Robert Kozol
@cavefish.bsky.social
He/him/his
Assistant Professor,
St. Johns University.
Cavefish neuroscientist, musician and professional husband/dad
Assistant Professor,
St. Johns University.
Cavefish neuroscientist, musician and professional husband/dad
Reposted by Robert Kozol
I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A
Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish
For over a century, evolutionary biologists have been motivated to understand the mechanisms through which organisms adapt to their environments. Coloration and pigmentation are remarkably variable wi...
shorturl.at
November 12, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Excited to share my most recent postdoctoral work in the Jeanne lab @yaleneuro.bsky.social !
“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics
Extracting relevant features of a complex sensory signal typically involves sequential processing through multiple brain regions. However, identifying the logic and mechanisms of these transformations...
www.biorxiv.org
November 9, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Excited to share my most recent postdoctoral work in the Jeanne lab @yaleneuro.bsky.social !
“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).
Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment
Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t
www.science.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).
Reposted by Robert Kozol
[Job]
Aquaculture Research Associate, Knaut and Torres-Vazquez Labs, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY
#zebrafish
Aquaculture Research Associate, Knaut and Torres-Vazquez Labs, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY
#zebrafish
Aquaculture Research Associate, Knaut and Torres-Vazquez Labs, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY - Jobs - Confluence
zfin.atlassian.net
November 7, 2025 at 1:14 AM
[Job]
Aquaculture Research Associate, Knaut and Torres-Vazquez Labs, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY
#zebrafish
Aquaculture Research Associate, Knaut and Torres-Vazquez Labs, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY
#zebrafish
Reposted by Robert Kozol
1. Map evolutionary diversity to hack biomedical innovation
2. Revolutionize cancer therapy
3. Target the development of antimicrobial resistance
4. Address Anthropocene-related diseases
5. Support healthier behaviors
6. Improve pandemic responses
by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz & Dan Blumstein!
2. Revolutionize cancer therapy
3. Target the development of antimicrobial resistance
4. Address Anthropocene-related diseases
5. Support healthier behaviors
6. Improve pandemic responses
by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz & Dan Blumstein!
6 ways evolutionary medicine can transform our health
Evolutionary medicine is an emerging interdisciplinary field with huge potential to improve human health and tackle a broad scope of major health challenges.
www.weforum.org
November 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
1. Map evolutionary diversity to hack biomedical innovation
2. Revolutionize cancer therapy
3. Target the development of antimicrobial resistance
4. Address Anthropocene-related diseases
5. Support healthier behaviors
6. Improve pandemic responses
by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz & Dan Blumstein!
2. Revolutionize cancer therapy
3. Target the development of antimicrobial resistance
4. Address Anthropocene-related diseases
5. Support healthier behaviors
6. Improve pandemic responses
by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz & Dan Blumstein!
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Want to catch up on all the #DevBio, #StemCell (& related) preprints that came out in September?
Check out our September #preprint list👇
thenode.biologists.com/september-in...
Check out our September #preprint list👇
thenode.biologists.com/september-in...
September in preprints - the Node
Welcome to our monthly trawl for developmental and stem cell biology (and related) preprints. The preprints this month are hosted on bioRxiv – use these
thenode.biologists.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Want to catch up on all the #DevBio, #StemCell (& related) preprints that came out in September?
Check out our September #preprint list👇
thenode.biologists.com/september-in...
Check out our September #preprint list👇
thenode.biologists.com/september-in...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
A positive feedback loop promotes the active internal state of the C. elegans egg-laying circuit
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
A positive feedback loop promotes the active internal state of the C. elegans egg-laying circuit
How do neural circuits switch between distinct patterns of activity, known as “internal
states”? Prashad et al. describe how PVW neurons, which lack any identified neurotransmitter,
generate one of th...
www.cell.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
A positive feedback loop promotes the active internal state of the C. elegans egg-laying circuit
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Funders must recognise that great discoveries often come from studies that seeks to advance knowledge for its own sake
go.nature.com/3X5lbUg
go.nature.com/3X5lbUg
From MRI to Ozempic: breakthroughs that show why fundamental research must be protected
Nature - In these financially straitened times, funders must recognize that great discoveries often arise from work that was looking for something completely different.
go.nature.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Funders must recognise that great discoveries often come from studies that seeks to advance knowledge for its own sake
go.nature.com/3X5lbUg
go.nature.com/3X5lbUg
Reposted by Robert Kozol
A great article in @coloradosun.com about the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine's Biobank, a collaboration with @uchealth.bsky.social that has now delivered more than 1M clinical results.
Your drugs and your genes may not play nicely together. A UCHealth project aims to find out in advance.
A biobank that is a partnership between UCHealth and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus looks for drug-gene interactions.
coloradosun.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:00 AM
A great article in @coloradosun.com about the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine's Biobank, a collaboration with @uchealth.bsky.social that has now delivered more than 1M clinical results.
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Husbandry of N. furzeri, the shortest-lived vertebrate used for biogerontology, is dependent on bloodworms. When our protocol is followed, you can feed N. furzeri an open-formula purified diet — paving the way for more consistent and reproducible lab studies. #killifish @thefsbi.bsky.social
October 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Robert Kozol
New preprint out! Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development.
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development
To what extent conserved developmental programs specify homologous cell types is a central question in biology. Here, we address this by focusing on reconstructing monoaminergic neuron development in ...
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 9:42 AM
New preprint out! Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development.
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
I am happy to report that the lab has its first preprint! We looked at odor perception in cavefish and found a strong attraction to ancestrally negative odors, including appetitive behavior and brain activity when smelling death!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The evolution of cavefish odor perception shifts fish response from avoidance to approach when exposed to alarm and death odors.
An animals survival is dependent on activating the correct behavioral circuit in response to a sensory stimulus. These stimuli include environmental odorants that evoke positive approach behavior and ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 3, 2025 at 9:13 PM
I am happy to report that the lab has its first preprint! We looked at odor perception in cavefish and found a strong attraction to ancestrally negative odors, including appetitive behavior and brain activity when smelling death!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Our latest study on the neurobiology of collective behavior is now posted as a preprint, led by UCSD PhD student Jo-Hsien Yu @anitajhyu.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social @danionella.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 30, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Our latest study on the neurobiology of collective behavior is now posted as a preprint, led by UCSD PhD student Jo-Hsien Yu @anitajhyu.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social @danionella.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
A new email to Director Bhattacharya this morning.
1/n
1/n
September 28, 2025 at 12:05 PM
A new email to Director Bhattacharya this morning.
1/n
1/n
Reposted by Robert Kozol
How is valence computed in the brain? Check out our new preprint about a single cell that integrates excitatory and inhibitory input across modalities according to valence and impacts behavioral decisions. An exciting collaboration across many labs. Enjoy reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A multisensory, bidirectional, valence encoder guides behavioral decisions
A key function of the brain is to categorize sensory cues as repulsive or attractive and respond accordingly. While we have some understanding of how sensory information is processed in the sensory pe...
www.biorxiv.org
September 27, 2025 at 5:46 AM
How is valence computed in the brain? Check out our new preprint about a single cell that integrates excitatory and inhibitory input across modalities according to valence and impacts behavioral decisions. An exciting collaboration across many labs. Enjoy reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Want to image the adult zebrafish brain? Here's a nifty design that I made with the help of a talented master's student, Corey Steinhauser.
Supporting files here!
morgridge.org/research/lab...
Supporting files here!
morgridge.org/research/lab...
September 26, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Want to image the adult zebrafish brain? Here's a nifty design that I made with the help of a talented master's student, Corey Steinhauser.
Supporting files here!
morgridge.org/research/lab...
Supporting files here!
morgridge.org/research/lab...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Reminder starting in October NIH NOFOs won’t be posted in the Guide for grants and contracts.
Tips on how to search for opportunities & set up a subscription for custom searches here: grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Tips on how to search for opportunities & set up a subscription for custom searches here: grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
New Tool to Explore NIH Grant Opportunities | Grants & Funding
grants.nih.gov
September 26, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reminder starting in October NIH NOFOs won’t be posted in the Guide for grants and contracts.
Tips on how to search for opportunities & set up a subscription for custom searches here: grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Tips on how to search for opportunities & set up a subscription for custom searches here: grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category. www.wired.com/story/herita...
Heritage Foundation Uses Bogus Stat to Push a Trans Terrorism Classification
By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category.
www.wired.com
September 26, 2025 at 7:46 PM
By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category. www.wired.com/story/herita...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Nature research paper: Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams
go.nature.com/42JFObR
go.nature.com/42JFObR
Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams - Nature
In the past three decades, fish abundance, richness and uniqueness have diverged across cold and warm streams, and the effects on native fish communities of stream warming and increases in introduced fishes have magnified each other.
go.nature.com
September 25, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Nature research paper: Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams
go.nature.com/42JFObR
go.nature.com/42JFObR
Reposted by Robert Kozol
When will folks understand that this -> 👻 <- is not a ghost emoji. This is a Műller’s larvae emoji! Silly people 🙄.
👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻
Műller’s larvae are a developmental stage of some flatworms (Platyhelminthes) from the order Polycladida.
#marineplankton 🦑
👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻
Műller’s larvae are a developmental stage of some flatworms (Platyhelminthes) from the order Polycladida.
#marineplankton 🦑
September 21, 2025 at 8:19 AM
When will folks understand that this -> 👻 <- is not a ghost emoji. This is a Műller’s larvae emoji! Silly people 🙄.
👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻
Műller’s larvae are a developmental stage of some flatworms (Platyhelminthes) from the order Polycladida.
#marineplankton 🦑
👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻
Műller’s larvae are a developmental stage of some flatworms (Platyhelminthes) from the order Polycladida.
#marineplankton 🦑
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Sharing my own pretty image on #ZebrafishZunday! #devbio
September 21, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Sharing my own pretty image on #ZebrafishZunday! #devbio
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Based on morphological and molecular data, the authors described a new cave-dwelling species, Triplophysa xiuwenensis sp. nov., from the karst region of southwest China. 🧪🌍⚒️ #TeamFish 🐟
A new cave-dwelling species of the genus Triplophysa (Cypriniformes, Nemacheilidae) from southwest China
Based on morphological and molecular data, we described a new cave-dwelling species, Triplophysa xiuwenensis sp. nov., from the karst region of southwest China. The new species can be distinguished fr...
doi.org
September 13, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Based on morphological and molecular data, the authors described a new cave-dwelling species, Triplophysa xiuwenensis sp. nov., from the karst region of southwest China. 🧪🌍⚒️ #TeamFish 🐟
Reposted by Robert Kozol
De-lurking to promote this neat piece of #zebrafish memorabilia from Rosie Lavis! Now available in its 3rd-edition, this linocut is sure to impress (especially with blue embellishments, if you fancy). Give as a gift or reserve one for yourself. Get yours at www.thewildprintstudio.com/shop/p/zebra...
September 10, 2025 at 8:57 AM
De-lurking to promote this neat piece of #zebrafish memorabilia from Rosie Lavis! Now available in its 3rd-edition, this linocut is sure to impress (especially with blue embellishments, if you fancy). Give as a gift or reserve one for yourself. Get yours at www.thewildprintstudio.com/shop/p/zebra...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Good morning to you too Yellowtail Damselfish 👀☀️🐟💎 #yellowtaildamsel #jeweldamsel #mrbrightside #sideeye #slowmo #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity
August 22, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Good morning to you too Yellowtail Damselfish 👀☀️🐟💎 #yellowtaildamsel #jeweldamsel #mrbrightside #sideeye #slowmo #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity
Reposted by Robert Kozol
For folks reading, the best luck I've had in getting a good study section assignment is to work on my abstract. Use the SS finder tool and make sure to include key words that are priorities for the SS you're targeting, keep tweaking until it comes out top. Im convinced this is their process anyway
August 22, 2025 at 1:27 PM
For folks reading, the best luck I've had in getting a good study section assignment is to work on my abstract. Use the SS finder tool and make sure to include key words that are priorities for the SS you're targeting, keep tweaking until it comes out top. Im convinced this is their process anyway