iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 5h

Got to meet one of our favorite (and most fashionable) celebrity chefs! Someone asked how she has such a fun, kind, contagious energy. Her answer: “I’m doing what I love. There were jobs this person didn’t show up to” Fresh butter pecan ice cream, apple pie, served with a side of career advice 🔥

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Natale R. Sciolino, PhD @sciolinolab.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Our paper has been accepted at Cell Reports (@cp-cellreports.bsky.social). Huge thanks to Will Fan, who spearheaded this work, and to Paula To for her contributions. See the graphical abstract below, and thread for the story behind the figures: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

That grant looks eerily familiar 😂

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

2 days after my nephew was asking me questions about being a scientist. There’s a long list of reasons this career is tough for first gen college students. It’s hard being the only person in my family that moved away from home. But knowing I can show them there’s so much opportunity lit a new fire.

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Amidst finishing papers, faculty job apps, grant deadlines, and a seemingly never ending to do list, it can be hard to step back from the grind and take a look around. My niece mailed me this brain squishy, accompanied by Lisa Frank stickers and scientist animal figurines.

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Congratulations! Well deserved! 🥳

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I am thankful for everyone who has contributed to and supported this work, given feedback and encouragement at conferences, & made this paper what it is. I’m currently on the job market and am a proud BRAIN/NEI K99 awardee. Please reach out if you know of positions that would be a good fit!

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We hypothesize PL ensemble dynamics are modified by NE release in early trials and that norepinephrine sets the neural “context” in which PL integrates inputs to guide behavior. Stay tuned on that front!

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Population level analyses of PL activity also show an interesting experience-related trend. As the experimental session progresses, variability in PL neural activity decreases and trial to trial activity becomes more stable.

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

So whether these are spatial position responses vs neurons tracking mouse progression through the task is to be determined. Using decoding strategies, we could predict mouse spatial position with prelimbic neural activity, and the decoding accuracy correlates with mouse performance.

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We used Meta’s Segment Anything Model to track mouse spatial position and align it with prelimbic activity. We find neurons in PL have specific “tuning,” showing reliable activity at specific spatial positions along the pole. We observe similar patterns when analyzing the data with respect to time -

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This difference dissipates over trials, even though overall behavioral avoidance is stable or improves. We used miniscope calcium imaging to investigate if prelimbic neurons also adapt their activity to support this behavior.

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We see norepinephrine release increases as mice are placed on the pole - likely a reaction to handling - but that norepinephrine release is sustained until they make their exit. Interestingly, there is more prelimbic norepinephrine release prior to trial initiation on trials following an unsafe exit

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We found locus coeruleus - norepinephrine neurons are required for mice to avoid the virtual cliff, and increasing norepinephrine release specifically in prelimbic cortex increases threat avoidance. What is the role of prelimbic norepinephrine? 🧐

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Mice can perform this task reliably over many trials, maintaining avoidance of the edge of a tall-appearing cliff. They also modify their behavior on a trial to trial basis following prior unsafe decisions, without external reinforcements/punishments. How does the brain coordinate this flexibility?

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I was excited by their task because while it incorporates a natural behavior, it also has a clear, interpretable behavioral readout. Height threat is also highly conserved between rodents and humans and may provide an avenue for translating findings between model organisms and the clinic.

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

New preprint alert! 🚨 🧠 My postdoctoral work in Al Kaye’s lab has focused on understanding how animals navigate and learn from threats in their environment. To study this, I developed a virtual visual cliff height threat task, inspired by Boone et al. 2021. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

An adaptive noradrenergic-prefrontal circuit for innate avoidance of heights

Innate preferences determine how animals interact with the environment, but how experience refines the neural processes underlying those intrinsic motivations is not well understood. Here we develop a...

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Monday blues? Break up your routine and join us for our first speaker for the BlueSpot Slack Fall talk series! 12 PM today on Zoom. All are welcome, please reach out if you would like to be added to the Slack community. #norepinephrine #neuromodulation #experience 🧠

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Zoe McElligott @nanopharmnc.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Gearing up for #WCBR2027! (Please repost!) Helpful links for submission (panels due 9/15/26, posters 10/13/26) and travel fellowships (Due 9/15/26): winterbrain.org/science-of-t... winterbrain.org/travel-fello...

Why Reserachers Choose Winter Brain, From the mouths of attendees: "Great quality science, small meeting, great location" "It was the perfect size for a meeting, with a great networking opportunity" "The quality of the science and the networking combined with opportunity for snowboarding is very appealing"

Find Your Way to Share Your Science
We are now accepting Panel, Perspective, Short Course, and Poster proposals for the 59th Winter Conference on Brain Research in Breckenridge, Colorado, January 30 – February 4, 2027. Winter Brain seeks proposals from across different neuroscience disciplines and in different formats.

Build the Conversation: Panels
Panels have a cohesive scientific theme. Presentations that approach a theme from different experimental angles or have clinically translational themes are highly encouraged.

Panel Proposal Deadline: September 15, 2026.
Challenge the Conversation: Perspectives
Perspectives are intended to bring people in a field together to discuss and debate ideas and findings. Brief slide presentations (1–5 slides per panelist) and audience participation should be encouraged by panelists.
Perspective Proposal Deadline: September 15, 2026.

Share Your Expertise: Short Courses
Short Courses introduce a topic/technique to non-experts, addressing its foundations, strengths, and limitations, with ample time for questions. Opportunities for hands-on participation are encouraged.
Short Course Proposal Deadline: September 15, 2026.

Put Your Research in the Spotlight: Posters
Share your latest research and connect directly with scientists in the Winter Brain Community through a Poster presentation.
Poster Proposal Deadline: October 13, 2026.

Supporting the Next Generation of Neuroscience - Travel Fellows

The Travel Fellowships page provides information on how to apply for these junior investigator awards. The application deadline is September 15, 2026, for both Panel and Poster Travel Fellowships. In addition to Travel Fellowships, awards for best posters by junior investigators will be presented at the closing banquet. You can indicate your eligibility for a poster award when submitting your poster abstract.

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Dan Levenstein @dlevenstein.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Yale Neuroscience is hiring another computational neuroscience position this year! Please share with anyone who might be interested, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the position, or growing neuro-AI community at Yale/WTI!

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Christophe 🔬 Leterrier @christlet.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

My reply to this question is usually "If we don't understand how it works, we won't understand how it doesn't work"

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Another wonderful Frontal Cortex GRS/GRC 🔥 looking forward to digging into all of my notes … after a weekend of many naps

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Pursuing jobs in the US and abroad. I think it’s been a heavy time for lots of us for awhile now, but sometimes just saying that makes it feel a little lighter. I appreciate you starting the conversation!

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

No, no apologies necessary! It’s an important conversation and not a new one :) I’ve honestly felt it more helpful to be realistic but grounded rather than be told “funding has always gone up and down” like we aren’t living in … special times. It’s also helpful to see what people are thinking re:

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

This thread and the commentary (while valid and honest) is h e a v y for those of us who are on the job market. I’ve had the philosophy that I’ll keep going until someone “tells me no” for awhile now, so I’m going to do that until the door is shut (and hope the door doesn’t shut).

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Congrats, Jorge!!! Celebration at the GRS 🎉

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Apply for a seminar slot: usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... To join the Slack group, email stephanie.staszko@yale.edu or lferguson@usc.edu

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Studying norepinephrine? Have cool results to share? Want to join an online community of norepinephrine researchers? We are organizing our fall schedule for the Blue Spot Slack! We have monthly virtual seminars where you can share your work and get feedback in a supportive environment. Apply/join ⬇️

Immunohistochemical staining showing noradrenergic neurons of the locus coeruleus

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Jorge Miranda Barrientos @jorge-miranda.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Also apply for the GRS!! Great opportunity for trainees to present and networking.

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GRC Frontal Cortex @grc-frontal-cortex.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Meet your #GRC-FrontalCortex chairs! Only 2 weeks left to apply! For more info: www.grc.org/frontal-cort...

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 29/05/2026

Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.

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elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule. Russell Vought is going destroy American Science. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

elizabethginexi.substack.com

Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule

Russell Vought is going destroy American Science

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Firefox allowing you to group open tabs and minimize them in a nice organized stack in your browser is a simultaneous win and loss for academics everywhere 😂🧪🧠 #allthetabs #sorrycomputer

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Contact Lorena or myself if you’d like to join the community!

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Interested in norepinephrine? The Blue Spot is a Slack community for all things NE! We have a virtual monthly seminar series to share recent work in the field. This month’s talk from Will Fan, PhD candidate, combines two of my favorite things: NE and the taste system 👅

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Really informative and uplifting presentation this morning about both the work going on at The Transmitter and finding your way along your career path. Thanks again @wutsaiyale.bsky.social @thetransmitter.bsky.social !

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Now to decipher the card tricks 🧐

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Thank you!! Looking forward to catching up soon 😊

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

I’m incredibly grateful for @akaye.bsky.social for many (MANY) conversations and patient feedback during the grant writing process. I can’t wait to do this work!

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

I’m so thankful to the many people who helped make this possible - sharing materials, providing feedback, writing letters and signing on as collaborators, advocating within NIH, and helping to weather the storm over the past year.

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Stephanie Staszko @sstaszko.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Now that I’ve had the chance to share the news with my collaborators (and time to accept it’s real) I’m so excited to share my K99/R00 award was funded! I plan to use pupillometry, NE/ACh/ calcium recordings, & virtual reality to study the effects of arousal on visual processing of threat stimuli.

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akaye.bsky.social @akaye.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Grateful to have our lab's work presented on the circuits in innate threat and psychedelics presented at ACNP! Happy to have joined ACNP as an Associate Member this year, which is a great psychiatric neuroscience community. Thanks to @sstaszko.bsky.social and Sarah Jefferson who led the work.

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Keri Martinowich @martinowk.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Applications for our summer internship program are open. This is a paid, 9 week experience designed to provide research experience to undergraduates interested in the neurosciences, especially as related to the molecular and cellular basis of neuropsychiatric disorders www.libd.org/summer-inter...