Alt: Ted Danson says "I don't procrastinate. I just like to do things later."

Molecular Psychiatry - Pathogenic tau in the mouse locus coeruleus produces noradrenergic hyperactivity and neuropsychiatric phenotypes reminiscent of early Alzheimer’s disease

$400,000 program extends AST-004 into another major CNS indication and reinforces the breadth of its cerebroprotective potential Groton, CT – August 25, 2026 – Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinic...

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Computational Approaches to Perception and/or CognitionDepartment of PsychologyUniversity of Minnesota, College of Liberal ArtsThe Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities announces a search for an outstanding scholar to fill a tenure-track assistant professor position focused on computational approaches to perception and/or cognition. This full-time position in the Department’s Cognitive and Brain Sciences (CAB) Training Program will begin in Fall 2027.Applications are invited from researchers who would extend or complement our historic strengths in combining experimental and computational approaches to perception and cognition. Examples of desired research topics include, but are not limited to, computational approaches in human and/or non-human animal models to study perceptual function and sensory loss, learning, motivation, emotion, and/or higher cognition. While we expect the primary appointment to be in our CAB area, there is  potential for cross-affiliation with other departmental areas.The appointment will be 100%-time over the nine-month academic year (late-August to late-May) and will be made at the rank of tenure-track assistant professor, depending on qualifications and experience and consistent with collegiate and University policy. Salary and start-up packages are competitive. The successful applicant should have and is expected to maintain a strong research program, advise graduate students from a variety of different backgrounds, and teach undergraduate and graduate courses, including core courses within the graduate training program. A strong record of teaching and mentorship is desired. The individual will also be expected to contribute to the service needs of the department, college, university, and profession.A successful candidate's application will demonstrate scholarly distinction, a record of publications, teaching commitment and, if applicable to the research program and the candidate’s career stage, evidence of success in securing and/or pursuing extramural funding.Applicants are invited to review the Workload Principles and Guidelines for Regular Faculty in the College of Liberal Arts, as well as the Standards for Promotion and Tenure in the Department of Psychology.

Glutamate cotransmission predicts the behavioral functions and characteristics of dopaminergic neurons in the VTA.

ALT: This Is Fine Dog Meme

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Notice of NIH Updates to Career Development (K) Award Programs NOT-OD-26-098. OD

Dopamine acts at D2-NMDA receptor heteromers to control glutamatergic transmission and aversive learning.

Kim, Geiger et al. report that early-life stress increases the chromatin modification H3K4me1 and its enzymatic writer, SETD7, in the ventral tegmental area. They show that this form of epigenetic pri...

The lab at our end-of-semester field day

The basolateral amygdala dopamine system has received little attention. Here, authors show that BLA dopamine plays a unique role in learning, by encoding the emotional salience of sensory cues to supp...

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: NIH Is Replacing Letters of Support with Letters of Collaboration to Reduce Administrative Burden NOT-OD-26-094. NIH

Cocaine use disorder remains a critical public health concern with limited treatment options. Astrocytes are increasingly recognized as active regulators of neurotransmission and are emerging as impor...

The mu opioid receptor system has long been recognized for its role in regulating ingestive behaviors and food palatability. However, beyond their rob…

The generation of RNA transcripts in a cell is one of the first opportunities for interaction between DNA sequence and the environment (both at the organism and cellular level). Although many RNA transcripts get translated into proteins that are active in the cell, many other types of transcripts play critical roles in both the transcription and translation processes and ultimately, in how our bodies respond to our environment. Brain transcriptomics has the potential to mediate our acute responses to drugs of abuse and to reflect the changing cellular environment across the addiction cycle. Furthermore, RNA-based therapeutics are emerging as a significant treatment resource for many diseases. However, our knowledge about non-coding RNA transcripts, differences in transcript processing, and the interdependence among networks of transcripts is far from complete. This Special Issue features novel research into the role of transcriptomics and epigenetics in the neuroscience of addiction including predisposing factors and changing molecular phenotypes across the addiction cycle with the ultimate goal of identifying novel treatment and prevention approaches.

Mandatory reviews by top health officials and checks for 235 disfavoured terms have left hundreds of vetted grant applications in administrative limbo.

The Fraser Lab at the University of Minnesota (https://fraserlab.psych.umn.edu/) is recruiting a full-time research technician to support the lab. As a part of the Department of Psychology we are involved in the greater neuroscience research community at the University of Minnesota which provides excellent access to training and professional development. The Fraser Lab is interested in the neurobiological basis of motivated behavior and investigates how defined brain circuits contribute to behavioral regulation. We make use of modern neuroscience approaches to record and manipulate neural activity in real-time as rodents perform complex behavioral tasks to relate precise aspects of neural activity to well-defined psychological processes. To do so, we regularly use optogenetics, chemogenetics, calcium imaging, biosensors, pharmacology, and immunohistochemistry. Our ultimate goal is to decipher the neural mechanisms regulating behavior and to characterize how these are altered in psychiatric illness, such as addiction, or by differences in lived experience, such as after early life adversity, to potentially identify novel therapeutics. We seek a team member who can play a lead role in lab operations, collaborate closely with the PI, and engage in team-building and growth.Duties:Laboratory logistics, maintenance and operations (30%):

Tirzepatide, a dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR), represents a new class of medication for obesity and type II diabetes treatment. Using laboratory mice, we show that GIPRs are present in the lateral septum (LS) in cells also expressing GLP-1R, particularly in the dorsolateral LS. Likewise, we show the coexpression of the dopamine (DA) D2 receptor (DRD2) in LS cells with GLP-1R in both the dorsolateral and intermediate portions of the LS. Using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, we demonstrate that systemic GLP-1R or GIPR agonist treatment reduces both electrically evoked DA release in the LS and the ability of cocaine to increase extracellular DA levels. These data unveil a new central role for GIPR signaling and identify a potentially important cell type expressing both GLP-1R and GIPR upon which tirzepatide or other dual agonists may modulate DA homeostasis in the brain.

Neuropsychopharmacology - Dorsal raphe nucleus enkephalin peptide modulates behavioral preference

Alt: Cool, Cool, Cool - Detective Jake Peralta (B99)

ALT: Huh Kermit

The incumbent performs limited grants management analysis assignments that are developmental and recurring in nature including functions such as the following: assisting a higher-level specialist in c...