Nick Smith

NIDDK K99 postdoctoral fellow
Circuits for learning | Betley lab - UPenn

[Amir Lawen @AmirLawen]

Dopamine shifts from reward to cue during learning. But how is this reflected across the brain?

Combining NAc dopamine photometry with whole-brain fMRI in behaving mice, we link this classic dopamine dynamic to brain-wide changes as learning unfolds.

https://t.co/VFcRNleeuR

[Nick Smith @NeuronNick]

Happy to report I did get the grant despite the reactions at study section

[Nick Smith @NeuronNick]

Leaked pictures of study section reading my grant

[Nick Smith @NeuronNick]

@zenbrainest @K_Miyamichi I'll add: TTX is used to block sodium channels and thus action potentials and 4-AP to block K+ channels and enhance the ability of ChR2 to depolarize. Any current must be monosynaptic, an intervening neuron would be unable to fire APs.

[Raaj Gowrishankar @outRaajeous]

This work is now online!

https://t.co/AtncO1z35Y

Many thanks to @mbruchas for the mentorship, our co-authors, reviewers and @NIDAnews for the funding.

If you're interested in following up on how endogenous opioids promote motivated behavior, my lab @neuro_MUSC is hiring!

[Nick Smith @NeuronNick]

@outRaajeous @mbruchas @NIDAnews @neuro_MUSC Congrats Raaj! Super impressive work!

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

Two of the most important biomedical breakthroughs came from science of the Gila lizard venom (GLP-1s) and yogurt (CRISPR genome editing).
"The system that turned that lizard into a medicine is now being dismantled."
"Less support for scientists means strange questions no one will get to chase."
gift link https://t.co/JKEzQCGm75

[Hao Li @haoli_nu]

📣📣We are recruiting 1-2 postdocs at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

We studies how neuropeptides shape circuit function and behavior, and psychiatric disease using Neuropixels, calcium imaging, and optogenetics. Pls RT!

More info: https://t.co/2ggCC3sQXA

[Dean Geckt @deangeckt]

What is the difference between excitatory and inhibitory neurons?
Beyond the obvious difference of neurotransmitter effect on postsynaptic cell, another remarkable difference is the fact that excitatory neurons have lots of spines, while inhibitory neurons have less spines. 1/13

[AmberAlhadeff @AmberAlhadeff]

New lab paper @NeuroCellPress!
@_Aaron_McKnight asked a simple question:
Do calories look the same to hunger neurons in the brain? The answer is no.
Fructose and glucose contain the same calories, but they engage fundamentally different gut-brain pathways.
https://t.co/iiIaVfpE5x

[Neuron @NeuroCellPress]

Online now: Attenuated hypothalamic response to fructose via a dedicated gut-brain pathway https://t.co/B5JePKKUqN

[Neuron @NeuroCellPress]

Online now: Methamphetamine potentiates the use of outcome-specific associations via a hypothalamic-dopamine circuit https://t.co/q8C6CgSsuZ

[Neuron @NeuroCellPress]

Online now: POINTseq: Cell-type-specific barcoding reveals single-cell projection architecture of the mouse dopaminergic system https://t.co/atS6DUIAyk

[Dr. Daniel Castro @FlanBrain]

First Castro Lab paper, brought to you by the hard work of Dr. Kathryn Braden @katybraden In this manuscript we investigate the role of endogenous enkephalin or dorsal raphe nucleus. We find that it is incredibly important for buffering negative affect 😱 https://t.co/b26BBDUcqi

[Nick Smith @NeuronNick]

@FlanBrain @katybraden Interesting work, congratulations!

[Yin lab @HenryYin19]

Our special issue on control theory and behavior is finally complete. I was reluctant to edit this at first because I didn't expect much interest in this topic. But it turned out that I was wrong--there was a lot more interest than I anticipated (18 articles from people with diverse backgrounds). In fact I received inquiries recently from multiple researchers who wanted to contribute but unfortunately it was too late to accommodate them.
Control Theory and Closed-Loop Behavior in Humans, Other Animals, and AI/Robots. https://t.co/0Q8nv7oW23

[Science News @SciencNews]

Learning from small numbers of very large rewards can be very fast. @ScienceMagazine

Very large rewards markedly accelerated learning across tasks and led to increased dopamine release in the striatum

[Michael Krashes @michael_krashes]

New work from Claire Gao in @NatMetabolism uncovering the intracellular signaling mechanisms by which semaglutide drives weight loss in the brain. This study goes DEEP into how GLP1R signaling works inside hindbrain neurons. 🧠⚡ https://t.co/mjn2nOcdUy

[nature @Nature]

Nature research paper: Feature-specific threat coding in lateral septum guides defensive action

https://t.co/Mphg0piduh

[John Lukens @LukensJohnR]

Maternal high-fat diet drives sex-specific microglia remodeling of serotonergic reward circuits https://t.co/2syoSBRdpF

[Madelyn Hjort @BrainMadelyn]

Thrilled to share our work out in @Nature! Linking flexibility modeling, single-cell imaging, and targeted optogenetics allowed us to characterize how some prefrontal neurons, and mPFC-VTA neurons in particular, drive contingency degradation behavior. https://t.co/Dkk32XwGtX