Dr. Cate Peña's Avatar

Dr. Cate Peña

@cate-cholamine

Neuroscientist and mom. Interested in brain development, early life stress, epigenetics, cats, mountains, donuts, and lots of coffee. www.PenaLab.org

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29.08.2023
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Latest posts by Dr. Cate Peña @cate-cholamine

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💡 Working on exciting questions in stress & resilience research?

Bring them to the Global Stress & Resilience Meeting 2027.

We invite proposals for:
• Symposia
• Panel discussions
• Roundtables

#GSRNet2027

10.03.2026 08:45 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0

Check out our latest research drop! We show BLA dopamine signaling encodes the emotional weight of sensory transitions, but not the associative strength or value of stimuli. These signals dynamically rescale when the learning context changes: "this matters most!" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

09.03.2026 15:06 👍 58 🔁 25 💬 3 📌 0

This!! It is impossible to plan

07.03.2026 13:29 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success.

Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302

Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302

The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.

What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.

Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.

07.03.2026 01:59 👍 680 🔁 416 💬 19 📌 61

100% - this!

06.03.2026 16:07 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

As a past Next Generation Leader, I can definitively say the program helped shape how I approach my science. Collaboration is key to making an impact, and so is backing innovation with values-driven research.

I highly recommend applying for this program 🧠

06.03.2026 15:48 👍 10 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
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Applications for our Next Generation Leaders program are open!

For 3 years, accepted early career scientists will join a supportive network and contribute to our research initiatives.

Apply by Mar. 31: https://bit.ly/3OjzdRa

📸 Photo by NGL Alum @bjmarlin.bsky.social

25.02.2026 17:45 👍 11 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 1

🆕 paper from @isaactreves.bsky.social @paulbloom.bsky.social @prof-nick-allen.bsky.social et al using natural language processing to detect suicide risk. They demonstrated elevations in suicidal language & negative sentiment before hospitalization in adolescents.

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

05.03.2026 17:09 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 2

I had the opportunity to write a research briefing for Nature, in which I summarized our recent work in African Striped Mice. It’s a short read for anyone who wants a quick overview! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

05.03.2026 23:52 👍 33 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 0

🚨New paper alert🚨
We built a fully standardized, integrated hardware and software solution for real-time welfare monitoring in mice. We used it to look at pain management after brain surgery.
Not much has changed from the preprint (see below).
Brief: hold back on opioids!
doi.org/10.1038/s416...

05.03.2026 12:55 👍 18 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0

With this war on Iran costing $1B per day, we are now at 4$B, an amount that would fund 3,200 five year NIH biomedical research grants.

04.03.2026 20:20 👍 174 🔁 72 💬 6 📌 8

UAB is recruiting neuroscience faculty at two different levels - come join our vibrant neuroscience community!

03.03.2026 15:14 👍 43 🔁 40 💬 0 📌 1
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Lastly, we zoomed out: what’s the overall pattern of superficial tract development — where the developmental drama happens? Tract ends near sensorimotor cortex mature earlier; those near association cortex mature later. Our second axis: Sensorimotor ➡️ Association. 10/n

02.03.2026 01:17 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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We truly didn’t know what we’d find. The pattern we saw was striking – and replicable. Across nearly all tracts, we saw the most developmental drama at superficial tract regions near the cortex. Deep regions showed little age-related change. Our first axis: Deep ➡️ Superficial. 4/n

02.03.2026 01:13 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0

I have a sticky note with “WHO CARES?!” above my computer to remind me of this.
However: a trainee once gestured to it and asked if I was ok 🤣 so maybe just in document headers is a better idea

02.03.2026 23:50 👍 10 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The savings we're getting here by annihilating decades of American science will pay for whole minutes of the operation to create decades of death, immiseration, and chaos in Iran.

02.03.2026 11:45 👍 890 🔁 261 💬 6 📌 1

Hahahaha yes bsky.app/profile/cate...

02.03.2026 17:00 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

$300 Million in jet planes lost to a fuckup.

That’s 83 five year NIH R01 grants burned in minutes due to error, aka poor execution of this unnecessary war which serves only to make the world more dangerous.

02.03.2026 15:28 👍 151 🔁 63 💬 0 📌 1

I would like to see Pritzker and Newsom declare a state tax receivership fund whereby citizens pay their federal tax liabilities into a state-run escrow account rather than directly to the IRS.

The state can hold these funds in trust for the federal government until Trump obeys the Impoundment Act.

25.02.2026 23:03 👍 2050 🔁 495 💬 34 📌 59

I really needed a quiet week after a series of big pushes over the last many months. So of course, today I started writing a brand new IACUC protocol #academicmasochism

25.02.2026 23:41 👍 15 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Screening, sorting, and the feedback cycles that imperil peer review The process of peer review is vital to contemporary science, but is also under enormous strain. This study uses mathematical models to dissect the threats to the long-term viability of peer review, su...

1. Kevin Gross and I have a new paper out today PLOS Biology.

We used economic models based around screening games and the market for unpaid labor to highlight a meltdown cycle threatening peer review.

24.02.2026 20:54 👍 324 🔁 132 💬 8 📌 17

NYU's Center for Neural Science is seeking a faculty candidate that would be jointly appointed with our Tandon School of Engineering. We are looking for post-doc applicants with neuroengineering or computational backgrounds.

apply.interfolio.com/182074

24.02.2026 14:25 👍 32 🔁 29 💬 1 📌 0

Congrats!

23.02.2026 21:41 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Thank you, Junjie! You got the NYSCF preview ;)

20.02.2026 18:28 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Thank you so much, Catherine! This means a lot to us!

20.02.2026 13:21 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

A amazing new story by @cate-cholamine.bsky.social led by @forrestdrogers.bsky.social on the environmental modulation of paternal behavior in African striped mice, with a newly discovered molecular player of parental control, Agouti! Terrific study, congrats to all authors!...

20.02.2026 12:48 👍 17 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0
Abstract image of building blocks making up a brain

Abstract image of building blocks making up a brain

🌟Announcing the next cohort of the DPN Editor’s New Investigator Waiver Award recipients🌟

Dr. Nicole Zürcher, @nicolerzurcher.bsky.social
Dr. Jennifer Goldschmied, @jengoldschmiedphd.bsky.social
Dr. Sarah Sperry, @drsarahsperry.bsky.social

Congratulations! We're proud to support your work👏

19.02.2026 15:38 👍 9 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 3

New postdoctoral opportunity @lieberinstitute.bsky.social working w/ @tsawada1.bsky.social and our Molecular Neurogenetics team using human induced pluripotent stem cells to investigate molecular, cellular and neuroendocrine mechanisms by which impaired placental function impacts brain development

20.02.2026 02:50 👍 28 🔁 26 💬 1 📌 0

Thank you, Orna!! ❤️

19.02.2026 19:57 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0