be the victims of this, write @gavinyamey.bsky.social and @michaeldgreen.com
www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Fewer than 1 in 10 of our Congressional races are considered competitive - in a country that's politically more or less 50-50.

This is madness. And it doesn't have to be this way.

YouTube video by Simons Foundation Nicole Rust - The representation of mood in the primate insula (May 6, 2025)

Please spread the word! I am recruiting a PhD student this cycle (Fall 2026 start) to join my team in a new venture: the neuroscience of mood.

If you are curious to learn more, this short talk provides a good overview of why, what and how.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjIK...

Psychedelic compounds directly excite 5-HT2A layer V medial prefrontal cortex neurons through 5-HT2A Gq activation - Translational Psychiatry Translational Psychiatry - Psychedelic compounds directly excite 5-HT2A layer V medial prefrontal cortex neurons through 5-HT2A Gq activation

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Finally out!!

I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events.

Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

1/14

Hearing voices and other altered perceptual experiences across psychotic, mood, and anxiety disorders: from phenomenology and mechanisms to future directions - Schizophrenia Schizophrenia - Hearing voices and other altered perceptual experiences across psychotic, mood, and anxiety disorders: from phenomenology and mechanisms to future directions

Hearing voices and other altered perceptual experiences across psychotic, mood, and anxiety disorders: from phenomenology and mechanisms to future directions
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

If you want a palate cleanser after yesterday’s autism discussion, listening to Kevin Mitchell is a good place to start…

Excited to share that our work introducing the Reproducible Brain Charts (RBC) data resource is now published in Neuron!! 🎉

📚 Read the paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lpaF3BtfH...
🧠 Explore the RBC dataset: reprobrainchart.github.io

A huge shoutout to all the dedicated grants management specialists at the NIH who are working around the clock to push grants out before the Sep 30 deadline. And also to the POs responding to frantic emails.
Not an easy job under the best of circumstances and right now it's the pits.
Thank you!

No notes

1: This is a really cool study I was excited to be a part of! I was skeptical that brief unguided single session interventions could be effective in adults with depression as we had two studies in which we found minuscule effects vs weak controls (waiting), one in a large sample, N=828. I was wrong!

a close up of a sign that says al ALT: a close up of a sign that says al

I missed the big Alaskan press conference

What does "minimizing the possibility of gatekeeping within an institute or center" even mean?

Different institutes cover research on different disorders or organ systems so there has to be some form of gatekeeping to make sure funded projects fall within the purview of the institute or center.

Image of brain networks in a group average and individual LPFC. Individuals show: 1) smaller FP network 2) more interdigitation 3) conserved motifs 4) idiosyncratic features This was validated with task and rest fMRI

The lateral prefrontal cortex 🧠— which we think of as critical for goal driven behavior + is a target for psychiatric treatments— is fundamentally different in individuals relative to the group averages we’ve often studied.

👇see preprint and thread, led by Zach Ladwig
#neuroskyence #PsychSciSky