Vinny Costa
@vincentcostaphd.bsky.social
Neuroscientist (PhD) exploring how the primate 🧠 learns and decides, while exploiting the consumption of 🍕 and 🥯
Lab website: www.fullcolorbrain.com
SYR/UFL/NIMH/ONPRC/EMORY
Lab website: www.fullcolorbrain.com
SYR/UFL/NIMH/ONPRC/EMORY
Reposted by Vinny Costa
New lab paper drop, this one has been a long time coming! Driven by Rob Aukema (now a postdoc with Kerry Ressler) this paper in Science Advances answered the lingering question of what role the amygdala plays in stress-induced neuroendocrine responses.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A network of basolateral amygdala projection neurons contributes to stress-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
A network of basolateral amygdala neurons, but not singular projections, contributes to the neuroendocrine response to stress.
www.science.org
November 25, 2025 at 10:13 PM
New lab paper drop, this one has been a long time coming! Driven by Rob Aukema (now a postdoc with Kerry Ressler) this paper in Science Advances answered the lingering question of what role the amygdala plays in stress-induced neuroendocrine responses.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Vinny Costa
How about this banger out of the Holmes lab?
November 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
How about this banger out of the Holmes lab?
Good collaborators don’t let you submit bad cover image art.
“LOL that just looks like the acid trip of a neuroscientist.”
“What if I add monkeys?”
“LOL that just looks like the acid trip of a neuroscientist.”
“What if I add monkeys?”
November 26, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Good collaborators don’t let you submit bad cover image art.
“LOL that just looks like the acid trip of a neuroscientist.”
“What if I add monkeys?”
“LOL that just looks like the acid trip of a neuroscientist.”
“What if I add monkeys?”
A local artist traded me some odd objects for some of my art. One was a soup bomb. I assumed ”bomb” meant it was for the bath, maybe a little vegetal. My mom LOVES baths.
Turns out it was soup. In a ball. And my mom had to call for help to get out of the bathtub.
Turns out it was soup. In a ball. And my mom had to call for help to get out of the bathtub.
November 25, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Reposted by Vinny Costa
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/i...
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important.
A new webpage on the NIH site called “Implementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions” is causing a small kerfuffle on the socials. As per us…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:26 AM
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/i...
Reposted by Vinny Costa
Posting for no particular reason….
From the Archive: Comparing performance of within-payline and "select pay" pickup NIH grants at NIAID drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/c...
From the Archive: Comparing performance of within-payline and "select pay" pickup NIH grants at NIAID drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/c...
Comparing performance of within-payline and "select pay" pickup NIH grants at NIAID
Well, well, well. How timely. We were just discussing the situation in which some ICs of the NIH fund some subset of their grant applications out of the order of initial peer review. And what shoul…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Posting for no particular reason….
From the Archive: Comparing performance of within-payline and "select pay" pickup NIH grants at NIAID drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/c...
From the Archive: Comparing performance of within-payline and "select pay" pickup NIH grants at NIAID drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/c...
Reposted by Vinny Costa
Very excited to hear about this! We find Bayesian multi-level modeling at the ROI level super helpful (e.g. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt... ), will be nice to not have to artificially carve the data into parcels a priori!
November 20, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Very excited to hear about this! We find Bayesian multi-level modeling at the ROI level super helpful (e.g. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt... ), will be nice to not have to artificially carve the data into parcels a priori!
Perfect way to end #sfn25. Thanks @neuroamyo.bsky.social!
November 19, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Perfect way to end #sfn25. Thanks @neuroamyo.bsky.social!
Reposted by Vinny Costa
We are thrilled to announce that the preliminary program for the 2026 GRC on the Frontal Cortex is now live!
www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
Registration is now open for both the GRC and our GRS, chaired by @albitc.bsky.social and @jorge-miranda.bsky.social!
www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
Registration is now open for both the GRC and our GRS, chaired by @albitc.bsky.social and @jorge-miranda.bsky.social!
2026 Frontal Cortex Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Frontal Cortex will be held in Holderness, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
November 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
We are thrilled to announce that the preliminary program for the 2026 GRC on the Frontal Cortex is now live!
www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
Registration is now open for both the GRC and our GRS, chaired by @albitc.bsky.social and @jorge-miranda.bsky.social!
www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
Registration is now open for both the GRC and our GRS, chaired by @albitc.bsky.social and @jorge-miranda.bsky.social!
Reposted by Vinny Costa
Reposted by Vinny Costa
Apropos of... well...
I'm reviewing applications for a variety of things right now and can tell when letters are written by AI. There aren't many of them but they do exist. They are... not good.
If you're an academic trainee, choose your mentors wisely.
I'm reviewing applications for a variety of things right now and can tell when letters are written by AI. There aren't many of them but they do exist. They are... not good.
If you're an academic trainee, choose your mentors wisely.
November 17, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Apropos of... well...
I'm reviewing applications for a variety of things right now and can tell when letters are written by AI. There aren't many of them but they do exist. They are... not good.
If you're an academic trainee, choose your mentors wisely.
I'm reviewing applications for a variety of things right now and can tell when letters are written by AI. There aren't many of them but they do exist. They are... not good.
If you're an academic trainee, choose your mentors wisely.
@urochestersmd.bsky.social graduate student Daulton Meyers isn’t a modulator.
Daulton Meyers is a DRIVER.
Does anyone else in this ACC minisymposium hearing Whitesnake? #sfn25 #sfn2025
Daulton Meyers is a DRIVER.
Does anyone else in this ACC minisymposium hearing Whitesnake? #sfn25 #sfn2025
November 16, 2025 at 10:17 PM
@urochestersmd.bsky.social graduate student Daulton Meyers isn’t a modulator.
Daulton Meyers is a DRIVER.
Does anyone else in this ACC minisymposium hearing Whitesnake? #sfn25 #sfn2025
Daulton Meyers is a DRIVER.
Does anyone else in this ACC minisymposium hearing Whitesnake? #sfn25 #sfn2025
Reposted by Vinny Costa
Amygdala milkshake is either a great band name or an apt description of the current vibe
November 16, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Amygdala milkshake is either a great band name or an apt description of the current vibe
Want more neuroscience of explore-exploit? Come to LBP028 right now! bsky.app/profile/vinc...
November 16, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Want more neuroscience of explore-exploit? Come to LBP028 right now! bsky.app/profile/vinc...
November 16, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Vinny Costa
October and November NIH grant submission deadlines will be extended.
Study sections scheduled between October 1 and November 14 have been cancelled and will be rescheduled.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
Study sections scheduled between October 1 and November 14 have been cancelled and will be rescheduled.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-26-005: Interim Guidance on Reopening of NIH Extramural Activities
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Interim Guidance on Reopening of NIH Extramural Activities NOT-OD-26-005. NIH
grants.nih.gov
November 16, 2025 at 1:36 PM
October and November NIH grant submission deadlines will be extended.
Study sections scheduled between October 1 and November 14 have been cancelled and will be rescheduled.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
Study sections scheduled between October 1 and November 14 have been cancelled and will be rescheduled.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
Neuromatch Academy: We’ll teach you to code, but scientific writing? That’s a waste of time.
Especially if you ask me to write you to you a letter of reference and I can’t boil your essence down to a bullet point with an eigenvalue that highlights one of the five humors.
bsky.app/profile/neur...
Especially if you ask me to write you to you a letter of reference and I can’t boil your essence down to a bullet point with an eigenvalue that highlights one of the five humors.
bsky.app/profile/neur...
On a similar note, I feel like we ought to stop writing papers as flowing text and instead just have the bullet points you would have used as a prompt.
I'm actually not joking.
I'm actually not joking.
November 16, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Neuromatch Academy: We’ll teach you to code, but scientific writing? That’s a waste of time.
Especially if you ask me to write you to you a letter of reference and I can’t boil your essence down to a bullet point with an eigenvalue that highlights one of the five humors.
bsky.app/profile/neur...
Especially if you ask me to write you to you a letter of reference and I can’t boil your essence down to a bullet point with an eigenvalue that highlights one of the five humors.
bsky.app/profile/neur...
Reposted by Vinny Costa
Our lateral septum (LS) team is representing for #SfN25! We have two posters on Wed afternoon from RA Madeline Abramson (PSTR463.16) and undergraduate Yufeng Du (PSTR463.17) showcasing newest molecular profiling results across mouse, non-human primate and human 🧠
I'm there too - get in touch!
I'm there too - get in touch!
November 14, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Our lateral septum (LS) team is representing for #SfN25! We have two posters on Wed afternoon from RA Madeline Abramson (PSTR463.16) and undergraduate Yufeng Du (PSTR463.17) showcasing newest molecular profiling results across mouse, non-human primate and human 🧠
I'm there too - get in touch!
I'm there too - get in touch!
Reposted by Vinny Costa
Folks the Sharpe Lab are in the house for @sfn.org! 🎉 Come check out our talks and posters. We’ve been doing some cool stuff down under 🇦🇺 on dopamine, reinforcement learning, and remapping of the fear circuit. 🧠 🧪
November 14, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Folks the Sharpe Lab are in the house for @sfn.org! 🎉 Come check out our talks and posters. We’ve been doing some cool stuff down under 🇦🇺 on dopamine, reinforcement learning, and remapping of the fear circuit. 🧠 🧪
Reposted by Vinny Costa
At #SFN2025 and interersted in the 🔵? Check out posters from Leslie Hassanein (D52; neuromelanin in the mouse locus coeruleus) and Maggie Tish (C59; human 3D locus coeruleus organoids) today from 1:00-5:00!
November 15, 2025 at 12:47 PM
At #SFN2025 and interersted in the 🔵? Check out posters from Leslie Hassanein (D52; neuromelanin in the mouse locus coeruleus) and Maggie Tish (C59; human 3D locus coeruleus organoids) today from 1:00-5:00!
Reposted by Vinny Costa
Chand lab is at SfN! (And I’m looking for postdocs on cells types and dynamics; reach out if you want to chat!)
November 15, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Chand lab is at SfN! (And I’m looking for postdocs on cells types and dynamics; reach out if you want to chat!)
Yeah there was never any point to the most human element of an application that allowed people from non-traditional or disadvantaged backgrounds to get a leg up.
There was never any point to having reference letters. That's why we've all started using AI to do this nonesense task.
References should only be used for short-listed candidates for important positions/awards, and ideally, be done via a call to get the most honest opinion possible.
References should only be used for short-listed candidates for important positions/awards, and ideally, be done via a call to get the most honest opinion possible.
From my discussions with other faculty, the use of generative AI I hear about the most is writing reference letters.
What's the point of having reference letters anymore if everyone is just having them written by machine?
What's the point of having reference letters anymore if everyone is just having them written by machine?
November 15, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Yeah there was never any point to the most human element of an application that allowed people from non-traditional or disadvantaged backgrounds to get a leg up.