A scientific approach to navigating the academic job market
Kirstie Cummings and Sofia Beas are both new assistant professors in the department of neurobiology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. When they met, they discussed the job application process,...
9 Maj 20227min
Identification of THC impairment using functional brain imaging
Driving while under the influence of THC, known as drugged driving, is becoming more of an issue as more states legalize cannabis for both medical and recreational use around the country. THC is known...
23 Feb 20229min
Evolution of prefrontal cortex
In the past, there had been a school of thought that looked at evolution linearly — that is, you could in theory draw a line among mammals as they evolved, and so, say, rodent brains would basically b...
31 Jan 20229min
Astrocyte-neuron signaling in the mesolimbic dopamine system: the hidden stars of dopamine signaling
Star-shaped cells called astrocytes are the most abundant cells to be found in the human brain. In the past, they’d been thought to play a supporting role to neurons, such as providing metabolic suppo...
1 Nov 20219min
Neurobiology of loneliness: a systematic review
Loneliness is a subjective experience, but neuroscientists define it as a distress that arrives from a discrepancy between perceived and desired social relationships. There may be an evolutionary bene...
13 Sep 20218min
Medial orbitofrontal cortex dopamine D1/D2 receptors differentially modulate distinct forms of probabilistic decision-making
It’s known that dopamine transmission in the brain, particularly in the frontal lobes, can affect decision-making and can regulate choices when it comes to actions and rewards. But the effect of dopam...
20 Juli 20218min
Addiction as a brain disease revised: why it still matters, and the need for consilience
Nearly 25 years ago, a paper was published about addiction that transformed the field. The director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse at the time called addiction a “brain disease,” and he wr...
21 Maj 20219min
Big data in psychiatry: multiomics, neuroimaging, computational modeling, and digital phenotyping
The world of medicine has been changing rapidly due to the increasing use of ‘big data.’ And there’s been a major revolution in this approach in neuroscience and psychiatry as well: computing power, s...
19 Mars 20219min
