Jibran Khokhar
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drjkhokhar.bsky.social
Jibran Khokhar
@drjkhokhar.bsky.social
Associate Professor, CRC in Translational Neuropsychopharmacology Western University Open-Source Behavioural Tools
Committed to knowing better and doing better!
Pinned
Happy to share my talk for the @hbhlmcgill.bsky.social Brain Canada The Amazing Brain 2024 event titled: Cannabis and the Developing Brain: Vaping, Edibles and Genetics www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgxb...
Cannabis and the Developing Brain: Vaping, Edibles and Genetics | Jibran Khokhar
YouTube video by Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Transregional astrocyte-dependent metaplasticity in the hippocampus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.10.705156v1
February 11, 2026 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
When I joined @jlweiner.bsky.social ’s lab, I told our lab technician Ann Chappell that I wanted to learn self-administration. She gave me a flash drive with every paper Hank Samson ever wrote. I felt like I won the lottery, read every one, and this paper is the ultimate result. Incredibly grateful!
📣 New Review in ACER 🐭 Separating “wanting” from “drinking” in rodent ethanol models
🔗https://bit.ly/4aEhs7L
February 11, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
The TL;DR: they use ML to explore all possible models within a widely-adopted reinforcement learning class (i.e. single-trial updating) and show that better models of human behavior fall outside. They then provide interpretable descriptions about what that better class of models adds (memory).
February 10, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
This work by @mariaeckstein.bsky.social et al is a nice example of how progress in psychology can be expedited with machine learning.

How long before this type of approach is expected for models-of-behavior papers? My guess: not long. (If you are a trainee, nudge!)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hybrid neural–cognitive models reveal how memory shapes human reward learning - Nature Human Behaviour
Using artificial neural networks applied to human data, Eckstein et al. show that good models of reinforcement learning require memory components that track representations of the past.
www.nature.com
February 10, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Tumbler Ridge tragedy so rare and horrific an event for Canada that it’s made international news
💔💔💔💔💔😭
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
Tumbler Ridge school shooting: nine killed in school and residence, say police in Canada – latest updates
Royal Canadian Mounted Police say suspect found dead from apparent self-inflicted wound after nine killed in shooting at high school in British Columbia
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
📢Registration is NOW OPEN for the 36th annual Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar CNS2026!

This meeting is open to neuroscientists of every discipline and all career stages, both from Cambridge and beyond!

🎟️Register: lnkd.in/dWEvgCzW
🧠Check out our programme: lnkd.in/dT2NnnnG
🤝Share📨

See you there!
February 10, 2026 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Heartbreaking 💔💔💔💔💔
Seven people in the high school, not including the shooter, are now confirmed dead.

Two additional people have been found dead at a location believed to be connected to the shooting.

Just unspeakably awful.
Terrible situation out of Tumbler Ridge, a town of 2500 people in northeastern B.C., where an active shooter at a high school is now dead.

We'll be updating this page with information as we confirm it.
February 11, 2026 at 2:37 AM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
By the way, STEM education is literally being slashed and REDIRECTED to AI.

www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
Trump Administration Slashes STEM Education Research Grants
Some experts say the funding cuts are at odds with the administration's AI learning priorities.
www.edweek.org
February 11, 2026 at 2:42 AM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
For #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek listen to this podcast by the Royal College of Psychiatrists where Matthew Broome, Rose McCabe, Michael Larkin, and I talk about the importance of agency in youth mental health #epistemicinjustice #philsky #philpsy
Agency in youth mental health
CPD eLearning talks to... · Episode
open.spotify.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Here is the preprint of @kjedlovszky.bsky.social work in the lab: osf.io/preprints/ps...: experiencing a volatile task (both social and non-social) increases social hallucinations of chasing in moving dots - filling in the mechanistic gaps of how volatility beliefs influence perception
February 10, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Mental health is shaping survival after heart disease—yet we rarely treat it that way. A new meta-analysis of 22 million people links PTSD, anxiety, depression & insomnia with higher risk of acute coronary syndrome. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
February 10, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Happy to share this new, very intentional chapter. I have left UCLA after 14 years to join the University of Colorado Anschutz as Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Neurosurgery and the inaugural Marsico Chair in Excellence in Functional Precision Medicine/n

news.cuanschutz.edu/dbmi/cu-ansc...
CU Anschutz Recruits National Leader to Launch Functional Personalized Medicine Initiative
CU Anschutz welcomes Alice Soragni to launch a Functional Personalized Medicine Initiative using rapid tumor organoid testing to guide treatment decisions.
news.cuanschutz.edu
February 10, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Our paper is out in @natneuro.nature.com!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.

@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social

1/14
February 10, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Here are some takeaways:

📈 Extremist beliefs may not always intensify implicit bias, but they do shape deliberate, high-stakes decisions in our study.

🧠 Ideological beliefs shape implicit and explicit bias differently (i.e., they are not the same thing)
February 10, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
First, there has been exceptional work across many fields exploring this question, but little empirical research. Why? In psychology, at least, one reason is that folks doubted they would find these participants and that they would participate in studies. Turns out they were wrong.
February 10, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
About 10 years ago, I set out to better understand the drivers of radicalization and deradicalization into white supremacy. Work from our endeavors is starting to come out, and I am no longer concerned about sharing it.

I want to share the findings from one of these studies, published last March. 🧵
February 10, 2026 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Glad to see the Royal Society of Canada ( @src-rsc.bsky.social ) is no longer on X.
February 10, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Come hear from @liisagalea.bsky.social and Kendra Loedige from our lab!
This exciting event has finally been rescheduled! Join us on Feb. 10 at @westernu.ca for an insightful conversation about SGBA+ in brain research with the insightful @liisagalea.bsky.social and Kendra Loedige moderated by @lisasaksida.bsky.social. Register here: brainscan-sgba-seminar.eventbrite.ca
February 10, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
This exciting event has finally been rescheduled! Join us on Feb. 10 at @westernu.ca for an insightful conversation about SGBA+ in brain research with the insightful @liisagalea.bsky.social and Kendra Loedige moderated by @lisasaksida.bsky.social. Register here: brainscan-sgba-seminar.eventbrite.ca
February 2, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Happening TODAY at Western with @liisagalea.bsky.social, also a #TRIDENT SBA+ top researcher!!! 👇 👇 ♀️ 🧠 🗞️ 🎤 🤩
This exciting event has finally been rescheduled! Join us on Feb. 10 at @westernu.ca for an insightful conversation about SGBA+ in brain research with the insightful @liisagalea.bsky.social and Kendra Loedige moderated by @lisasaksida.bsky.social. Register here: brainscan-sgba-seminar.eventbrite.ca
February 10, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
Giving science a boost. ⚡🔬

We're partnering with @anthropic.com to design and deploy custom AI agents that will help scientists turn big data into scientific discoveries faster.

🔗 https://alleninstitute.org/news/partnering-with-anthropic-to-supercharge-research-to-help-cure-disease/

🧠📈
Partnering with Anthropic to supercharge research and help cure disease
From months to hours, autonomous AI agents will accelerate research in the quest for cures.
alleninstitute.org
February 10, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
An email to Director Bhattacharya this morning.

1/3
February 10, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
#ThisWeekInNPP

Kallupi et al. use large-scale phenotyping of rats 🐀 to unveil genetic variants underlying susceptibility to opioid use disorder

@kallupi_marsida @SierraSimpson @neuroselo @esneddon21 Abraham Palmer Olivier George
Large-scale behavioral characterization of oxycodone self-administration in heterogeneous stock rats reveals initial analgesic effects are associated with addiction-like behaviors
Neuropsychopharmacology - Large-scale behavioral characterization of oxycodone self-administration in heterogeneous stock rats reveals initial analgesic effects are associated with addiction-like...
www.nature.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Jibran Khokhar
🚨 Canadians recognize that health misinformation does significant harm.

90% (!) believe the government has a responsibility address the issue!

via @cmadocs.bsky.social cc @scienceupfirst.bsky.social
February 10, 2026 at 4:50 PM