Kenneth Amaya, PhD
@kenam15.bsky.social
Diné & Chicano. Postdoctoral Fellow in the Maguire Lab at Tufts University. NIH-NIMH DSPAN K00. Arizona sports sufferer.
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
Hey ventral pallidum fans, see our new paper showing that #VP GABA neurons, known for reward, also regulate aversive motivation! Inhibiting these cells with #DREADDs potentiates active or passive defenses to threats, likely via LHb.
Congrats to Erica Ramirez & Marty Martinez!
doi.org/10.1016/j.yn...
Congrats to Erica Ramirez & Marty Martinez!
doi.org/10.1016/j.yn...
Redirecting
doi.org
January 21, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Hey ventral pallidum fans, see our new paper showing that #VP GABA neurons, known for reward, also regulate aversive motivation! Inhibiting these cells with #DREADDs potentiates active or passive defenses to threats, likely via LHb.
Congrats to Erica Ramirez & Marty Martinez!
doi.org/10.1016/j.yn...
Congrats to Erica Ramirez & Marty Martinez!
doi.org/10.1016/j.yn...
I had such a great time at #ACNP2026 where I got to reconnect with and meet new friends! I can’t thank @acnporg.bsky.social enough for the travel award and am really excited for San Diego in 2027!
January 16, 2026 at 3:32 PM
I had such a great time at #ACNP2026 where I got to reconnect with and meet new friends! I can’t thank @acnporg.bsky.social enough for the travel award and am really excited for San Diego in 2027!
Deal breaker if I only want to send in my ACT score?
This article advocates for the “Faculty Merit Act” that would — get this — require all faculty applicants to submit their *SAT* scores. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Holy shirts that’s hilarious.
January 2, 2026 at 6:51 PM
Deal breaker if I only want to send in my ACT score?
Pretty rich for the leader of this nation to be talking about stolen land
Trump is edging closer and closer to a full-blown war with Venezuela, one Truth Social post at a time. End the madness. No more endless wars.
December 17, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Pretty rich for the leader of this nation to be talking about stolen land
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
very excited to share some of the final bits of work from my PhD! 🎉 we find that phasic DA in the accumbens simultaneously tracks persistent motivation towards reward cues in addition to new learning (but maybe not RPE?!) in sign-tracking rats. check out the preprint below!
Phasic dopamine encodes persistent attraction to reward cues https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.09.693300v1
December 12, 2025 at 6:29 PM
very excited to share some of the final bits of work from my PhD! 🎉 we find that phasic DA in the accumbens simultaneously tracks persistent motivation towards reward cues in addition to new learning (but maybe not RPE?!) in sign-tracking rats. check out the preprint below!
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
weight down, less food consumed, learning normal, but motivation up!
Chronic semaglutide treatment enhances the incentive motivational value of a small food reward and associated cue in male and female rats https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.06.692775v1
December 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM
weight down, less food consumed, learning normal, but motivation up!
Almost $16 million for 10 conference wins between those two programs. Time to get DOGE on the case.
I note in passing that the base salaries of the head football coaches at the University of Nebraska and the University of Iowa are ~$8 million where that for the head football coach at Harvard is $126 thousand.
9/10
9/10
December 8, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Almost $16 million for 10 conference wins between those two programs. Time to get DOGE on the case.
We will fund the most meritorious of proposals but also we have to consider how we geographically allocate funds
November 21, 2025 at 8:11 PM
We will fund the most meritorious of proposals but also we have to consider how we geographically allocate funds
Seeing the recent breadcrumbs about NIH has this postdoc pretty sad about K99 chances
November 14, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Seeing the recent breadcrumbs about NIH has this postdoc pretty sad about K99 chances
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
The Gowrishankar lab will be opening its doors @neuro_MUSC on Dec 1, 2025! We will be hiring at all levels. I will also be at @SfNtweets presenting my lab's vision on Wednesday, Nov 19, 8AM-12PM at poster board GG7. If you're interested, please reach out!
www.raajgowrishankarlab.org
www.raajgowrishankarlab.org
Gowrishankar Lab
www.raajgowrishankarlab.org
November 12, 2025 at 10:23 PM
The Gowrishankar lab will be opening its doors @neuro_MUSC on Dec 1, 2025! We will be hiring at all levels. I will also be at @SfNtweets presenting my lab's vision on Wednesday, Nov 19, 8AM-12PM at poster board GG7. If you're interested, please reach out!
www.raajgowrishankarlab.org
www.raajgowrishankarlab.org
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
Folks at SfN come see the first Fraser Lab poster ever at FF6 on Tuesday Nov 18, 8am. Serena Miller has oodles of data to share on a new direction for us. Also, that day happens to be my birthday so you have to come say hi or else
November 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Folks at SfN come see the first Fraser Lab poster ever at FF6 on Tuesday Nov 18, 8am. Serena Miller has oodles of data to share on a new direction for us. Also, that day happens to be my birthday so you have to come say hi or else
Stares in Suns fan
Whoever wins the #worldseries tonight is going to make a legion of fans for life
The psychology of fans &identification with teams is fascinating
Like goslings, boys imprint on the team that wins when they are young. A championship leads them to identify with a team for life, especially boys 8-12
The psychology of fans &identification with teams is fascinating
Like goslings, boys imprint on the team that wins when they are young. A championship leads them to identify with a team for life, especially boys 8-12
November 2, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Stares in Suns fan
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
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:
As a postdoc in funding limbo I’d love it if the NIH director would walk the walk wrt trainee funding
Apparently, he believes that going on to a career in pharma or biotech as "leaving science".
Also, he may not understand that many NIH fellowship recipients may want to find jobs in academia and be well qualified but may not be successful in today hypercompetitive environment.
More to come
12/12
Also, he may not understand that many NIH fellowship recipients may want to find jobs in academia and be well qualified but may not be successful in today hypercompetitive environment.
More to come
12/12
October 16, 2025 at 1:26 AM
As a postdoc in funding limbo I’d love it if the NIH director would walk the walk wrt trainee funding
The 14th Annual Tufts Neuroscience Symposium & Shucart Lecture is this week (Thursday, October 16th), featuring an outstanding lineup of speakers related to the theme of "Neural Mechanisms of Emotional Processing: From Synapses to Circuits":
October 12, 2025 at 12:49 AM
The 14th Annual Tufts Neuroscience Symposium & Shucart Lecture is this week (Thursday, October 16th), featuring an outstanding lineup of speakers related to the theme of "Neural Mechanisms of Emotional Processing: From Synapses to Circuits":
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
I'm recruiting a PhD student to study how enkephalins affect cognitive processing in the rodent frontal cortex. The project uses pharmacology, multi-electrode recordings, and fiber photometry, and is funded by NIDA. Please share with trainees applying this cycle. Thanks!
October 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I'm recruiting a PhD student to study how enkephalins affect cognitive processing in the rodent frontal cortex. The project uses pharmacology, multi-electrode recordings, and fiber photometry, and is funded by NIDA. Please share with trainees applying this cycle. Thanks!
My response to a reviewer that said I’ve been a postdoc for too long
September 24, 2025 at 7:11 PM
My response to a reviewer that said I’ve been a postdoc for too long
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
Good morning everyone!
So, I wrote a book (!!) and it’s coming out November 4th in physical and audiobook form. It’s called *How to Change a Memory*
www.amazon.com/How-Change-M...
So, I wrote a book (!!) and it’s coming out November 4th in physical and audiobook form. It’s called *How to Change a Memory*
www.amazon.com/How-Change-M...
How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past
Buy How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders
www.amazon.com
September 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Good morning everyone!
So, I wrote a book (!!) and it’s coming out November 4th in physical and audiobook form. It’s called *How to Change a Memory*
www.amazon.com/How-Change-M...
So, I wrote a book (!!) and it’s coming out November 4th in physical and audiobook form. It’s called *How to Change a Memory*
www.amazon.com/How-Change-M...
Being a scientist during this regime
August 22, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Being a scientist during this regime
The Friday news dumps of all news dumps. Emphasis on dump 💩
August 16, 2025 at 2:30 AM
The Friday news dumps of all news dumps. Emphasis on dump 💩
Can’t wait! Huge thanks to ACNP and congrats to all the other awardees!
August 8, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Can’t wait! Huge thanks to ACNP and congrats to all the other awardees!
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
I’m excited to share my latest paper, in which we used latent state modeling to reveal how fentanyl shapes decision-making dynamics in rats.
Here’s a summary of what we found (thread).
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here’s a summary of what we found (thread).
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Modeling hidden cognitive states reveals acute and chronic effects of fentanyl on decision-making
The cognitive mechanisms underlying behavior are often dynamic, shifting gradually or abruptly over time scales spanning years, to weeks, to minutes. Whether drug-induced changes in learning and decis...
www.biorxiv.org
August 5, 2025 at 7:54 PM
I’m excited to share my latest paper, in which we used latent state modeling to reveal how fentanyl shapes decision-making dynamics in rats.
Here’s a summary of what we found (thread).
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here’s a summary of what we found (thread).
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Kenneth Amaya, PhD
The Neuroscience Dept at American University is hiring for a tenure-track position at the Assistant level with expertise in Computational Neuroscience. Apply by Sep 15:
american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/AU/job/Main-...
#FacultyJobs #AcademicJob #Neuroscience #CompNeuro #AI #ComputationalPsychiatry
american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/AU/job/Main-...
#FacultyJobs #AcademicJob #Neuroscience #CompNeuro #AI #ComputationalPsychiatry
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meani...
american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
August 5, 2025 at 3:52 PM
The Neuroscience Dept at American University is hiring for a tenure-track position at the Assistant level with expertise in Computational Neuroscience. Apply by Sep 15:
american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/AU/job/Main-...
#FacultyJobs #AcademicJob #Neuroscience #CompNeuro #AI #ComputationalPsychiatry
american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/AU/job/Main-...
#FacultyJobs #AcademicJob #Neuroscience #CompNeuro #AI #ComputationalPsychiatry