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Will Giardino

@willgiardino.bsky.social
1.5K followers 554 following 43 posts

Neuroscientist, Assistant Professor @ Stanford, PI @ Giardino Lab. Personal account, personal views.

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Reposted by Will Giardino
Olivier George @brainaddiction.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The function is not in the neurotransmiter but in the circuit it's acting. This is why full agonist and antagonist are tricky as a medication, because you might solve the problem on one side of the brain and make it worse on the other side.... doi.org/10.1038/s41...
nature.com
Nociceptin orphanin F/Q Pathways are dysregulated by stress and modulate reward responsiveness and motivated behavior across species
Molecular Psychiatry - Nociceptin orphanin F/Q Pathways are dysregulated by stress and modulate reward responsiveness and motivated behavior across species
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Congrats to lab postdoc Dr. Ivy Hoang on being awarded an F32 NRSA from NIH/NIDA! Ivy's project aims to answer how the population of CCK neurons in the BNST links sleep homeostasis, drug memories, and cocaine seeking. So proud of her, and so thrilled to see this work funded.
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
@moeneuro.bsky.social
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
..as originally highlighted by Heimer & Alheid closer to 40yrs ago link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Beautiful new article "Neurobiology of negative reinforcement as a driving force in alcohol addiction" by Vendruscolo & Koob. Been reading these reviews for 20yrs- this might be the first time that Medial & Lateral BNST received separate labels in the circuit figure! www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
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Reposted by Will Giardino
Elizabeth Sypek @elizabethis.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
NINDS has discontinued our F32 mechanism. All previously submitted applications will proceed as normal. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
grants.nih.gov
NOT-NS-26-002: Notice of Change: Early Expiration of NINDS Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) for Training of Postdoctoral Fellows (F32 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Notice of Change: Early Expiration of NINDS Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) for Training of ...
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
and no, the link to "View Meeting Roster" does not work
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
APC too
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
After the last major outages 1-2yrs ago I started moving all important course management “off-grid” because I knew it would happen again. Back to pen & paper and Google sheets I guess
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
The Giardino Lab at Stanford is hiring a full-time post-bacc Research Assistant! If you know someone who is passionate about research and want to work at the intersection of stress, addiction, and sleep/wake neurobiology, have them apply here. careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/life-sc...
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
It’s almost like the Editor is supposed to identify these things before sending out for review..
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Cleanest pPDH signal I’ve seen! after trading images with a handful of groups. We’re doing 1:750, haven’t tried anesthesia yet.
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Reposted by Will Giardino
Patrick Mulholland (He/Him) @mulhollandlab.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Here are the Alcohol GRC awardees-Congrats!
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
This should work drive.google.com/file/d/1Ut00...
drive.google.com
samson-et-al-2015-effects-of-self-administered-alcohol-or-sucrose-preloads-on-subsequent-consumption-in-the-rat.pdf
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
The sad thing is.. he actually might do that ! katv.com/news/nation-...
katv.com
RFK Jr. swims in DC's Rock Creek with grandkids, despite water quality warnings
The photos show the 71-year-old fully submerged in the creek.
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
definitely an optic fiber track, not to be confused with a white matter axonal fiber tract
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I’m so sorry for your loss, Brian. Very saddened to hear this. Natalia was such a positive force in the field.
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
New preprint from the lab! We identified Vipr2-expressing BNST neurons as a distinct subpopulation of the oval nucleus that promotes feeding, is activated by food restriction, is non-overlapping with appetite-suppressing PKC delta neurons, and projects to PSTN & PVN hypothalamic feeding centers.
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Reposted by Will Giardino
bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
A Distinct Subpopulation of Extended Amygdala Neurons Drives Food Intake www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Excited to share new research from my lab in final published form! By deleting hypocretin (orexin) receptors from CRF neurons, we uncovered neuropeptide mechanisms linking alcohol drinking and negative emotional hyperarousal through BNST neuronal excitability. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Reposted by Will Giardino
Niko Massaly @massalyniko.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
🚨 Please RT! We’re recruiting a motivated postdoc to dissect the neurocircuits of affective pain. Expertise in behavioral models of pain/SUDs, stereotaxy, microscopy, opto/chemogenetics, or fiber photometry encouraged. Apply 👉 recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF10647 #Neuroscience #Postdoc
recruit.apo.ucla.edu
Postdoctoral Research Position
University of California, Los Angeles is hiring. Apply now!
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Reposted by Will Giardino
Joanna Dabrowska @dabrowska-lab.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Our work on mind-boggling CRF-BNST neurons is out! 🥳 🔹Sex & estrous matter: CRF neurons⬇️anxious arousal (yup) after unpredictable fear in diestrus👧not👦 🔹👧show⬆️contextual fear, independent of CRF/estrous ✨Anxiety-potentiated startle🟰👍 readout in🚶‍♀️&🐀 www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...
biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com
Activity of corticotropin-releasing factor neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety-potentiated startle in female rats in an estrous phase-dependent manner
The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders is higher in women than men. The severity of hallmark symptoms including hypervigilance and fear reactivity to unpredictab...
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Congrats Sam!!
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Congrats!
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
congratulations!
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Go on the market sooner than later- it can also be a wave (an unexpectedly dynamic wave) that you may end up riding for longer than you think..
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Reposted by Will Giardino
Anne Vassalli @annevassalli.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Excited to share our new preprint! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Divergent modulation of dopaminergic neurons by hypocretin/orexin receptors-1 and -2 shapes dopaminergic cell activity and socio-emotional behavior Tzanoulinou et al Supported by @snsf.ch
Summary depiction of divergent neuromodulation of dopaminergic neurons by hypocretin/orexin receptors-1 and -2 as reflected at electrophysiological and behavioral levels
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
thank you Brian! hope the results were magical as well
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
How did you resolve it? Asking for my postdoc
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
We’re excited to share our new preprint from the lab! PhD student @armorningstar.bsky.social demonstrated how Early Life Stress shapes sex-specific vulnerability to alcohol behavioral sensitivity, alcohol drinking, and alcohol's effects on social behaviors in mice.
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Reposted by Will Giardino
bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Early life stress modulates behavioral sensitivity to alcohol and promotes escalation of alcohol drinking www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
yep, another vote for nest-building. It's even sensitive to alcohol withdrawal... pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27503811/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Effects of acute alcohol withdrawal on nest building in mice selectively bred for alcohol withdrawal severity - PubMed
Nest building has been used to assess thermoregulatory behavior and positive motivational states in mice. There are known genetic influences on ethanol withdrawal severity as well as individual/thermo...
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Very sad news, I'm so sorry for your losses, Jessica.
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Honored to give a seminar at NIH/NIDA IRP in Baltimore this week and learn about the incredible research being done there by so many brilliant, diverse people to advance neuroscience and addiction treatment. Immense respect for all the NIH scientists & staff, working under such unfair circumstances
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Reposted by Will Giardino
dan mccalley @danmccalley.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
new paper out in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: a ‘reverse translational‘ model of TMS for Alcohol Use Disorder — we know so little about which TMS parameters will be best to reduce drinking — so, why not leverage mice to test things out rapidly & cheaply? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Developing a reverse translational model of low-intensity rTMS in alcohol use disorder: The influence of theta burst stimulation protocols on binge alcohol drinking in mice
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is a promising treatment tool for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). A challenge facing the field is that…
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Thrilled to contribute to this collaboration with the McNerney lab, @danmccalley.bsky.social, Claudia Padula, and team - where we used distinct TMS neuromodulation protocols to observe sex-specific impacts on binge alcohol drinking in mice! #TranscranialMagneticStimulation
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Great capture! Hard to tell..
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
congratulations!!
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
Hadn’t seen this yet! Very cool work
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Reposted by Will Giardino
Leigh Walker @drlcwalker.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Check out our new paper lead by superstars Amy Pearl and Xavier Maddern in @naturecomms.bsky.social . We show a sex specific role for ghrelin signalling in the Edinger Westphal nucleus driving binge drinking. Thanks to all those involved www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Midbrain ghrelin receptor signalling regulates binge drinking in a sex specific manner - Nature Communications
Binge drinking is a rising issue in women, yet the underlying neurobiology remains underexplored. Here authors show the Edinger-Westphal (EWcp) peptidergic neurons as a critical regulator of binge dri...
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Incredibly sad to hear. Me and so many others wouldn’t be in this field at all if it weren’t for AA-4
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
So proud of the Giardino lab members #StandUpForScience @standupforscience.bsky.social
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
an excellent interview with an excellent science friend!
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Reposted by Will Giardino
PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘅𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀? One reason might be that the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis suppresses anxiety. (Btw this region is as important as the amygdala in anxiety, likely more). (h/t @ajshackman.bsky.social) #neuroscience #neuroskyence doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
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Reposted by Will Giardino
Jenna McHenry @jennamchenry.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Recruiting a postdoc! State-dependent regulation of social behavior & social group dynamics using in vivo deep brain calcium imaging, machine learning, etc... all the circuit tools. Applicants can email me directly if interested and apply here: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/29799.
academicjobsonline.org
Duke University, Psychology and Neuroscience
Job #AJO29799, Postdoctoral Associate, Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, US
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Reposted by Will Giardino
Katie Witkiewitz @katiew.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
My heart breaks daily for those who started careers in the pandemic & survived 5 years of heart wrenching loss and uncertainty to now be faced with loss and uncertainty. This time, the uncertainty is driven by pure evil and is 💯 unnecessary. That's why we must all @standupforscience.bsky.social
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Will Giardino @willgiardino.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Follow-up:
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