Leaderboard

Hey there! My name is Diego, and I'm a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. I'm passionate about understanding how our nervous system responds to inflammation and finding ways to improve neuronal survival after injury. I received my MD degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico School of Medicine in 2012, and then pursued a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences with a focus on neuropathology from the same institution. Apart from my research, I love sharing knowledge with people from all walks of life, and I'm particularly interested in promoting scientific awareness for the betterment of society. As a mentor, I strive to create an environment that fosters personal and academic growth, as well as overall well-being, for young scientists who are eager to learn and make a positive impact on the world.

Greetings fellow scientists!! My name is Hugo Sanchez-Castillo, I'm from Mexico and its wonderful to be a Community Leader for this year!!!... I'm a Scientist from Mexico, my bachelor was in Experimental Psychology at the National University of Mexico. At that time I encountered myself with the behavioral pharmacology and I decided to follow the effects of drugs on the behavior. After that I did my PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience looking for the pharmacological basis of Timing Behavior. In that exciting years I knew the Timing gang from New York and I decided to follow they in the University of Columbia for my Postdoctoral formation. During this time I shared thoughts, science, meals, music and more with excelent researchers of NY. After that, I returned to Mexico and founded the Neuropsychopharmacology and Timing Laboratory. Actually we are working in the neurobiology of stress and PTSD related affections, and obviously The pharmacology of timing behavior. Besides the research Im professor of Psychopharmacology and Biological Basis of Behavior. Personally, I love science, music, movies, science fiction, BBQ the Mexican food (yes, Im from Mexico and I love our food!!!) and I LOVE THE SFN MEETING!... I hope to engage nice chats and conversations about diversity, science, movies and more!!!....

Hello! My name is Dr. Brandon Coventry, and I'm very excited to be a member of the Neuronline community leaders! Before beginning my journey into neuroscience and neuroengineering, I was a touring musician, playing music across the United States with a wide variety of pop, funk, punk, and jazz professionals. During this time, I was also studying music at the University of Illinois which allowed for both study and a professional musician lifestyle. However, medical science and engineering was a persistent itch I knew I needed to scratch. I moved to St. Louis and received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Saint Louis University, doing research in biomedical signal processing. I then received my master's degree in electrical and computer engineering and a Ph.D. in Neural Engineering from Purdue University (go Boilers!) in 2021 where I studied novel optical deep brain stimulation technologies and artificially intelligent responsive neuromodulation. I am currently a postdoctoral research associate at the Wisconsin Institute for Transnational Neuroengineering (WITNe) housed in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At WITNe, I am keenly interested in the neuroscience underlying neuromodulation and developing next-generation tools to facilitate more intricate insights into neural circuit function. I would love to continue in the academic world and am hoping to obtain an assistant professorship in the relatively near future. In my (increasingly decreasing) free time, I am still a freelance session musician and film composer with many of my works shown in venues across the world. I also have a keen interest in good coffee and am in constant search for the next best latte.

Hey y'all! Greetings from Nashville! My name is Ashley Horner, and I'm a Professor of Neuroscience at Frist College of Medicine at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. I received my PhD in Neuroscience from Tulane University in 2002 and spent almost 20 years studying basal ganglia pathways involved in methamphetamine-induced repetitive behaviors, as well as striatal circuits responsible for habitual methamphetamine self-administration. However, I have just recently transitioned from research to medical education. Frist College of Medicine is a new medical school, and we plan on opening our doors in the Fall 2024. So, now my days are filled with designing our neuroscience curriculum. It is very challenging, but also very exciting! I'm delighted to have the chance to discuss anything from addiction to curriculum design to major career transitions .

Hi Ramiro, Thank you for asking that. Here are some things I did in the past or do currently. 1) A blog. There I do not specifically talk about science. I talk about my life and my experiences, which include science. So, in other words I am talking about science but avoiding jargon, using examples and metaphors, using pictures. I find it useful to engage people on what I do and to see science is for everyone. 2) A Facebook page. I post things in my personal account but I also participate on pages that I created with other students to talk about science. For instance, there is a Facebook page created by researchers from Rio de Janeiro, they invited my to participate on. In this page, every other week a grad student or post-doc is invited to post about their thesis/dissertation but it needs to be in a format easy to read by the general public, like a story or a novel. I find the idea marvelous, as people seem to be very curious to read things we post and that also forces us to be more aware of how we communicate with people. We need to put ourselves in their shoes. 3) A Instagram profile. This seems to be the more effective way so far. Instagram has been growing more and more and with it people are very frequently using it for business not solely to "share pictures". Again, I use my personal account and also have profiles w/ other students. We have lab profiles, where we post things that we are working on in the lab, department profiles, etc, just give a few examples. Also, profiles created by students, we invite people to write to our page and also to talk. As people seem to be interested in Instagram lives, specially during pandemic situation, we try to use this tool as much as possible. I engage to participate in friends lives about science and they do the same, so we support each other and help to spread the news so more people can access the content we are posting.

That is a really good question! I am glad you brought it up Isis. I firmly believe we have to use social media in our favor. Specially in these times we are distant and the world future is relying more than ever in science and scientists. I do both of them, as we can reach maybe different public by doing it. So, I use my personal account to share important news and topics about what I work directly, as people that know me already are aware that I work for example with Alzheimer's and Pain, so I share content on it, from reliable sources, but most importantly I try to mention what has been done in the community by scientist that are not far away. I believe this way, people that are in my close circle can relate better to what we do and maybe get rid from that idea that science is something magical, distant, crazy... I also participate in projects were we create a Instagram profile directed to share science news and to answers peoples questions about science. In this sense, we usually reach more people, from different places. We gather a small group and everyone is responsible to feed the page and keep things going. I think this is a great way of using social media to spread reliable information and engage specially young people on our cause.

Hello SfN community! I am thrilled to be a Neuronline Community Leader. My name is Daisy Gallardo, and I'm a third year PhD Candidate in the Anatomy and Neurobiology department at the University of California, Irvine. My research focuses on neurodegeneration in an Alzheimer’s disease model, exploring how neuronal death could be delayed or reduced. I'm interested in mechanistic changes that occur as neurons age and how this could inform our approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease. My research interests align with my lifestyle interests, including topics like aging and non-pharmacological approaches to disease prevention, such as exercise. I’m an avid runner and participate in strength/running races, marathons and obstacle course races. I’m excited to engage with all of you in critical discussions and learn from diverse perspectives.

Hello everybody! My name is Valeria Muoio and I am a neurosurgeon at the University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil. I have always been a person who is unhappy with the outcome of some neurological diseases, especially in children, and for that reason, I got involved in research. I obtained my doctorate at the University of São Paulo with a period at Johns Hopkins University. Afterwards, I worked as a researcher at Charite University in Berlin. Currently, I work as a neurosurgeon and researcher at the University of São Paulo. I am fascinated by people, in their incredible richness and diversity. I believe I take this passion to my medical students, and try to show how vital neuroscience is - it not only explains our ailments but also explains who we are. Last year, I had the honor of participating as SFN's Community Leader, and I can say that being part of such a group changed many aspects of my career. For this year, I am excitedly preparing my department's Brain Awareness Week, where hundreds of students in different states of Brazil will participate. And of course, I intend to serve and participate in SFN with all the excellent opportunities and people it brings together. Cheers to all!

Hello everyone! My name is Katrina Armstrong and I am currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Canada). I completed my MSc also at the University of Manitoba under the guidance of Drs. Katinka Stecina and Larry Jordan. My research is dedicated to understanding the descending neural circuits for movement, specifically the role that serotonin may play either in initiating or facilitating movement. I have always been passionate about sports, and I have recently begun participating in programs that bring sport to underrepresented communities. This January, I had the opportunity to play ice hockey with the Kenya Ice Lions in Nairobi. In combination with The Friendship League and The Urban Hockey Foundation, we were able to provide a large equipment donation to fuel the growth of hockey in Kenya. I look forward to our further discussions on the Neuronline platform!

Greetings from China! My name is Bin Yin and I got my PhD from Duke in 2016, studying neurobiological mechanisms of timing and time perception in animal models. Now I have my own research team in China, although a very small one with limited resources available. But this does not prevent me from pursuing high-quality research elucidating developmental (both psych & neuro) mechanisms underlying learning and behavior. I am excited to have this chance to discuss with you all the intriguing questions in relation to learning and behavior!

Greetings from Brazil! My name is Julia Araujo. I'm an undergraduate student at a medical school program in my country. I have been researching since High School and Neuroscience has been a passion of mine for even longer. I'm so excited that I got to join SfN's Community Leaders group! I hope to meet you all as much as I will be presenting more about myself in further posts.

I was trying to find a interview by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (and failed haha), where he broadly speaks about the resistance from the own scientific community with scientists that work on scientific awareness. As if we are not giving the correct amount of time to lab work when we do that, effectively going against the terms and conditions of fellowships and work contracts. However, I don't think this is something we must dedicate ourselves to exclusively in our free time! It is, like Rodrigo said, a role we must take as scientists, it is, indeed, our job. Have you found any resistance from PIs or institutions when dedicating to scientific awareness projects?

We should start by saying that everyone has their own definition of "work/life" balance. This goes with my previous comment. It depends on the expectations. I read the comments and see that some consider working weekends as part of their balance and others focused to be organized on weekdays. This is the same as the expectations from a PhD or postdoc. Some PIs believe that you should do experiments at the lab (including weekends) and write at home (no personal life!). This should NOT be our norm, but it is widely accepted.

As a neurosurgeon, I feel deeply dissatisfied with the treatment available to treat our patients. We certainly need to increase our therapeutic arsenal. I believe that this dissatisfaction is the driving force behind my work (I believe that many colleagues share this feeling) I currently have 3 lines of work and research 1. neurooncology: we look for therapeutic targets for childhood tumors that are more prevalent in pediatrics, such as medulloblastoma and ependymoma 2. cerebral palsy and movement disorders (especially in children). Children with cerebral palsy have many problems with locomotion and motility (especially spasticity and dystonia). The most commonly used treatments today (drugs and surgeries such as DBS (deep brain stimulation) still need to be greatly improved. My team is researching new interventions in the connectome of these children, such as new targets, microfocused ultrasound and different brain stimulation techniques. 3.Education: training new generations is a fundamental factor for the development of neuroscience, as well as ensuring a healthy environment where minds can offer their best. My passion is to help new neurosurgeons and healthcare students embrace neuroscience in a happy and responsible way

Hello Neuonliners! I am honored by the opportunity to contribute to this wonderful community and am looking forward to serving as a community leader for this year. I’m Jaya Viswanathan, a neuroscientist, engineer, author, and artist born and raised in India. I earned a Master’s in neuroscience and a Doctorate in cognitive neuroscience before working as a post-doctoral fellow. I am currently a KGS Contractor Program Analyst in the Division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging where I support program development to achieve the research goals of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. This includes efforts to improve the rigor and reproducibility in published research through the Alzheimer’s disease Preclinical Efficacy Database (AlzPED), as well as using open science and big data approaches to address the big neuroscience questions. Apart from my scientific pursuits, or rather, in parallel to them, I have been passionate about communicating science and making scientific concepts more accessible to a lay audience. In service to that goal, I authored and illustrated an award-winning neuroscience and neuroart book for children, Baby Senses: A Sensory Neuroscience Primer for All Ages (https://babysensesbook.com/). I also wrote a neuronline article about neuroscience education (https://neuronline.sfn.org/outreach/inspiring-young-scientists-through-art-science-and-poetry), and have been a guest on numerous educational video /audio podcast episodes in the service of the same goal (https://babysensesbook.com/brains-art-and-more/). As a Neuronline community leader I hope to contribute to generating resources for neuroscience communication, supporting career development for diverse neuroscientists, developing resources for conducting rigorous and reproducible science, and enhancing the dialogue between neuroscience and society on various issues.

First, I want to say to all scientists that science matters, that even in these complicated conditions, science matters. When I saw the video I felt sadness for all situations, but at the same time, I felt that there is hope whereas we stand for science. In the same way that the Ukranian Fellows stand and resist for science. In Mexico, we don't have this kind of problem, but we have different adversities that change society and science (drug cartels, natural disasters, social movements, strikes, etc.). In my case, we faced a huge strike in the 2000 year, I was a student and I was researching with rats and drug discrimination. In the beginning, everybody thought that the strike would be only a few days. However, after two months things changed, the strike did not show possibilities of change and all the researchers and academics started to worry about the future. I remember that we went to talk with the heads of the movement and we explained why we should continue with the science. At this moment we were so nervous because in the past, one social clamor released all the experimental subjects and that was a possible choice for the heads of the strike. After a few days, the heads of the strike told us that we were allowed to continue with the experimental work, but there would be no external resources or participation of any person or entity. We accepted those terms and we did everything (the experiments, the training, the cleaning, the maintenance of the building, the baths, etc!!). The strike was for one year, in that year we stood and resisted for science, It was hard but at the end, we didn't stop science. Finally, I would like to add that science is part of society, if something happens in society of course it's going to impact science. We should be prepared and ready to stand for science and the changes in our society.

I gained significant knowledge in characterizing microglial activation and polarization in vivo and in vitro central nervous system injury models. As a postdoctoral researcher, I have continued to enhance my skills in examining microglia activation and neurotoxicity in different models of neuronal damage by utilizing molecular biology, biochemistry, and confocal microscopy techniques. I aim to unravel the molecular mechanisms governing microglia activation and how immunoregulatory processes influence their behavior. By identifying signals regulating their activation, we hope to develop targeted immunomodulatory strategies to mitigate neuroinflammation and its detrimental effects, ultimately enhancing brain resilience.

Neurological disorders involving dysfunction or deregulation of neural circuits such as Parkinson's disease, Epilepsy, and others are chronic and progressive diseases that severely impact quality of life. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has emerged as an effective and efficacious treatment paradigm for these "circuitopathies" as well as a powerful tool for exploring basic functionality of neural circuits. Despite DBS' clinical and scientific successes, it is fraught with off target stimulation and a lack of understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms of effective stimulation. My research centers around the development of new neural stimulation and recording tools to better understand and translate neuromodulation therapies. To this end, I have worked in the following areas: 1. Optical DBS to constrain stimulation only to local microcircuits implicated in disease. 2. Development of chronic small and large animal implantable pulse generators (IPGs) to better mimic clinical DBS practice in rodent and pig models. 3. Study of differential thalamocortical dynamics and thalamic contributions to traveling cortical waves 4. Development of awake behaving calcium imaging tools in DBS rat models to better understand thalamic entrainment of DBS stimuli. 5. AI-enabled closed-loop neuromodulation tools that learn subject neural dynamics in real time to provide target stimulation only when needed. My research is driven by a desire to serve those whose neurological conditions currently have no recourse to current medicine. I am equal parts engineer and neuroscientist and work to translate new neuromodulation tools which work with, and not against, the nervous system to provide safer and more efficacious medical tools.

The first law is that a robot shall not harm a human, or by inaction allow a human to come to harm. The second law is that a robot shall obey any instruction given to it by a human The third law is that a robot shall avoid actions or situations that could cause it to come to harm itself. Isaac Asimov´s laws

Hi all.....I think the best advice from my supervisor was try to FOCUS. Focus on what you are doing and move slowly towards your careers goals. Also he advised me to expand my network and collaborate with others. I apply these advices till now and I have a motto of : United We Concur.....so I am always eager to expand my professional network and keen to start new collaboration.

Once more, I loved the topic brought for discussion! Though it's such a hard task choosing just a single piece of advice, I believe it has to do with something I've recently heard from one of our coordinators (here at my university): "Once you're in doubt between options to pursue research at, just write a piece of review." Here I justify that, although it has much to do with the situation I'm currently at - and I highlight it, just as I've said in my latest post, here at the Community Leader's forum - I'm truthfully in the opinion of having it applied to further circumstances in any scientific career. For an instance, it doesn't matter how much you already know about a certain subject (or its subdivisions) going back to the simplicity - just as a review article might look to be like - helps us figuring out better options and visualising the scenario from multiple perspectives. Certainly, from plenty of help I've received throughout High School and short time of undergraduation, so far, I've recently started to realise, whenever we're in doubt, advices start coming up as both a assurance (a relief, whenever it coincides with our personal choices) and as a new way of seeing things. Nonetheless, in this last case, it's impressive how much we got to learn, doesn't matter how old we are. Assuredly, anyone is able to teach and to learn. (Is that a second advice I've had already received? I guess so.) Back to the piece I've decided to emphasize, along with summing up, while picking up my path of research at college, the review article I prompt myself on writing can be published by the end! Which scientist doesn't like the feeling of publishing our works? Thank you, professor, for your advising!

Hej! Greetings from Sweden. My name is Mathew Birdsall Abrams. I am the Director of Science and Training at the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF), an organization dedicated to the development, evaluation, and endorsement of standards and best practices that embrace the principles of open, FAIR, and citable neuroscience. INCF also provides training on how standards and best practices facilitate reproducibility and enables the publishing the entirety of research outputs, including data and code. I am recovering experimental spinal cord injury researcher turned neuroinformatics enthusiast. I am passionate about open science, neurotechnology, and FAIR data management. I look forward to discussing with you all.

Hola!!! My name is Hugo Sanchez-Castillo... Im from México and I'm Professor/researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. My research is focused to understand the neurobiology pf PTSD and the stress related disorders. However I love the behavioral pharmacology and timing behavior either. I like to discuss about science and I hope to contribute to this group and to build bridges with the different groups.

Hey everyone! My name is Valéria Muoio , I am a neurosurgeon based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I did my PhD at the University of São Paulo, with a sandwich period at Johns Hopkins University. I also worked as a scientist at the Charite University in Berlin- Germany. I split my time between the surgical center, the laboratory and teaching at the medical school in Sao Paulo. I believe that such activities are complementary and I think it's beautiful when we transmit this complementarity to the new generations. Exchanging experiences as human beings (not just our technical knowledge) improves our craft and our career perception. I hope I can contribute to the group and I can't wait to learn from everyone.

2014 LATP Fellow, @Maira BiccaPhD, will lead a discussion on Promoting Science Advocacy in Your Community on Thursday, May 28 from 10:00a.m. to 11:00a.m. EDT. This live chat will take place on the LATP Community, in the thread below. Maíra Assunção Bicca is currently a Neurosurgery postdoctoral (PD)-fellow at the Sleep and Pain Research Lab, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. Previously, Neurobiology PD-fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, USA and Immunopharmacology PD-fellow at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. Graduated in Pharmacy (2010), Master (2012) and Doctor (2016) of Pharmacology, with emphasis in Neuroscience - UFSC, Brazil. Research on the cause-consequence effects in between sleep disturbance and pain sensation with projects focused on the underlying mechanisms by which one affects the other. Research interests also include the amyloid-beta induced toxicity in a variety of AD experimental models and Clinical trials. Collaborator in a number of projects that engage Brazilian and International researchers concerning the immunobiology of viruses and bacteria, pain, inflammation, PTSD, anxiety and depression, Parkinson's disease, and cancer. Can't attend this chat live? That's OK! You can start the conversation by adding your questions/comments now or continue the conversation later by adding your questions/comments afterwards!

Hi Maira, Thanks for sharing! Any tips for how to create or improve our science contents for social media? Could you recommend us some websites to find more information? Hi, I'll answer here both Ricardo and Kathia 'cause they have kind of similar questions. First of all, I am doing fine Ricardo, thank you for asking. Sometimes, I feel like my brain has left my body and sometimes I feel like my brain can't stop..I blame the pandemics...lol Lots of exercising, reading, watching videos, listening to music, and videochating with family and friends to stay sane. Hope you are doing fine as well. I'll answer here both you and Kathia 'cause you guys have kind of similar questions. Well, I do not use particular websites to create content like videos, jingles, etc but I do use apple and windows video and picture editors to add figures, gifs, color, music, to my posts. I try to be simple but fun in general. Here are two tips on tools that help me create content: 1. Mindthegraph. Is a platform to create infographs, charts, etc. The drawings are so cool and so colorful, you can create many things using their templates. When the figures and content you present are nice and clean, people will pay attention. 2. Resultados digitais. Instagram: @resdigitais. They are specialized in create content for social media, to engage people. I watch videos from them, check their memes, to get inspired and try to apply that to my content. As they are very directed to social media they are frequently on top pf their game about memes that are "trends for now". I found interesting and efficient to use these memes, that people really like, to communicate science.

Hi Raquel, Sure. I graduated from the department of Pharmacology at UFSC in South of Brazil. There, we had a solid group working on Neuroscience. We organized few events for different public. For instance, we organized a science fair about the brain physiology and pathology, focusing on kids and seniors and we brought this event to a shopping mall. Another example, we used to promote summer courses to community high school students on drug discovery, actions and side effects. Of course, you need financial support for these types of events, that is why we were trying to engage local small business to contribute with us.

2018 LATP Fellow, @Yorka Munoz PhD, will lead a discussion on Work/Life Balance and Managing During COVID-19 on Friday, April 17 from 12:00p.m. to 1:00p.m. EDT. This live chat will take place on the LATP Community, in the thread below. Yorka Munoz is a Biologist, MSc. and PhD in Molecular, Cellular Biology and Neuroscience from the University of Chile. Nowadays, she works as a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She is interested in elucidating the role of astrocytes in memory processes and Alzheimer’s disease. During her PhD, she obtained two fellowship to attend to courses (3rd ISN Latin American school of Advance Neurochemistry (2014) and 10th IBRO-USCRC Canadian School of Neuroscience (2016)), three International Travel Grants to attend to conferences (13th ADPD (Austria, 2017), NeuroFrance 2017 (France, 2017) and 26th ISN-ESN Biennal Meeting (France, 2017) and she was a Latin American Training Program fellow in 2018. Dr. Munoz will discuss the importance of keeping a balance between work and personal life, talking about her experience during her PhD program. Can't attend this chat live? That's OK! You can start the conversation by adding your questions/comments now or continue the conversation later by adding your questions/comments afterwards!

Since we are in the topic, for the mothers and fathers in the thread, Nature did an article on balancing work/childcare during the pandemic recently! https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01060-x

Hi Maria! You mentioned two tools (Asana and Slack) what are this two about? how do you use these in your lab?

Are anyone here feeling a pressure form your sponsor to be productive and write papers and do webseminars and be the most productive ever in this quarentine? I have some friends are very anxious during quarentine and are not handling this. Do you have any advice for that or some similar is happening to you @Yorka Munoz

I have the same feeling. Different labs/projects put different expectations on your productivity. I had good work/life balance in my Master's but switch lab and project and fell short during most of my PhD. I think it's important to set your own personal boundaries on what you are capable of delivering and try not to rely so much on external expectation.

I think there are 2 main ways to do this. The first is to create opportunities, from elementary school to the final years of graduation, integrating neuroscience into their lives and conveying the concept that neuroscience is not restricted to the laboratory or operating room. Neuroscience is all around us, it explains what we are! I think it should be taught like mathematics, geography, etc. I believe that also creating jobs and opportunities for employment, for studying at universities, is also a great idea, bringing the community together to take up positions, be interested in science, whether through extension courses. Regarding underserved communities, I think that outreach programs are vital. It is important that leaders in neuroscience, in the health area, educators, etc., get closer to vulnerable populations, going to these places, talking to people, understanding what they need, their desires, carrying out educational programs. Involving the leaders of these communities is a great strategy, and the experiences that can be shared are always rewarding. Many people need is just a chance for someone to believe in them, and if we have the chance to be this someone is just amazing

Dr. Nana Voitenko and her lab were making an effort to continue their research, in any way possible, while fearing for their own and other family members' lives. The effort to save cell cultures, chemicals, and other research materials during the power outage while dealing with the immense mental stress brought on by the war emphasizes their dedication to science. This is truly inspiring as a PhD student when, currently, my only constraint for scientific progress is time. Their experiences put into perspective the ease with which I can continue doing research on a daily basis. The biggest takeaway from this, regarding how to navigate obstacles in research, regardless of how minor, is to adapt and pivot. Focus on areas that you can control or make progress on. One example is Dr. Voitenko's transition to developing a "European style" medical school to enhance the training of medical students. She also made use of SfN’s amazing community and led a meaningful change to the issue of male scientists needing funding but not being able to leave the country.

Wow where to begin? My interest in neuroscience has always been conceptually broad – how does the brain perform the computations it does for everyday life functions, and how do these computations change with development, learning, and aging? Over the years of graduate school and post-doctoral fellowship, I’ve conducted research experiments using various behavioral, experimental, and computational techniques in humans and animals (ferrets). Using visual and auditory experimental paradigms, I investigated the mechanisms of perception, learning, memory, and how these change with aging using psychoacoustics, eye tracking, EEG, fMRI, and neurophysiology. As a program analyst contractor [KGS] supporting the achievement of the research goals of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s, I get to take a bird’s eye view of the entire neuroscientific research landscape. In my current role, I prioritize the development of the programs and infrastructure to achieve these goals. My activities range from development of targeted funding opportunities to address the gaps and opportunities in the research landscape, improving the rigor and reproducibility of funded and published research, participating in policy and program workgroups and more. I love this role; while I had no idea such roles existed for much of my own career, in this position I combine scientific expertise with communication and analytic skills to serve the public and the community I work with. Working on AlzPED, the Alzheimer’s Preclinical Efficacy Database (https://alzped.nia.nih.gov/) has been particularly fulfilling. In addition to being a curator, I also work with partner organizations to widely implement the adoption of rigorous experimental design as well as provide the research community with a platform to publish (as a preprint with a citable DOI) their negative findings which can be traditionally hard to publish.

Firstly, I just want to emphasize how happy I am to discuss something related to diversity once more! Linking my emotions to an actual written content, I share the opportunity I'm having as a Community Leader. Just from the part of my context I'm happy to share - as a latina and undergraduate student - it's amazing to interact with such incredible researchers, doctors and all of you here at SfN! Yours experiences, kindness and engagement make it all amazing! After all, amidst the struggles - once there's no quick modification on the demographics of the scientific community as a whole - smaller steps might be the source to rely on. Surely, it's a scenario I'm gratefully finding at many science and academia groups but, specifically, extremely happy to see it happening here at SfN. Resources, such as content (incredible stories and articles) and the creation of programs - like the Community Leader opportunity for Early Career scientists - are mere exemples on how I gladly see change beginning to appear, though at my local and immediate surroundings. Engaging people from all backgrounds - degrees and life experiences included - might be just the beginning, but it has been done thoroughly. Doing our own bests it's not all that matters. Still, it represents the will and the courage for the changes we are going to see on the future.

I have always subscribed to the notion that the word "fail" is an acronym for "first attempt in learning" which in my opinion sets a more positive tone and calibrates my expectations of myself (think about learning to ride a bike: it took several attempts and a few stumbles along the way to master the skill). Also, I believe that it is important to have something else in ones life that you are passionate about (family, cooking, sports, etc...) and that you try to create a balance between this passion and neuroscience; so that when the professional failures arise (which they will), you have the other passion to reaffirm your self worth. I hope this makes sense!

“What is the best advice you have received from a professor/supervisor throughout your career?” This is a good question. Let me reach way back into my cortex for the answer..... So, this is a story about the advice that I didn't take. As a neared the end of my post-doctoral fellowship training, I started applying for faculty positions---some positions I applied for were at large, research institutions, others were at smaller liberal arts colleges that focused more on teaching, with less of an emphasis on big-time research. I ended up being offered a faculty position at a medical school that was part of a small liberal arts college in rural Georgia. I was going to be given my own lab space, and I was expected to support my lab with extramural funding, like at any other medical school, but I was also going to be required to carry a pretty hefty teaching load (roughly half my time was to be spent teaching first- and second-year medical students). I didn't have much exposure to or opportunities for teaching as a graduate student or post-doctoral fellow, but I knew that teaching was something that I really wanted to pursue. When my post-doctoral mentor found out that I had decided to take this position, she strongly advised me against going to an institution that wasn't primarily research focused and where I would be required to do a lot of teaching. She was worried that spending so much time in the classroom would potentially ruin my career as a researcher. Well, I thanked her for her concern and advice, and I took the position anyway. I spent 15 years at that small medical school that was part of a liberal arts college, and I don't regret it a minute of it. I was given the unique opportunity to have a thriving research program (albeit very small compared to other neuroscience research labs), while learning to teach and design medical school curriculum. Without that experience, I never would have ended up in my current position, where I'm now part of a team starting a new medical school. So, I guess the lesson here is that sometimes the best advice comes from yourself---trust your instincts, listen to your gut, and don't be afraid to take a chance.

Doing Well by Doing Good With Open Science In this new Neuronline article, Dr. Juan Pablo Alperin speaks on the incentivization of exclusivity in academia and how the broader shift towards open access to research will benefit the careers of researchers. Read this and more in the Foundations of Rigorous Neuroscience Research collection. A Collective Approach to Improving Scientific Rigor How do cognitive biases and the pressures of the incentive structures in academia undermine the quality of research produced? Dr. Marcus Munafo shares how community-centered action, collaboration, and open science improve scientific rigor, as a part of the Foundations of Rigorous Neuroscience Research collection. An Unhealthy Interest in What the Kids are Doing These Days Recreational drug use continues to harm health, as well as vocational and inter-personal success, for some individuals. In this on-demand webinar, Dr. Michael Taffe describes how models from non-human primate to rat to the crayfish have been used in his lab to determine effects of popular recreational drugs. Watch this and more in the Meet-the-Experts collection. New Biophotonic Nanotools for Photostimulation of Neurons Bio-photonic nanotools, including organic nanoparticles and photochromic compounds, represent a gene-free strategy for wireless neural photostimulation. Current studies in animal models are addressing their potential application in the cure of human neurodegenerative diseases. In a Meet-the-Experts webinar, Dr. Fabio Benfenati takes a deep dive into nanotools and their application in the cure of human neurodegenerative diseases. Influential Writing and Leading Change "An essential part of doing good science is getting the word out." Dr. Gundula Bosch shares how influential writing and increasing the visibility of your work through non-traditional forms of media can facilitate changes in education and build influence. Read the whole article, which includes a short video from the author, and explore the Foundations of Rigorous Neuroscience Research collection. Endogenous Circadian Clock Machinery in Cortical NG2-Glia Regulates Cellular Proliferation Circadian rhythm disturbances are commonly seen in neurologic disorders across the life span. The ramifications of these disturbances for the cellular healing capabilities of the brain are unknown. In this SfN Journals: In Conversation webinar, Dr. Terry Dean and Dr. Vittorio Gallo discuss their eNeuro paper with Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard.

An initial project underneath the topic of childhood depression, powered by collaborations and which ought to inspire SfN’s members as it continues constantly (scientifically) improving: Dr. Luby’s Scientific Research Webinar - now on demand - was broadcasted on January 4th. Including an experienced personal guidance, questions of thoughtful participants, brilliant research prospects and a explanation of inspirational publications, my summary shall update and take us all to new discussions - as prompted by Dr. Joan L. Luby - or even present a new topic for those passionate about Neuroscience. Initially, it’s important to describe an initial collaboration among the brain and the behavior that, after all, besides naming after the research, emphasises the trust, the respect and one of the key aspects (highlighted by our presenter) that made the incredible work possible: the meeting of Psychology and Neuroimaging. This way, a public health objective of addressing children under the age of 6 with diagnosed clinical depression and developing early intervention for such group, became something even greater. After all, what still has a high potential for clinical translation based on design studies, structured itself on a collaboration. Due to the feasibility of imaging kids aged about 6, there was a skeptical professional view of a neuroimaging specialist. Nonetheless, intrigued by population studies and accumulated data on adults with schizophrenia and depression, the context of neuro data transformed into a follow up and the path for certain questions. Would the development of functional and social impairments be spontaneously remitted by school age? What about the chronicity endurance of the disorder for the later childhood and adolescence? Those aged from 3 to 6 years with depression characteristics - comparatively to those with called normative sadness and other disorders - already faced different health impairments and other different psychological conditions whose, relying on development, behavior and psychosocial variables, represented an interaction of emotion development and risks for psychopathologies. Yet, with much more that came through the webinar, it could only become clearer on how the direct collaboration of phenomenological studies and neuro data had just adjoined themselves for a path of Early Childhood Psychopathology’s Intervention discoveries, targeting control variables all the way to becoming central emerging ones. From Dr. Luby’s words: “Don't be so focused on what you initially proposed so you ignore what you did discover…” The hippocampi with varied volumes proved to be the Neuroimaging interaction from animal models and well-stablished Methylation Mechanism with the psychosocial ideas - by means, concepts - of the targets. The licking (and, therefore, psychosocial aspect), the DNA transformation, demethylation, glucorticord receptors impacted, the hippocampus volume: it had to do with the caregivers. In fact, those videotaped by blind coders based on maternal support (considering the volume variation of school aged hippocampi) were the poverty mediation and the stressful (or poor) parenting that had to do with the initial questions. Along the targeting for early intervention, it was possible to take notes on the optimal data on subcortical grey matter volumes up to the impact of biological systems. The Neuro-immune Network Hypothesis, after all, showed to us how adverse, abusive and depriving environments communicated with immune cells in materials which participate in responses, health behaviours and unrelated outcomes. Scientifically, the bridge between learning, education and interventions was stablished. Textually, the presentation ignites a whole group of topics still to be written about. For an instance, an opinion piece on basic Neuroscience research - parallel to Model researches on single neurons level (on other animals) and to circuit or structural (on humans) - the composition and the collaboration extended itself towards the impact on public health. Indeed, the cross-talking of a sensitive period of visual, language, emotional, cognitive and social for Early Interventions and Early Precautions symbolises the questions to construct an optimisation plan. When and which opportunities shall be increased by the influence of environmental factors? Following up, the Early Life Adversity Biological and Embedding Study (a collaboration between Preterm and Neuroscience) was the key to investigate the mechanisms and the risks - along with theirs respective increases and decreases - on the offspring of the uncertainties regarding pregnancy (preterm birth). Upon consideration of NMH (cytokines markers), the stool and blood samples (to do with inflammation) - as well as the caregiver-child relationship (considered was a protective and trajectory factor) - there were discoveries. In terms of the caregivers, poverty had a lot to do with a high Neuroplasticity in fetus development. Smaller grey and white volumes were functions to point out the disadvantageous experiences by the fetus as early as possible. Violent crime exposures, with impacts of neonatal frontal-limbic connectivity, added to the first statement of this paragraph. Lastly, mediated by a smaller cortical grey matter volume, what was thought to be a factor for preterm birth, actually represented sleep disfunction and chronodisruption, on the outcomes by mechanical aspects. By the end, poverty - rhythmically transmitted to the fetus - is an alteration in developing child brains with a higher risk for psychopathology and, therefore, the highlight of these fascinating collaborations. To elucidate, as following up the collection of samples, sleep and circadian rhythms (continuing as the offsprings) and the nonographies (with school age kids from initial study), EEGs performed on humans and animal research on circadian cycles (with Neuroimaging) gathers all of the work and the relationship that ought to be consolidated. In general, as learned through the content of the webinar, the literature on sleep (synaptic) functions, homeostasis and how socio-emotional aspects correlate to sleep formulate important prospects once sleep duration, timing and stages are analysed at a greater sleep/wake ratio on the course of Brain Development. As for the intervention itself, a Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Emotional Development (PCIT-ED) - for preschoolers with depression - relies on the effects of Reward Response (Erp), considering baseline and post intervention. By the end of this incredible scientific journey, Dr. Luby’s words resonate within personal factors, indispensable for us all to manage failure and rejection; question our own findings (what has to do with flexibility); keep goal focused (as being loyal to the truth); have fun (on the matter of not taking yourself too seriously while balancing your work); choose your collaborations (including trust, work habits and respect); keep an eye on health and science impacts: they are symbols of experience and wisdom we shall appreciate Dr. Luby for. Top 6 webinar questions answered: Who can be the primary caregiver? Response: Anyone who ought to offer the needed support. What about brain changes related to each psychopathology? R.: Some do have relations, others are still not clear. What about temperament reports and quizzes? R.: There was a moderating effect. What about cortisol dynamics and diet screen? R.: Yes, there is alteration considering that. What about the measure of Immune? R.: The activation or not of cytokines were the main measure, thought there was not a direct one, there is some looking to brain inflammation. Which would be the best interventions? R.: Focus on caregivers and the environment.

Hello! My name is Alex Grizzell. I am an assistant teaching professor at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Although research is no longer my primary responsibility, I continue to collaborate with labs at Emory and various other institutions, including The University of Colorado, Boulder and The University of Tennessee, where I completed my post-doc and PhD, respectively. My research broadly focuses on the neural circuitry and neuroendocrinology of stress resilience, particularly in response to social stress and in controllable/uncontrollable situations. I also conduct research on effective teaching/learning practices in neuroscience classrooms and laboratories. At Emory, I am a core professor in the Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology (NBB) program that services over 600 neuroscience (undergraduate) majors each year. I teach Behavioral Neuroscience and Advanced Topics in Neuroscience and I am currently developing a course on Neurodiversity as well as Responsible Communication in Neuroscience. Outside of the classroom, I also mentor student groups that focus broadly on awareness of neuroscience for students and general populations, via outreach and written media. As a neurodivergent, first-gen student myself, my interests are largely in support and mentorship of diverse students and making neuroscience learning spaces more accessible for all, including via communicating the science itself. I look forward to engaging with this group and beyond! This should be a lot of fun!

It was really nice hearing more about your story, Dr. Bin Yin! I’ve also took the opportunity to read your research and now, I have some questions for us all to follow up the conversation topic, if you don't mind. I hope our colleagues join us, as well. Firstly, upon analysing how crucial it is to conceive the process within memory formation for your studies, I wonder if you could, kindly, endorse us on how - if somehow - conditioned fear memories would diverge from memories constructed amidst other circumstances in the context of your research? Secondly, as merging into a bit of controversy relating animal research into Neuroscience, which would be the subtopic (within your study) to become better suited with a virtual environment - therefore, last dependent with animals - to pursue new researches for the future? Lastly, considering the success of your publication, what would be the next steps in regards of your own research development? Congratulations on your amazing work!

Hi Maira, Thanks for sharing! Any tips for how to create or improve our science contents for social media? Could you recommend us some websites to find more information?

Hello Maria! I think that one of our most important roles as scientists is to effectively communicate science and raise awareness in our communities that science is important and that it has to be supported by public administrations. And most of the time I feel that we don't know how to do so or we're not good at it. So, how do we learn to be good communicators? Another topic I'd like to bring: Do you think that after this pandemic people will be more aware about the role of science in our society?

Good morning Maira and everyone! what types of online tools can be created to spread science?

Hi Maira and everyone! Would you give us any advice on how to start if we have no experience? Thanks!

Hi Maria! Can you talk about some events that you organized?

Awesome, for me as well, it is convenient because I needed time for writing papers and grants... that mantains me positive and bussy

I am also working on a review article but it's been going slowly as home life is taxing having a toddler who demands constant attention lol

I sometimes feel like I am loosing my mind. I feel I can not be as productive as I should and then I feel many times guilty I am not more productive. What has been working for me is tu put up a schedule. To accomplish things step-by-step everyday. Small goals, instead of the big picture. I am also sparing time to practice Yoga and meditation in the evenings to help me release tension.