Donnisa (she/her)

neuroscientist in training, studying functional networks + social cog
Ph.D Candidate @NuinComm, NSF GRFP Fellow, former NUIN Prep Scholar

[Donnisa (she/her) @donnisa_]

🧵below on my first preprint with the braga lab looking at the amygdala and it’s connectivity to sociocognitive brain regions 🥳

much thanks to collaborators (@SalvoJoe, @rementurus, Qiaohan Yang, Maya Lakshman, Kendrick Kay, and Christina Zelano)💫

[Rodrigo Braga @RodBraga]

NEW PREPRINT! 🚨

Social cognitive regions of human association cortex are selectively connected to the amygdala
https://t.co/OByF6gDPaJ

We studied two parallel distributed networks within the canonical default network (DN) in individuals using 7T fMRI.

[Donnisa (she/her) @donnisa_]

My first official news story with @journalsentinel!

Summer is festival season, and one of the reasons you may love the experience so much is because of how liveness and joint listening affects your brain 🧠
https://t.co/f8jDV7LK3b

[AAAS Mass Media Fellowship @AAASMassMedia]

Thank you @NPR for a fantastic tour! Follow us to see all the stories the fellows will write and produce as they dive into the world of science journalism for the next 10 weeks. ✍️ #SciComm @AAAS

[Donnisa (she/her) @donnisa_]

i’m very excited to spend this summer interning with @journalsentinel through the AAAS mass media fellowship! keep an 👁️ out for my writing in the upcoming months :)

[AAAS Mass Media Fellowship @AAASMassMedia]

🎉 Welcome to the 2026 class of @AAAS #MassMediaFellows! These 15 scientists will be sharpening their #SciComm skills with news outlets across the country this summer. We can’t wait to see the impact they’ll have!

Learn more about 2026 class here: https://t.co/kpAYxY1RUR

[Rodrigo Braga @RodBraga]

As a high-school student learning about science, I never even dreamed that my research would ever be on the cover of a textbook 🥹

Thank you @postlelab !

And congrats to 1st author @donnisa_ !

https://t.co/SG9f2vgpVD

[Rodrigo Braga @RodBraga]

We propose that thinking about this region a “nexus”, or a hand-off point, between visual and transmodal language systems, is useful for understanding why it is so critical for reading.

[Rodrigo Braga @RodBraga]

📣New preprint from the Braga Lab! 📣

The ventral visual stream for reading converges on the transmodal language network

Congrats to Dr. Joe Salvo for this epic set of results

Big Q: What brain systems support the translation of text to concepts and meaning?

Thread 🧵

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

Meta is building a data center in Wyoming that would use more electricity than every home in the state combined.

[The Daily Northwestern @thedailynu]

Northwestern Prof. Nina Kraus was reported missing in Evanston on Monday. She is described as a 5 feet, 4 inches tall woman with long, silver hair. An investigation by the Evanston Police Department is ongoing.
—
Reported by @anavi_52 and @ninethkk
https://t.co/QjN7LmriED

[Ania Holubecki @aniaholubecki]

I’m very excited to share my FIRST first-author preprint - the result of my @NuinComm graduate school lab rotation with Lisa Johnson!

We detected HFB in babies (1-4 months) noninvasively using scalp EEG, distinguishing wake from sleep states. 👶

Link: https://t.co/pgAlpUWlqw

[Rodrigo Braga @RodBraga]

🚨 New Preprint 🚨

Targeting intracranial electrical stimulation (ES) to network regions defined within individuals causes network-level effects

By Cyr et al.

Q: Can we use individualized network maps from precision fMRI to modulate a targeted network via ES?

A: Yes!

🧵:

[Zach Ladwig @zach_ladwig]

Hi! Excited to announce that the major work from my PhD is out now on biorxiv!
(w. coauthors @kianzkermani , @allydworetsky , @nathanlabora , @joannajhern , @RodBraga , @DerekEvanNee , @GrattonCaterina + others)

https://t.co/CFsPAADmFO
(1/18)

[Keith Sakata, MD @KeithSakata]

I’m a psychiatrist.

In 2025, I’ve seen 12 people hospitalized after losing touch with reality because of AI. Online, I’m seeing the same pattern.

Here’s what “AI psychosis” looks like, and why it’s spreading fast: 🧵

[Ania Holubecki @aniaholubecki]

Congrats, @Chris_Cyr_ ! 🧠🎓

SO exciting to see the first results from this project, which we started when the lab opened! Collecting this dataset was my main focus during my RCship, and we’re grateful to the epilepsy patients who gave much of their time to make this happen.

[philip lewis @Phil_Lewis_]

“Google is indexing conversations with ChatGPT that users have sent to friends, families, or colleagues—turning private exchanges intended for small groups into search results visible to millions” https://t.co/PiYwAGliB9

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

NEW: Elon Musk’s massive xAI data center is poisoning Memphis.

It's burning enough gas to power a small city, with no permits and no pollution controls.

Residents tell us they can’t breathe and they’re getting sicker.

[News from Science @NewsfromScience]

Breaking news: Staff at the National Institutes of Health have issued a declaration calling on their director to depoliticize the agency and reverse spending cuts. https://t.co/KJnaHNKABd

[Medill Reports @MedillChicago]

HEALTH & SCIENCE: Scientists at Chicago Botanic Garden save local plant species, one seed at a time

Read @donnisa_'s story down below!
https://t.co/xcAJietjpQ

[Donnisa (she/her) @donnisa_]

Check below for an article I wrote during my scicom classes on the seed bank and the Chicago Botanic Garden!

[Medill Reports @MedillChicago]

HEALTH & SCIENCE: Scientists at Chicago Botanic Garden save local plant species, one seed at a time

Read @donnisa_'s story down below!
https://t.co/xcAJietjpQ

[morningstar (THEY/THEM) @stichedstars]

Baffling how so many people still don’t know how OpenAI (and Meta) has people in Kenya in sweatshops reviewing horrific content to “train” their programs in horrifically inhumane conditions working for under $2 an hour day in and day out.

[NM Neurology @NMNeurology]

Rodrigo Braga, PhD (@RodBraga), joined the @NUFeinbergMed Breakthroughs podcast to discuss recent advances in his Human Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, including precision functional MRI technology, which helps the team understand how the brain works. Listen now on your preferred platform:
https://t.co/ZD85FpXWR5