Ciarán Murphy-Royal
@murphyroyallab.org
Glia-neuron interactions - Astrocytes, Synapses, Behaviour, & Stress
Principal Investigator, CRCHUM
Associate Professor
Dept. Neuroscience
Université de Montréal
www.murphyroyallab.org
Neurobiology of Stress workshop
www.stress2026.com
Principal Investigator, CRCHUM
Associate Professor
Dept. Neuroscience
Université de Montréal
www.murphyroyallab.org
Neurobiology of Stress workshop
www.stress2026.com
Pinned
Astrocytic Encoding of Threat in the Basolateral Amygdala
The basolateral amygdala (BLA) has long been implicated in threat detection and the generation of anxiety states. While previous experiments have demonstrated the important role of BLA principal neuro...
www.biorxiv.org
Delighted to share our first preprint of the year!
A project that we're all really proud of in the lab led by @ossamaghenissa.bsky.social with @mathiasgua.bsky.social in which we set out to test the role of basolateral amygdala astrocytes in anxiety behaviour.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A project that we're all really proud of in the lab led by @ossamaghenissa.bsky.social with @mathiasgua.bsky.social in which we set out to test the role of basolateral amygdala astrocytes in anxiety behaviour.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Couldn't wait for Friday to share this really incredible image from superstar undergraduate student Camila Cabarcas, iInvestigating astrocyte morphology
Fingers crossed for Camila as she's at U Cincinnati this week to interview for grad school!
Fingers crossed for Camila as she's at U Cincinnati this week to interview for grad school!
February 4, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Couldn't wait for Friday to share this really incredible image from superstar undergraduate student Camila Cabarcas, iInvestigating astrocyte morphology
Fingers crossed for Camila as she's at U Cincinnati this week to interview for grad school!
Fingers crossed for Camila as she's at U Cincinnati this week to interview for grad school!
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Save the date for the annual "Neural Circuits and Behaviour" satellite conference at the Canadian Association for Neuroscience annual meeting, cohosted by @franklandlab.bsky.social and myself on May 18, 2026. We have a great speaker lineup and will be selecting 4 trainees talks from our registrants!
January 26, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Save the date for the annual "Neural Circuits and Behaviour" satellite conference at the Canadian Association for Neuroscience annual meeting, cohosted by @franklandlab.bsky.social and myself on May 18, 2026. We have a great speaker lineup and will be selecting 4 trainees talks from our registrants!
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
My perspective in @thetransmitter.bsky.social on why emotion research feels stuck and how we might move forward—by focusing on how the brain uses internal brain models to shape emotional processing across species. www.thetransmitter.org/emotion/why-...
Why emotion research is stuck—and how to move it forward
Studying how organisms infer indirect threats and understand changing contexts can establish a common framework that bridges species and levels of analysis.
www.thetransmitter.org
January 26, 2026 at 11:18 AM
My perspective in @thetransmitter.bsky.social on why emotion research feels stuck and how we might move forward—by focusing on how the brain uses internal brain models to shape emotional processing across species. www.thetransmitter.org/emotion/why-...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
We could all use some extra stress #resilience rn. But how does it work in the brain? On the surface, resilience looks like ignoring stress. Does the brain fail to respond? Or are active adaptations required? Or are resilience and susceptibility divergent paths? doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116867
January 24, 2026 at 1:14 PM
We could all use some extra stress #resilience rn. But how does it work in the brain? On the surface, resilience looks like ignoring stress. Does the brain fail to respond? Or are active adaptations required? Or are resilience and susceptibility divergent paths? doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116867
Nice surprise today in @thetransmitter.bsky.social daily email linking our preprint!
Thank you! 😍
mailchi.mp/thetransmitt...
Thank you! 😍
mailchi.mp/thetransmitt...
January 22, 2026 at 12:34 PM
Nice surprise today in @thetransmitter.bsky.social daily email linking our preprint!
Thank you! 😍
mailchi.mp/thetransmitt...
Thank you! 😍
mailchi.mp/thetransmitt...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Happy to share the latest from our lab published @cp-cellreports.bsky.social, where we delineated the synaptic maturation trajectory for vCA1 and iCA1 projections to mPFC, and pathway-specific effects of vCA1- and iCA1-mPFC juvenile inhibition on cognitive flexibility
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Maturation of hippocampus-medial prefrontal cortex projections defines a pathway-specific sensitive period for cognitive flexibility
Cruz-Sanchez et al. show that the maturation trajectory of ventral and intermediate
hippocampus-medial prefrontal cortex connectivity displays distinct anatomical and
synaptic developmental signatures...
www.cell.com
January 21, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Happy to share the latest from our lab published @cp-cellreports.bsky.social, where we delineated the synaptic maturation trajectory for vCA1 and iCA1 projections to mPFC, and pathway-specific effects of vCA1- and iCA1-mPFC juvenile inhibition on cognitive flexibility
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Registration is filling up fast!
🚨Registration for the N American stress meeting is now open!!🚨
Really excited to be part of it and host the event in the @crchum.bsky.social in Montréal this June!
www.stress2026.com/registration
Really excited to be part of it and host the event in the @crchum.bsky.social in Montréal this June!
www.stress2026.com/registration
January 19, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Registration is filling up fast!
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
🌟🫱🏼🫲🏻Join the fun & scientific excellence of Montreal and become a primary partner of Centre de recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM) [please repost].
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Scientific Director - Biomedical Research Institute in Montreal, Canada - Montréal, Quebec (CA) job with Centre d'innovation biomédicale - Université de Montréal | 12851492
The Courtois Institute for Biomedical Innovation (CI²B) is seeking a distinguished scientist to steer its development.
www.nature.com
January 18, 2026 at 5:47 PM
🌟🫱🏼🫲🏻Join the fun & scientific excellence of Montreal and become a primary partner of Centre de recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM) [please repost].
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Super excited to share this new paper led by @sejpaton.bsky.social that I briefly mentioned at #ACNP2026 yesterday! 🧪🧠🤓
We tested preventive strategies to protect the brain vasculature #BBB during stress exposure, mix of mouse 🐭 and human data
So proud of my team 🤘
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We tested preventive strategies to protect the brain vasculature #BBB during stress exposure, mix of mouse 🐭 and human data
So proud of my team 🤘
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Environmental enrichment and physical exercise prevent stress-induced social avoidance and blood-brain barrier alterations via Fgf2 - Nature Communications
Chronic stress disrupts the brain vasculature and contributes to mood disorders, but mechanisms of resilience remain unclear. Here, the authors show that enriched environments increase astrocytic Fgf2...
www.nature.com
January 16, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Super excited to share this new paper led by @sejpaton.bsky.social that I briefly mentioned at #ACNP2026 yesterday! 🧪🧠🤓
We tested preventive strategies to protect the brain vasculature #BBB during stress exposure, mix of mouse 🐭 and human data
So proud of my team 🤘
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We tested preventive strategies to protect the brain vasculature #BBB during stress exposure, mix of mouse 🐭 and human data
So proud of my team 🤘
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Maximum of 200 participants so do not wait and miss your chance! 🧪🧠
🚨Registration for the N American stress meeting is now open!!🚨
Really excited to be part of it and host the event in the @crchum.bsky.social in Montréal this June!
www.stress2026.com/registration
Really excited to be part of it and host the event in the @crchum.bsky.social in Montréal this June!
www.stress2026.com/registration
January 15, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Maximum of 200 participants so do not wait and miss your chance! 🧪🧠
🚨Registration for the N American stress meeting is now open!!🚨
Really excited to be part of it and host the event in the @crchum.bsky.social in Montréal this June!
www.stress2026.com/registration
Really excited to be part of it and host the event in the @crchum.bsky.social in Montréal this June!
www.stress2026.com/registration
January 15, 2026 at 2:19 PM
🚨Registration for the N American stress meeting is now open!!🚨
Really excited to be part of it and host the event in the @crchum.bsky.social in Montréal this June!
www.stress2026.com/registration
Really excited to be part of it and host the event in the @crchum.bsky.social in Montréal this June!
www.stress2026.com/registration
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Supplementary figure 16
April 10, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Supplementary figure 16
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
For Canadian scholars, the reality is bleak .
Ottawa is dangling money for American researchers, but what about our own? #academicsky #neuroskyence #psychscisky
Ottawa is dangling money for American researchers, but what about our own? #academicsky #neuroskyence #psychscisky
January 12, 2026 at 11:29 AM
For Canadian scholars, the reality is bleak .
Ottawa is dangling money for American researchers, but what about our own? #academicsky #neuroskyence #psychscisky
Ottawa is dangling money for American researchers, but what about our own? #academicsky #neuroskyence #psychscisky
Delighted to share our first preprint of the year!
A project that we're all really proud of in the lab led by @ossamaghenissa.bsky.social with @mathiasgua.bsky.social in which we set out to test the role of basolateral amygdala astrocytes in anxiety behaviour.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A project that we're all really proud of in the lab led by @ossamaghenissa.bsky.social with @mathiasgua.bsky.social in which we set out to test the role of basolateral amygdala astrocytes in anxiety behaviour.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Astrocytic Encoding of Threat in the Basolateral Amygdala
The basolateral amygdala (BLA) has long been implicated in threat detection and the generation of anxiety states. While previous experiments have demonstrated the important role of BLA principal neuro...
www.biorxiv.org
January 8, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Delighted to share our first preprint of the year!
A project that we're all really proud of in the lab led by @ossamaghenissa.bsky.social with @mathiasgua.bsky.social in which we set out to test the role of basolateral amygdala astrocytes in anxiety behaviour.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A project that we're all really proud of in the lab led by @ossamaghenissa.bsky.social with @mathiasgua.bsky.social in which we set out to test the role of basolateral amygdala astrocytes in anxiety behaviour.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
We identified how mechanical forces shape myelin development. The TMEM63A channel in oligodendrocytes converts physical cues into molecular signals that control myelin growth.
Oligodendrocyte mechanotransduction channel TMEM63A regulates myelin sheath geometry: Neuron www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Oligodendrocyte mechanotransduction channel TMEM63A regulates myelin sheath geometry: Neuron www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Oligodendrocyte mechanotransduction channel TMEM63A regulates myelin sheath geometry
Dereddi, Djannatian, and colleagues show that oligodendrocytes use mechanical cues
to measure axon size. The stretch-activated channel TMEM63A converts membrane tension
into calcium signals, which cal...
www.cell.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:55 PM
We identified how mechanical forces shape myelin development. The TMEM63A channel in oligodendrocytes converts physical cues into molecular signals that control myelin growth.
Oligodendrocyte mechanotransduction channel TMEM63A regulates myelin sheath geometry: Neuron www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Oligodendrocyte mechanotransduction channel TMEM63A regulates myelin sheath geometry: Neuron www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
New Year, new paper from our lab. Emily Kramer used 3D light-sheet imaging and tissue clearing to examine the spatial architecture of mouse amygdala engram ensembles.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Examining the Three‐Dimensional Spatial Architecture of Mouse Amygdala Engram Ensembles
Memories are stored in a sparse population of neurons active at the time of an event, an engram ensemble, and reactivation of the engram ensemble drives memory recall. Although the amygdala is essent...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:43 PM
New Year, new paper from our lab. Emily Kramer used 3D light-sheet imaging and tissue clearing to examine the spatial architecture of mouse amygdala engram ensembles.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Reminder that this job is open! If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch. Deadline is February 20th.
Great news! We are looking for an NHP neuroscientist as the assistant professor level. We have no preconceived ideas -- looking for the most exciting research going. If you have any questions, please reach out. universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
Search Jobs - University Affairs
universityaffairs.ca
January 6, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Reminder that this job is open! If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch. Deadline is February 20th.
🚨 PI position in dept. of Neuroscience with lab located the @crchum.bsky.social
Hiring at assistant/associate prof level in the fields of neural regeneration, stem cells and spinal-associated pathologies
can-acn.org/professor-re...
Hiring at assistant/associate prof level in the fields of neural regeneration, stem cells and spinal-associated pathologies
can-acn.org/professor-re...
Professor-researcher (assistant or associate) in Neuroscience related to neural regeneration, stem cells and spinal-associated pathologies – Université de Montréal – Canadian Association for Neuroscie...
can-acn.org
January 5, 2026 at 11:13 PM
🚨 PI position in dept. of Neuroscience with lab located the @crchum.bsky.social
Hiring at assistant/associate prof level in the fields of neural regeneration, stem cells and spinal-associated pathologies
can-acn.org/professor-re...
Hiring at assistant/associate prof level in the fields of neural regeneration, stem cells and spinal-associated pathologies
can-acn.org/professor-re...
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
New preprint from the lab! For those who love astrocytes 🤩. We welcome feedback! #preprint #openaccess #astrocytes #autism
Metabolic, epigenetic and transcriptomic alterations in postnatal 16p11.2 deficient murine astrocytes
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are associated with metabolic dysregulation. While astrocytes are integral to cerebral metabolism, their molecular and functional changes in ASD are poorly known. Using...
www.biorxiv.org
December 17, 2025 at 12:59 PM
New preprint from the lab! For those who love astrocytes 🤩. We welcome feedback! #preprint #openaccess #astrocytes #autism
Huge milestone for the lab last week with @lewisholt.bsky.social defending his PhD!
He really got tested by the jury and put on a phenomenal performance fitting with all the exceptional work he did in the lab.
Really sad to see Lewis go, but we managed to squeeze in one last lab party!
He really got tested by the jury and put on a phenomenal performance fitting with all the exceptional work he did in the lab.
Really sad to see Lewis go, but we managed to squeeze in one last lab party!
December 15, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Huge milestone for the lab last week with @lewisholt.bsky.social defending his PhD!
He really got tested by the jury and put on a phenomenal performance fitting with all the exceptional work he did in the lab.
Really sad to see Lewis go, but we managed to squeeze in one last lab party!
He really got tested by the jury and put on a phenomenal performance fitting with all the exceptional work he did in the lab.
Really sad to see Lewis go, but we managed to squeeze in one last lab party!
Fantastic talk from @papouinlab.bsky.social at the @crchum.bsky.social !
Next on to @lewisholt.bsky.social ‘s PhD defense!
Next on to @lewisholt.bsky.social ‘s PhD defense!
December 12, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Fantastic talk from @papouinlab.bsky.social at the @crchum.bsky.social !
Next on to @lewisholt.bsky.social ‘s PhD defense!
Next on to @lewisholt.bsky.social ‘s PhD defense!
Fantastic presentation from @mathiasgua.bsky.social at @umontreal.ca Neuro department research day.
Showing all his cool new data!
Showing all his cool new data!
December 10, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Fantastic presentation from @mathiasgua.bsky.social at @umontreal.ca Neuro department research day.
Showing all his cool new data!
Showing all his cool new data!
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
It's happening! Canada launched two programs to recruit international researchers.
Canada Impact+ Research Chairs (1 million/yr for 8 yrs +)
Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders.
I will do my best to facilitate the process for those interested. Hit me up.
www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...
Canada Impact+ Research Chairs (1 million/yr for 8 yrs +)
Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders.
I will do my best to facilitate the process for those interested. Hit me up.
www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...
The Government of Canada introduces new programs for international researchers - Canada.ca
www.canada.ca
December 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
It's happening! Canada launched two programs to recruit international researchers.
Canada Impact+ Research Chairs (1 million/yr for 8 yrs +)
Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders.
I will do my best to facilitate the process for those interested. Hit me up.
www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...
Canada Impact+ Research Chairs (1 million/yr for 8 yrs +)
Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders.
I will do my best to facilitate the process for those interested. Hit me up.
www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...
Final journal club of the year so we rounded up what we thought were the best papers of 2025! 🤩
Limit was 1 per person, so tough decisions were made...
www.murphyroyallab.org/journal-club
Limit was 1 per person, so tough decisions were made...
www.murphyroyallab.org/journal-club
Journal Club — Murphy-Royal Lab
www.murphyroyallab.org
December 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Final journal club of the year so we rounded up what we thought were the best papers of 2025! 🤩
Limit was 1 per person, so tough decisions were made...
www.murphyroyallab.org/journal-club
Limit was 1 per person, so tough decisions were made...
www.murphyroyallab.org/journal-club
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
After a constructive and extensive revision, happy to share our manuscript published in @elife.bsky.social entitled "Dorsal hippocampus mediates light–tone associations in male mice" (doi.org/10.7554/eLif...). Congrats to Julia Pinho, @carlarduaso.bsky.social and @imanzanaressierra.bsky.social.
Dorsal hippocampus mediates light–tone associations in male mice
A light–tone sensory preconditioning task in male mice is developed revealing sex differences and demonstrating that dorsal, but not ventral, hippocampal CaMKII-positive neurons encode innocuous stimu...
doi.org
December 4, 2025 at 9:05 PM
After a constructive and extensive revision, happy to share our manuscript published in @elife.bsky.social entitled "Dorsal hippocampus mediates light–tone associations in male mice" (doi.org/10.7554/eLif...). Congrats to Julia Pinho, @carlarduaso.bsky.social and @imanzanaressierra.bsky.social.