Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
@denisejcai.bsky.social
Prof. of Neuroscience @SinaiBrain · Investigating memory stability & flexibility · Advocate for open science · Mom of two littles · Amateur chef · she/her · denisecailab.com
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What’s better than a one-channel #Miniscope? 🥁 A TWO-CHANNEL Miniscope!
Our new Miniscope2C is a dual-channel, open-source Miniscope that lets you record 2 fluorescent signals simultaneously in freely moving animals.
Read the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/10)
Our new Miniscope2C is a dual-channel, open-source Miniscope that lets you record 2 fluorescent signals simultaneously in freely moving animals.
Read the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/10)
🧠 The Cai Lab will be at #SfN25!
Be sure to stop by the poster sessions to check out Hailey's work on decision-making, @zachtpennington.bsky.social's work on stress, @zoechristensonwick.bsky.social's work on seizures, Alexa's work on cocaine seeking, and Sandra's work on context representations 🤓
Be sure to stop by the poster sessions to check out Hailey's work on decision-making, @zachtpennington.bsky.social's work on stress, @zoechristensonwick.bsky.social's work on seizures, Alexa's work on cocaine seeking, and Sandra's work on context representations 🤓
November 13, 2025 at 7:17 PM
🧠 The Cai Lab will be at #SfN25!
Be sure to stop by the poster sessions to check out Hailey's work on decision-making, @zachtpennington.bsky.social's work on stress, @zoechristensonwick.bsky.social's work on seizures, Alexa's work on cocaine seeking, and Sandra's work on context representations 🤓
Be sure to stop by the poster sessions to check out Hailey's work on decision-making, @zachtpennington.bsky.social's work on stress, @zoechristensonwick.bsky.social's work on seizures, Alexa's work on cocaine seeking, and Sandra's work on context representations 🤓
Reposted by Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
📣 #MCCS25 starts TOMORROW! Check out our poster session tomorrow & our symposium on Friday to hear from the best and brightest in molecular and cellular cognition.
More information here: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
More information here: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
November 12, 2025 at 6:41 PM
📣 #MCCS25 starts TOMORROW! Check out our poster session tomorrow & our symposium on Friday to hear from the best and brightest in molecular and cellular cognition.
More information here: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
More information here: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Reposted by Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
Come check out the #MCCS25 debate on November 14!
Drs. André Fenton & Yaniv Ziv will be debating a hot topic: are memory stability and representational drift opposing or complementary processes? Moderated by Dr. @sarahrobins.bsky.social 🧠
Register now: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Drs. André Fenton & Yaniv Ziv will be debating a hot topic: are memory stability and representational drift opposing or complementary processes? Moderated by Dr. @sarahrobins.bsky.social 🧠
Register now: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
November 5, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Come check out the #MCCS25 debate on November 14!
Drs. André Fenton & Yaniv Ziv will be debating a hot topic: are memory stability and representational drift opposing or complementary processes? Moderated by Dr. @sarahrobins.bsky.social 🧠
Register now: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Drs. André Fenton & Yaniv Ziv will be debating a hot topic: are memory stability and representational drift opposing or complementary processes? Moderated by Dr. @sarahrobins.bsky.social 🧠
Register now: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
We're brewing up some Halloween fun in the Cai & Shuman Labs! ⚗️🎃
Just look at all the creativity everyone poured into their costumes! We have the coolest crew 👩🔬🧪
Just look at all the creativity everyone poured into their costumes! We have the coolest crew 👩🔬🧪
October 31, 2025 at 5:34 PM
We're brewing up some Halloween fun in the Cai & Shuman Labs! ⚗️🎃
Just look at all the creativity everyone poured into their costumes! We have the coolest crew 👩🔬🧪
Just look at all the creativity everyone poured into their costumes! We have the coolest crew 👩🔬🧪
Reposted by Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
For those heading to #SfN25, come check out our posters on Saturday Afternoon! The lab is growing & expanding in several new directions & collabs #neuroeconomics 🧠🐭🧠 @sinaibrain.bsky.social @sinaiccp.bsky.social @sfn.org @socforneuroecon.bsky.social @bwfund.bsky.social @animalsocaging.bsky.social
October 29, 2025 at 11:27 PM
For those heading to #SfN25, come check out our posters on Saturday Afternoon! The lab is growing & expanding in several new directions & collabs #neuroeconomics 🧠🐭🧠 @sinaibrain.bsky.social @sinaiccp.bsky.social @sfn.org @socforneuroecon.bsky.social @bwfund.bsky.social @animalsocaging.bsky.social
October 20, 2025 at 2:46 PM
I can’t stop replaying the #memories from our first-ever New York Memory Hub conference! So grateful to everyone who made it a success and inspired us with their research 🧠
October 17, 2025 at 2:52 PM
I can’t stop replaying the #memories from our first-ever New York Memory Hub conference! So grateful to everyone who made it a success and inspired us with their research 🧠
It has been an immense honor to learn & grow with two of the greatest scientists I know: @zachtpennington.bsky.social & @joezaki.bsky.social 🧑🔬
Listen in on our conversation about mentorship, building trust and creating a safe space to disagree: neuronline.sfn.org/professional...
Listen in on our conversation about mentorship, building trust and creating a safe space to disagree: neuronline.sfn.org/professional...
October 3, 2025 at 8:34 PM
It has been an immense honor to learn & grow with two of the greatest scientists I know: @zachtpennington.bsky.social & @joezaki.bsky.social 🧑🔬
Listen in on our conversation about mentorship, building trust and creating a safe space to disagree: neuronline.sfn.org/professional...
Listen in on our conversation about mentorship, building trust and creating a safe space to disagree: neuronline.sfn.org/professional...
Reposted by Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
I’m hiring at all levels and accepting graduate students through Psychology and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Reach out if you’re interested in joining a collaborative, fun, creative, and supportive team in beautiful Vancouver! 🏔️ ⛷️ 🏖️ 🌆
September 29, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I’m hiring at all levels and accepting graduate students through Psychology and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Reach out if you’re interested in joining a collaborative, fun, creative, and supportive team in beautiful Vancouver! 🏔️ ⛷️ 🏖️ 🌆
Reposted by Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
Interested in studying how neural circuits underlying mental health disorders are shaped by experience (e.g., stress)? Also interested in being trained by an amazing, thoughtful, and rigorous scientist? Also interested in living in a beautiful Canadian city? See below!
I’m hiring at all levels and accepting graduate students through Psychology and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Reach out if you’re interested in joining a collaborative, fun, creative, and supportive team in beautiful Vancouver! 🏔️ ⛷️ 🏖️ 🌆
September 29, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Interested in studying how neural circuits underlying mental health disorders are shaped by experience (e.g., stress)? Also interested in being trained by an amazing, thoughtful, and rigorous scientist? Also interested in living in a beautiful Canadian city? See below!
Congrats Zach! 🎉 Our lab would not have gotten where it is without you.
If you're looking for a mentor who is supportive, innovative and deeply invested in helping trainees grow, consider joining his lab! 👇
If you're looking for a mentor who is supportive, innovative and deeply invested in helping trainees grow, consider joining his lab! 👇
Excited to share that I landed my dream job!🎉🎉🎉 The Pennington Lab will be opening at the University of British Columbia in January 2026!
@ubcpsych.bsky.social @dmcbrainhealth.bsky.social
@ubcpsych.bsky.social @dmcbrainhealth.bsky.social
September 29, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Congrats Zach! 🎉 Our lab would not have gotten where it is without you.
If you're looking for a mentor who is supportive, innovative and deeply invested in helping trainees grow, consider joining his lab! 👇
If you're looking for a mentor who is supportive, innovative and deeply invested in helping trainees grow, consider joining his lab! 👇
That's a wrap! So many incredible talks at our Memory Hub Conference today! 🧠
September 26, 2025 at 9:15 PM
That's a wrap! So many incredible talks at our Memory Hub Conference today! 🧠
This morning's Memory Hub talks were fantastic! And the trainee data blitzes were 🔥
September 26, 2025 at 4:58 PM
This morning's Memory Hub talks were fantastic! And the trainee data blitzes were 🔥
We kicked off the first annual New York Memory Hub conference this morning 🧠
Talks are in full swing!
Talks are in full swing!
September 26, 2025 at 2:03 PM
We kicked off the first annual New York Memory Hub conference this morning 🧠
Talks are in full swing!
Talks are in full swing!
So excited for this! Can't wait to see everyone there!
We're looking forward to the first annual New York Memory Hub conference later this week! Can't wait for all the talks and discussion about all things learning and memory 🧠
September 24, 2025 at 8:06 PM
So excited for this! Can't wait to see everyone there!
Looking forward to tomorrow's "Perspectives Across Biology" panel at the @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social Imaging the Future meeting! If you're at CZI this week, come check it out and join the conversation 🧑🔬
September 17, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Looking forward to tomorrow's "Perspectives Across Biology" panel at the @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social Imaging the Future meeting! If you're at CZI this week, come check it out and join the conversation 🧑🔬
Had such a great time in Napa Valley at the @onemindorg.bsky.social Summit on the Future of Mental Health Research 🧠
As a past One Mind Rising Star Awardee, it was so inspiring to connect with other awardees and see the incredible research being done by this year’s winners ⭐️
As a past One Mind Rising Star Awardee, it was so inspiring to connect with other awardees and see the incredible research being done by this year’s winners ⭐️
September 16, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Had such a great time in Napa Valley at the @onemindorg.bsky.social Summit on the Future of Mental Health Research 🧠
As a past One Mind Rising Star Awardee, it was so inspiring to connect with other awardees and see the incredible research being done by this year’s winners ⭐️
As a past One Mind Rising Star Awardee, it was so inspiring to connect with other awardees and see the incredible research being done by this year’s winners ⭐️
Reposted by Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
🚨New preprint alert🚨
We used closed-loop optogenetics to causally test the importance of inhibitory spike timing in network function and found that manipulating PV+ cell theta phase locking in the dentate gyrus can shift seizure susceptibility (both ways!)
We used closed-loop optogenetics to causally test the importance of inhibitory spike timing in network function and found that manipulating PV+ cell theta phase locking in the dentate gyrus can shift seizure susceptibility (both ways!)
September 11, 2025 at 5:07 PM
🚨New preprint alert🚨
We used closed-loop optogenetics to causally test the importance of inhibitory spike timing in network function and found that manipulating PV+ cell theta phase locking in the dentate gyrus can shift seizure susceptibility (both ways!)
We used closed-loop optogenetics to causally test the importance of inhibitory spike timing in network function and found that manipulating PV+ cell theta phase locking in the dentate gyrus can shift seizure susceptibility (both ways!)
Reposted by Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
Check out the meeting lineup for #MCCS25! It's going to be an incredible day.
Don't miss out, register now: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Don't miss out, register now: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
September 5, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Check out the meeting lineup for #MCCS25! It's going to be an incredible day.
Don't miss out, register now: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Don't miss out, register now: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Working with trainees is a highlight of my own research and a main goal of the New York Memory Hub. I'm looking forward to a great afternoon of discussion with a group of brilliant trainees. Space is limited, register soon!
🤔 Did you know we're hosting a trainee event the day before the first annual New York Memory Hub conference?
Trainees, join us in the afternoon of September 25 for lively discussion about learning and memory geared toward YOU!
Space is limited, so register now: www.eventbrite.com/e/new-york-m...
Trainees, join us in the afternoon of September 25 for lively discussion about learning and memory geared toward YOU!
Space is limited, so register now: www.eventbrite.com/e/new-york-m...
September 5, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Working with trainees is a highlight of my own research and a main goal of the New York Memory Hub. I'm looking forward to a great afternoon of discussion with a group of brilliant trainees. Space is limited, register soon!
Don't forget to submit your Data Blitz abstract by September 5! There will be a $500 prize for the winner!
🧠 Are you a trainee attending the New York Memory Hub conference in September? Apply to give a data blitz! One winner will receive a prize!
Submit your abstract here ➡️ docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Submit your abstract here ➡️ docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
August 27, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Don't forget to submit your Data Blitz abstract by September 5! There will be a $500 prize for the winner!
🎨 Not only are we excellent scientists, but it looks like we're also quite talented artists, too!
Had a blast hanging out and painting with the Cai and Shuman Labs 🖌️
Had a blast hanging out and painting with the Cai and Shuman Labs 🖌️
August 20, 2025 at 7:19 PM
🎨 Not only are we excellent scientists, but it looks like we're also quite talented artists, too!
Had a blast hanging out and painting with the Cai and Shuman Labs 🖌️
Had a blast hanging out and painting with the Cai and Shuman Labs 🖌️
Reposted by Denise J. Cai, Ph.D.
Meet the #MCCS25 officers!
Dr. @tjryan.bsky.social is an Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin. His lab studies how memory is coded in the brain as information by finding & understanding memory engrams 🧠
Join us on November 13 & 14. Register here: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Dr. @tjryan.bsky.social is an Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin. His lab studies how memory is coded in the brain as information by finding & understanding memory engrams 🧠
Join us on November 13 & 14. Register here: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
August 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Meet the #MCCS25 officers!
Dr. @tjryan.bsky.social is an Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin. His lab studies how memory is coded in the brain as information by finding & understanding memory engrams 🧠
Join us on November 13 & 14. Register here: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Dr. @tjryan.bsky.social is an Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin. His lab studies how memory is coded in the brain as information by finding & understanding memory engrams 🧠
Join us on November 13 & 14. Register here: event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Thank you to all of the speakers who will be joining us for the first annual New York Memory Hub conference in September! It's going to be a fantastic day!
Register now 👇
Register now 👇
📣 REGISTRATION IS OPEN for first annual New York Memory Hub conference! Join @denisejcai.bsky.social @susanamingote.bsky.social & @tristanshuman.bsky.social on Sept 26 for a day of talks & discussion about all things learning & memory 🧠 Learn More | Register Here👉 www.eventbrite.com/e/new-york-m...
August 18, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Thank you to all of the speakers who will be joining us for the first annual New York Memory Hub conference in September! It's going to be a fantastic day!
Register now 👇
Register now 👇
Excited for MCCS this year! Join us in November 🤓🧠
📍 Register now for #MCCS25 on November 13 & 14!
Join us for talks & networking with the best and brightest in molecular and cellular cognition. #Neuroskyence
Check out the link for more information and to register & submit an abstract 👉 event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
Join us for talks & networking with the best and brightest in molecular and cellular cognition. #Neuroskyence
Check out the link for more information and to register & submit an abstract 👉 event.fourwaves.com/MCCS25/pages
August 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Excited for MCCS this year! Join us in November 🤓🧠