Dr. Cate Peña
@cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Neuroscientist and mom. Interested in brain development, early life stress, epigenetics, cats, mountains, donuts, and lots of coffee.
www.PenaLab.org
www.PenaLab.org
Pinned
Dr. Cate Peña
@cate-cholamine.bsky.social
· Oct 15
Persistent open chromatin state in early-life stress-activated cells of the VTA
Scientific Reports - Persistent open chromatin state in early-life stress-activated cells of the VTA
rdcu.be
Congratulations to Rebekah Rashford and team, it’s finally out! We tagged early life stress-activated neurons in VTA and found that chromatin those cells was much more open, even into adulthood, and that open CREs predicted greater gene expression in response to stress later in life
rdcu.be/eLa9z
rdcu.be/eLa9z
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Congratulations to @tinakim-neuro.bsky.social on being named one of the 2025 "Rising Stars in Neuroscience" by @thetransmitter.bsky.social! Kim was recognized for her many early career scientific contributions and dedication to mentoring and community building 🌟
📰: pni.princeton.edu/news/2025/tr...
📰: pni.princeton.edu/news/2025/tr...
November 17, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Congratulations to @tinakim-neuro.bsky.social on being named one of the 2025 "Rising Stars in Neuroscience" by @thetransmitter.bsky.social! Kim was recognized for her many early career scientific contributions and dedication to mentoring and community building 🌟
📰: pni.princeton.edu/news/2025/tr...
📰: pni.princeton.edu/news/2025/tr...
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Thoughtful piece on the importance of "DEI" in health research, published in Time Magazine.
time.com/7333975/dei-...
This presents the case in the context of lupus.
time.com/7333975/dei-...
This presents the case in the context of lupus.
DEI Isn’t Wasteful. It’s Necessary for Good Medicine
Lupus patients pay the price when we erase inclusion from medical research.
time.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Thoughtful piece on the importance of "DEI" in health research, published in Time Magazine.
time.com/7333975/dei-...
This presents the case in the context of lupus.
time.com/7333975/dei-...
This presents the case in the context of lupus.
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Pretty special dinner @sfn.org with these glorious women last night 🤩 ❤️
How do I have a job where I travel around the world and hang out with awesome people?
@moriel-z.bsky.social @denisejcai.bsky.social @ladenardo.bsky.social @neurrriot.bsky.social @bjmarlin.bsky.social @debiaselm.bsky.social
How do I have a job where I travel around the world and hang out with awesome people?
@moriel-z.bsky.social @denisejcai.bsky.social @ladenardo.bsky.social @neurrriot.bsky.social @bjmarlin.bsky.social @debiaselm.bsky.social
November 16, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Pretty special dinner @sfn.org with these glorious women last night 🤩 ❤️
How do I have a job where I travel around the world and hang out with awesome people?
@moriel-z.bsky.social @denisejcai.bsky.social @ladenardo.bsky.social @neurrriot.bsky.social @bjmarlin.bsky.social @debiaselm.bsky.social
How do I have a job where I travel around the world and hang out with awesome people?
@moriel-z.bsky.social @denisejcai.bsky.social @ladenardo.bsky.social @neurrriot.bsky.social @bjmarlin.bsky.social @debiaselm.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
We are grieving our friend and brilliant colleague Natalia Duque-Wilckens. A creative scientist, artist, caring mentor, and force for change. Words can’t describe the impact she had on lives at UC Davis, MSU, NC State and beyond. I feel lucky to have known her and wish her time didn’t end so soon
November 13, 2025 at 6:58 PM
We are grieving our friend and brilliant colleague Natalia Duque-Wilckens. A creative scientist, artist, caring mentor, and force for change. Words can’t describe the impact she had on lives at UC Davis, MSU, NC State and beyond. I feel lucky to have known her and wish her time didn’t end so soon
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
The Cummings Lab is hiring a postdoc to work in the areas of reward and addiction! Please see the ad below:
October 23, 2025 at 6:22 PM
The Cummings Lab is hiring a postdoc to work in the areas of reward and addiction! Please see the ad below:
I missed this when it came out, but such thorough work to be proud of. Especially important to share it now
Happy to share that the first data paper from my lab is out! We find that developmental exposure to PBDE flame retardants drives persistent and sex specific effects on mast cells in and ex vivo www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Developmental PBDE exposure persistently impairs mast cell function in vivo and drives sex-specific morphological and transcriptional changes in bone marrow–derived mast cells
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are synthetic flame retardants once widely used in furniture, electronics, and other consumer products. Althoug…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:57 PM
I missed this when it came out, but such thorough work to be proud of. Especially important to share it now
Massive lab clean yesterday ahead of safety inspections, and was just awarded with this official report: “Lab was in great condition, well organized, and clean.”
Special thanks to @forrestdrogers.bsky.social for leading the effort!
Special thanks to @forrestdrogers.bsky.social for leading the effort!
November 12, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Massive lab clean yesterday ahead of safety inspections, and was just awarded with this official report: “Lab was in great condition, well organized, and clean.”
Special thanks to @forrestdrogers.bsky.social for leading the effort!
Special thanks to @forrestdrogers.bsky.social for leading the effort!
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
James Watson in his own words
“Some anti-Semitism is justified” “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them” “Japan should be bombed for d…
liorpachter.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Really disappointing that our #NIH colleagues will NOT be at @sfn.org this year, will NOT be discussing science, will NOT be advising us on grants, will NOT be sharing results or advancing research. 🤐
Sigh. NIH normally sends several hundred scientists to the SFN annual meeting to learn, exchange info, come up with new ideas, and advance science. (The exchange of ideas is the very core of the scientific enterprise.)
This year, no one from NIH will attend due to the gov't implosion.
This year, no one from NIH will attend due to the gov't implosion.
Enjoy a broad range of lectures and network with experts in the field at #SfN25! 🧠
Gain valuable insights and tools to enhance your research and career.
Browse through to lectures and build your itinerary in the 2025 Neuroscience Meeting Planner
🔗 vist.ly/4de72
#neurosky #neuroskyence
Gain valuable insights and tools to enhance your research and career.
Browse through to lectures and build your itinerary in the 2025 Neuroscience Meeting Planner
🔗 vist.ly/4de72
#neurosky #neuroskyence
November 7, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
How do VTA DA neurons sculpt downstream representations to reinforce actions? VERY excited about our new preprint (by Alex Pan Vazquez & @czimmerman.bsky.social )
VTA dopamine neuron activity produces spatially organized value representations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.04.685995v1
November 7, 2025 at 8:46 PM
How do VTA DA neurons sculpt downstream representations to reinforce actions? VERY excited about our new preprint (by Alex Pan Vazquez & @czimmerman.bsky.social )
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Our new manuscript, led by Emily Corrigan, examines inhibitory neuron diversity across approximately 160 million years of evolutionary divergence, as part of BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) developing brain atlas package: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Conservation and alteration of mammalian striatal interneurons - Nature
An analysis of cell-type diversity in brain samples from a variety of mammalian species, both during development and in adult animals, reveals that the TAC3 initial class of striatal interneurons is c...
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Our new manuscript, led by Emily Corrigan, examines inhibitory neuron diversity across approximately 160 million years of evolutionary divergence, as part of BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) developing brain atlas package: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy Tuesday after the first Monday in November! For those who are eligible and haven’t yet, please exercise your right to VOTE!!!! 🇺🇸
November 4, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Happy Tuesday after the first Monday in November! For those who are eligible and haven’t yet, please exercise your right to VOTE!!!! 🇺🇸
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Early postnatal developmental atlas (epDevAtlas) for the mouse brain has been published. nature.com/articles/s41... High definition brain growth charts with GABAergic neurons and microglia highlight spatially distinct emergency of key cell types.
epDevAtlas: mapping GABAergic cells and microglia in the early postnatal mouse brain - Nature Communications
The developmental dynamics of distinct cell types across brain regions remain poorly understood. Here authors generate DevAtlas, a high-resolution developmental 3D atlas, mapping region and cell type-...
nature.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Early postnatal developmental atlas (epDevAtlas) for the mouse brain has been published. nature.com/articles/s41... High definition brain growth charts with GABAergic neurons and microglia highlight spatially distinct emergency of key cell types.
Just increased our monthly donations to @feedingamerica.org . If you’re in a position to give, this is a great charity helping get food to families in need across the nation
October 29, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Just increased our monthly donations to @feedingamerica.org . If you’re in a position to give, this is a great charity helping get food to families in need across the nation
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Lab’s 1st preprint!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
I’m thrilled to share my postdoc work and the first paper from the McKinley Lab! 🎉
@karalmckinley.bsky.social
We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice.
We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵
@karalmckinley.bsky.social
We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice.
We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵
Induction of menstruation in mice reveals the regulation of menstrual shedding
During menstruation, an inner layer of the endometrium is selectively shed, while an outer, progenitor-containing layer is preserved to support repeated regeneration. Progress in understanding this co...
www.biorxiv.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Lab’s 1st preprint!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
Oh hey look what arrived in the mail today @okaysteve.bsky.social!!
So excited to read this
So excited to read this
October 28, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Oh hey look what arrived in the mail today @okaysteve.bsky.social!!
So excited to read this
So excited to read this
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
I am thrilled to share our latest work: we identified a population of central amygdala neurons that promote the earliest and perhaps most important social behavior: pup suckling!... We also developed new tools for pup neuroscience
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab
October 21, 2025 at 10:18 AM
I am thrilled to share our latest work: we identified a population of central amygdala neurons that promote the earliest and perhaps most important social behavior: pup suckling!... We also developed new tools for pup neuroscience
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab
I am caught up on both paper and grant reviews and have done my 3x submission:review duty. Fully expecting karma to work in my favor now. Thank you universe for understanding
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I am caught up on both paper and grant reviews and have done my 3x submission:review duty. Fully expecting karma to work in my favor now. Thank you universe for understanding
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Very proud of Dr Tracy Bale’s @thebalelab.bsky.social induction into the National Academy of Medicine yesterday evening! A brilliant impactful scientist, a champion of women, and a tireless advocate for global neuroscience at @ibroorg.bsky.social! Congratulations!
October 19, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Very proud of Dr Tracy Bale’s @thebalelab.bsky.social induction into the National Academy of Medicine yesterday evening! A brilliant impactful scientist, a champion of women, and a tireless advocate for global neuroscience at @ibroorg.bsky.social! Congratulations!
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
And now UVA!! www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
MIT, Brown, Penn, USC and now UVA have all rejected the loyalty oath “compact” for “excellence” in higher ed. Five of nine!
(I wonder if this decision was final before today’s planned meeting www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...)
MIT, Brown, Penn, USC and now UVA have all rejected the loyalty oath “compact” for “excellence” in higher ed. Five of nine!
(I wonder if this decision was final before today’s planned meeting www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...)
U.Va. rejects Trump administration Compact for Academic Excellence
The University has rejected the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which he received from the White House and Department of Education Oct. 1, according to a community statement rel...
www.cavalierdaily.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:05 PM
And now UVA!! www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
MIT, Brown, Penn, USC and now UVA have all rejected the loyalty oath “compact” for “excellence” in higher ed. Five of nine!
(I wonder if this decision was final before today’s planned meeting www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...)
MIT, Brown, Penn, USC and now UVA have all rejected the loyalty oath “compact” for “excellence” in higher ed. Five of nine!
(I wonder if this decision was final before today’s planned meeting www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...)
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
And now Penn rejects the compact! Students, faculty and staff unite. @aaup-penn.bsky.social @aaup.org 🔥 www.thedp.com/article/2025...
Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment
With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.
www.thedp.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:14 PM
And now Penn rejects the compact! Students, faculty and staff unite. @aaup-penn.bsky.social @aaup.org 🔥 www.thedp.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Check out our latest, online now at @sfnjournals.bsky.social www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
Superior colliculus projections drive dopamine neuron activity and movement but not value
To navigate dynamic environments, animals must rapidly integrate sensory information and respond appropriately to gather rewards and avoid threats. It is well established that dopamine (DA) neurons in...
www.jneurosci.org
October 15, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Check out our latest, online now at @sfnjournals.bsky.social www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
🚨New job alert! We’re trying to put some tailwind behind developing out some of our new molecular, organismal, and high dimensional phenotyping capabilities @arcadiascience.com and are launching an effort to fuel the fire. But first I need a project director to oversee it.
October 15, 2025 at 7:31 PM
🚨New job alert! We’re trying to put some tailwind behind developing out some of our new molecular, organismal, and high dimensional phenotyping capabilities @arcadiascience.com and are launching an effort to fuel the fire. But first I need a project director to oversee it.
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
All Americans should be proud of these students, who understood the assignment.
Student government leaders of MIT, UVA, U of AZ, Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, and Vanderbilt united in their opposition to the "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
October 14, 2025 at 4:53 AM
All Americans should be proud of these students, who understood the assignment.
Reposted by Dr. Cate Peña
Landmark publication from @junnagai.bsky.social lab!
Incredible work really detailing the neural mechanisms that recruit astrocyte ensembles ! 🤩
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Incredible work really detailing the neural mechanisms that recruit astrocyte ensembles ! 🤩
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The astrocytic ensemble acts as a multiday trace to stabilize memory - Nature
Emotional experience evokes signalling in astrocytes, which form an ensemble that is reinforced by secondary astrocytic state changes resulting from repeated experience, leading to memory stabilizatio...
www.nature.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Landmark publication from @junnagai.bsky.social lab!
Incredible work really detailing the neural mechanisms that recruit astrocyte ensembles ! 🤩
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Incredible work really detailing the neural mechanisms that recruit astrocyte ensembles ! 🤩
www.nature.com/articles/s41...