Jennifer Bussell | Lightnews

Light up
your news

About Privacy Terms Help

Jennifer Bussell PhD

Jennifer Bussell PhD

@jenbussell.bsky.social

2.4K followers 1.9K following 58 posts

Neuroscientist studying information seeking and curiosity via mouse models at Columbia University. Previously at Vosshall Lab at Rockefeller University. Mom in Brooklyn, former S Carolinian www.jenniferbussell.org

Political science 68%

Sociology 15%

more

Posts Replies Media Videos

Pinned

Jennifer Bussell PhD @jenbussell.bsky.social · Oct 14

Absolutely thrilled to share my postdoc work in the Axel lab. We found odor-evoked representations of the intrinsic value of information in mouse orbitofrontal cortex and showed that mice desire knowledge as its own reward. Now on bioRxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Representations of information value in mouse orbitofrontal cortex during information seeking

bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

www.biorxiv.org

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 1d

This is a powerful message from Freeman Hrabowski.

🧵

1/12

Freeman Hrabowski III, the President Emeritus from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, giving a TED talk.

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Serge Ahmed @sergeahmed.bsky.social · 1d

Can you easily distinguish between value, valence, and salience?

Probably not, but the prefrontal cortex of mice seems to achieve this by creating a sort of multidimensional orthogonal neural space, where each dimension corresponds to one of these subjective elements

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Prefrontal neural geometry of learned cues guides motivated behaviours - Nature

The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex encodes the value, salience and valence of learned stimuli along distinct neural dimensions, and the geometry of these representations shapes motivated behaviours in ...

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell, Rosemary A. Joyce, Rita Rubin , and 8 more Jennifer Bussell, Rosemary A. Joyce, Rita Rubin, Lesley A. Hall, Justin Lewis, Scott A. Imberman, Els Torreele, Melanie Simms, Erin O’Donnell, Catherine J. Frieman, Nicole Guenther Discenza

Nome @nome.bsky.social · 3d

Just because good news is worth celebrating:

There is now a Prep medication that is an *every six month* injection.

HIV has, effectively, a vaccination.

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell, Dana Howard

Chris Krupenye @chriskrupenye.bsky.social · 4d

Imagination in bonobos!

I am thrilled to share a new paper w/ Amalia Bastos, out now in @science.org

We provide the first experimental evidence that a nonhuman animal can follow along a pretend scenario & track imaginary objects. Work w/ Kanzi, the bonobo, at Ape Initiative

youtu.be/NUSHcQQz2Ko

Apes Share Human Ability to Imagine

YouTube video by Johns Hopkins University

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Chrystal Starbird @drstarbird.bsky.social · 5d

And the amazing resource that is the Atlas of Inspiring LatinX/Hispanic Scientists, which you can learn more about and access here:

www.fredhutch.org/en/about/abo...

Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists

The Atlas of Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists is a grassroots effort developed to showcase the expertise, talents, and diversity of Hispanic and Latinx scientific faculty.

www.fredhutch.org

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Chrystal Starbird @drstarbird.bsky.social · 5d

I am SO incredibly excited to announce the launch of a global list of Inspiring Black Scientists. You can use this list to nominate and connect with researchers. Please share and join us in highlighting these outstanding scientists for #BlackHistoryMonth and beyond!

www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Harrison Ritz @hritz.bsky.social · 6d

Final paper of my PhD 🤗

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

There is growing interest in how cognitive control may improve value-based decision making.

However, we find that a recent paper overestimated the role of control in their task, leading to erroneous interpretations of dACC recordings.

Misspecified models create the appearance of adaptive control during value-based choice - Communications Psychology

In a new computational analysis of previous work, this study shows that a control-free mechanism better accounts for value-based decisions than an account that assumes top-down control invigorating th...

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Larry W. Hunter , and 1 more Jennifer Bussell, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Larry W. Hunter, Clark Gray

Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · 6d

Both chambers of Congress have now passed the FY26 minibus with NIH provisions. The President will sign.

(1) $48.7 billion for NIH
(2) Full IDC recovery
(3) No more multi-year funding
(4) No NIH reorganization, maintaining the current IC structure.

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Lauren Aulet @laurenaulet.bsky.social · 7d

first empirical paper from the Aulet lab! What does learning to count do to a brain? We trained neural networks on different tasks and only counting (i.e., predicting the number of dots in a dot array) reorganized representations around number. New preprint:

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell, Richard S.J. Tol

Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 11d

"...women receive substantially lower potential ratings despite receiving higher performance ratings... lower potential ratings do not reflect accurate forecasts of future performance: Women subsequently outperform male colleagues..."
pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...

“Potential” and the Gender Promotion Gap†
By Alan Benson, Danielle Li, and Kelly Shue*
We show that subjective assessments of employee “potential” contribute to gender gaps in promotion and pay. Using data on 29,809
management-track employees from a large retail chain, we find that
women receive substantially lower potential ratings despite receiving
higher performance ratings. Differences in potential ratings account
for approximately half of the gender promotion gap. Women’s lower
potential ratings do not reflect accurate forecasts of future performance: Women subsequently outperform male colleagues, both on
average and on the margin of promotion. We highlight two mechanisms driving the gender potential gap: strategic retention and stereotyping. (JEL J16, J31, J71, L81, M12, M51)

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

kottke.org @kottke.org · 13d

Sesame Street has uploaded a bunch of classic episodes to YouTube that are free to watch, including the very first episode from 1969, the one where Mister Rogers visits, and the episode where Mr. Snuffulupagus is finally revealed. [kottke.org]

Watch Classic Episodes of Sesame Street for Free on YouTube

Sesame Street has uploaded a bunch of classic episodes to YouTube that are free to watch, including the very first episode from 1969, the one where Mister Rogers visits, and the episode where Mr. Snuffulupagus is fin

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Jennifer Bussell, Dorothy Bishop , and 2 more Lisa W. Fazio, Jennifer Bussell, Dorothy Bishop, Jesse H. Kroll, Philip N. Cohen

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 14d

New at Can We Still Govern: NIH scientist @markhisted.org reviews the damage done to American biomedical science in the last year and looks ahead:
"Scientists should not be political partisans, but they should be partisans for liberal democratic principles."🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/american-b...

American biomedical science in 2026

Where we are, how we got here, and what to do next

donmoynihan.substack.com

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Marc Lynch, Jennifer Bussell , and 22 more Joanna Bryson, Marc Lynch, Jennifer Bussell, Richard S.J. Tol, Steve Peers, Mark D. White, Philip N. Cohen, American Library Association, Cathy N. Davidson, Michael Kevane, Silvia Secchi, Michael H. Whitworth, Michael D. McDonald, Michael Jones‐Correa, Alfie Kohn, Catherine J. Frieman, Sean P. Corcoran, Michael Larkin, Charles T. Mathewes, David Waldstreicher, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Virginia Sapiro, Clark Gray, David Darmofal

Nathan K. Hensley @nathankhensley.bsky.social · 18d

This must be weird news to see if you’re one of the literally hundreds or even thousands of university administrators who preemptively censored faculty, scrubbed websites, changed the names of centers, etc.

Keung Hui @keunghui.bsky.social · 19d

Trump administration drops legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threat to schools and colleges. This leaves in place a federal judge's ruling that the anti-DEI effort violated the First Amendment and federal procedural rules. (Via AP) apnews.com/article/dei-... #ncpol #nced

Trump administration drops legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threat to schools and colleges

The Trump administration is dropping its appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked a campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion threatening federal funding to the nation’s schools and colle...

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Chris Gunter 🧬 @girlscientist.bsky.social · 18d

If you / your lab / your institution rely on NIH funding, you need to read this and understand how this is one of many changes affecting you. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: key NIH review panels due to lose all members by the end of 2026

Thirteen of the agency’s advisory councils, which must review grant applications before funding is awarded, are on track to have no voting members.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Jennifer Bussell, Michael Wagner , and 27 more Stephen M. Walt, Jennifer Bussell, Michael Wagner, Linda J. Skitka, Gavin A. Schmidt, Joshua S. Weitz, Scott L. Greer, Mark D. White, Lesley A. Hall, Juan Cole, Daniel W. Drezner, Smith, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Rebecca Tushnet, Alan Richardson, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Margot C. Finn, Els Torreele, David Murakami Wood, Brooke Harrington, Richard M. Carpiano, Nathan Richardson, Pádua Fernandes, Aviel Roshwald, Ezra Golberstein, Susan D. Amussen, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Dana Howard, Timothy D. McBride, Kristina McElheran

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 18d

RFK Jr. appointee Kirk Milhoan has just clearly stated, out loud, that he wants to experiment on the people of the United States by seeing what happens as vaccination coverage plummets and infectious diseases spread.

Screenshot from STAT article that says

"What we're going to have is a real-world experience of when unvaccinated people get measles," he said. "What is the new incidence of hospitalization? What's the incidence of death?"

Reposted by Michael Barnett, Jennifer Bussell, Joshua S. Weitz , and 7 more Michael Barnett, Jennifer Bussell, Joshua S. Weitz, Scott L. Greer, Calvin K. Lai, Erika Franklin Fowler, Devon Greyson, Lauren Hersch Nicholas, Georg Weizsäcker, Jesse R. Lasky

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 18d

🚨 New from me: Grant review at more than half of NIH's institutes could be frozen by the end of the year.

That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027.

A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications.

A short 🧵

Exclusive: key NIH review panels due to lose all members by the end of 2026

Thirteen of the agency’s advisory councils, which must review grant applications before funding is awarded, are on track to have no voting members.

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell, Carl T. Bergstrom

johan @johanm.bsky.social · 19d

As #NYC is potentially facing historic levels of snow this weekend, now is the time to star preparing to help our neighbors.

dora.nyc is ready - but we need your help.

Upload resources, donate, volunteer.

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Stephen V Mahler @svmahler.bsky.social · 19d

Hey ventral pallidum fans, see our new paper showing that #VP GABA neurons, known for reward, also regulate aversive motivation! Inhibiting these cells with #DREADDs potentiates active or passive defenses to threats, likely via LHb.
Congrats to Erica Ramirez & Marty Martinez!
doi.org/10.1016/j.yn...

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Joanna Bryson, Marc Lynch , and 80 more Stephen M. Walt, Joanna Bryson, Marc Lynch, Tobias Bunde, Anupam Chander, Rebecca Solnit, Jennifer Bussell, Richard S.J. Tol, Dorothy Bishop, Brian J. Enquist, Richard E. Lenski, Andreas J. Bäumler, Tobias Kuemmerle, Will Jennings, Jon Pierre, Stefan Rahmstorf, Peter Thorne, Brendan Nyhan, Timon McPhearson, Linda J. Skitka, Du Toit, Julie L. Lockwood, Elena Litchman, Scott L. Greer, John Horgan, Steve Peers, Christopher Wright, Michael A. Clemens, Matthias Doepke, Lewis R. Gordon, Michael J. Allen, Martin Tomko, David W. Kerstetter, Marianne Hundt, Juan Cole, Cathy N. Davidson, Gernot Wagner, Jerry H. Ratcliffe, Edgar Morgenroth, Tuomas Mattila, Michael Kevane, Devon Greyson, Smith, Jonathan Hopkin, Michael W. Kraus, Silvia Secchi, Aaron Sojourner, Vincent Noël, Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, William A. Allen, Robert B. Reich, Michael D. McDonald, Craig R. McClain, Jason Lyall, Michael Müller, Michael Jones‐Correa, Mark Rice, Anthony Burke, Juanjo Medina, Arlene Stein, Jack Stilgoe, James Connelly, Georg Weizsäcker, Ted Temzelides, Richard M. Carpiano, Nathan Richardson, Guy Pe’er, Hisham Zerriffi, Tim Stephens, Blair Fix, Karen O’Leary, Taku Ito, Sylvain Genevois, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Dietmar Fehr, Karin Wulf, Juliet Johnson, Vincent Foucher, Jeannette Sutton, David R. Shumway, Elise Thomas, Carly D. Ziter

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 20d

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 21d

Just spoke to The Hill about how the dismantling of the NIH is impacting science in America. We still face a cliff of unfathomable heights, w easily 1000+ labs poised to close in the next year due to funding ending. A generation of young scientists lost because there is nowhere for them to train.

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell, Joshua S. Weitz

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 21d

The conference (agreement between House and Senate) appropriations bill that includes HHS and NIH was released this morning.

www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit...

1/5

Committee Releases Conferenced Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bi...

United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

www.appropriations.senate.gov

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

sebastianab.bsky.social @sebastianab.bsky.social · 21d

New in Nature Neuroscience: We developed a flexible model that reveals how animals learn tasks—uncovering stages, sudden insights, and gradual improvements unique to each animal.
Learning isn't monotonic, and our model captures that complexity 🐭📊
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Infinite hidden Markov models can dissect the complexities of learning - Nature Neuroscience

Bruijns et al. present a modeling tool that enables the tracking of learning dynamics across subjects to reveal how behaviors emerge and adapt. Applying the tool to a decision-making task in mice unco...

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Stacie B. Dusetzina , and 3 more Jennifer Bussell, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Stacie B. Dusetzina, Dominik Wiedenhofer, Tuomas Mattila, Dana R. Fisher

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 21d

This is so grim. Science isn’t just something nerds do, but the foundation of the modern world. What the Trump regime has done to US science will harm Americans for generations.

‘Shattered’: US scientists speak out about how Trump policies disrupted their careers

Researchers lay bare the human toll of lay-offs, funding cuts and attacks on science one year after the president’s return to the White House.

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Allen Institute @alleninstitute.org · 26d

Teach neuroscience to undergraduates? Learn how to incorporate our connectomics data into your courses!

🧠 "Incorporating open connectomics data into teaching neuroscience"
🗓️ July 23-24
🛫 Travel funds available
⏳ Apply by Feb. 2: https://bit.ly/3LAfOdy

#neuroskyence

Incorporating open connectomics data into teaching neuroscience

Learn to analyze open neuroscience data and introduce dry lab modules into your existing classes at the Incorporating Open Connectomics data into...

alleninstitute.org

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Mark Brandon @markbrandonlab.bsky.social · 26d

I’m very happy to share the latest from my lab published in @Nature

Hippocampal neurons that initially encode reward shift their tuning over the course of days to precede or predict reward.

Full text here:
rdcu.be/eY5nh

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 27d

Dopamine Accumulation Dynamics Control Time Perception https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.13.699158v1

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Ishmail Abdus-Saboor @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social · 28d

Exciting new preprint on oxytocin neural circuits for massage led by Manon Bohic in Vicky Abraira’s lab. Sasha and I were glad to contribute imaging experiments to this collaborative effort, spanning mice to humans. Vicky is a master at bringing people together.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Oxytocin Modulation of Spinal Circuits Drives Therapeutic Benefits of Massage

Across social species, social touch enhances well-being and reduces pain - two seemingly distinct benefits that enhance survival. Yet where and how the nervous system integrates these functions, and w...

www.biorxiv.org

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · Jan 7

What a breakthrough! Such a puzzle for 30 years, this is real progress!

I wonder how general this mechanism of repression is for other systems where highly-selective expression is needed.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The transcription of a single olfactory receptor per neuron is enforced by epigenetic silencing of their enhancers

The ability to discriminate thousands of odors in our environment requires each olfactory neuron to express a single olfactory receptor from hundreds of available genes. The biochemical mechanism enfo...

www.biorxiv.org

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Damien C-C @dccc-phd.bsky.social · Jan 6

Universities should build accessory lab units (ALUs) that let elders still do some of their own science but also be nearby to watch over their grand-trainees.

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · Jan 6

👀

“If you are a 75-year-old professor reading this, now would be a good time to take emeritus status. It’s something that a lot of people could do that would contribute enormously. The job market for young people would be in much better shape if most people over 75 retired.”

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · Jan 6

Folks interested in science philanthropy should read this interview w/Simons Foundation President David Spergel on the role of philanthropy, support of early career scientists (from incentives to a call for more retirements), and the pivot point between future scenarios.

issues.org/american-sci...

“There Are Two Possible Futures for American Science.”

The Simons Foundation president talks about science philanthropy, the future of the research enterprise, and remaining hopeful.