Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
@marissascavuzzo.bsky.social
Assistant Professor CWRUSOM in the Institute for Glial Sciences & HHMI Hanna Gray Faculty Fellow | Scientific Director at Rise Up | open science, equity, innovation
scavuzzolab.org
riseupnortheastohio.org
scavuzzolab.org
riseupnortheastohio.org
Pinned
Unpicking the Mystery of the Body’s ‘Second Brain’
Sitting alongside the neurons in your enteric nervous system are underappreciated glial cells, which play key roles in digestion and disease that scientists are only just starting to understand.
www.wired.com
Read a bit about our science here:
scavuzzolab.org/research/
In WIRED magazine:
www.wired.com/story/gut-se...
In Science magazine:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
scavuzzolab.org/research/
In WIRED magazine:
www.wired.com/story/gut-se...
In Science magazine:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
🎄✨ Getting into the holiday spirit? Why not add a little Pi to your plans! 🥧🏃♀️
Give yourself (or someone else!) a reason to stay active after the holidays by signing up for the 2026 Rise Up: Pi Race!
Give yourself (or someone else!) a reason to stay active after the holidays by signing up for the 2026 Rise Up: Pi Race!
December 23, 2025 at 9:20 PM
🎄✨ Getting into the holiday spirit? Why not add a little Pi to your plans! 🥧🏃♀️
Give yourself (or someone else!) a reason to stay active after the holidays by signing up for the 2026 Rise Up: Pi Race!
Give yourself (or someone else!) a reason to stay active after the holidays by signing up for the 2026 Rise Up: Pi Race!
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
*First preprint from our lab* !!!!!
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
December 15, 2025 at 6:26 PM
*First preprint from our lab* !!!!!
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
"We find that while TAD boundaries pair more frequently than non-boundary regions, these interactions are infrequent and are uncorrelated with transcriptional activity of genes within the TAD. (...) These results suggest that TAD boundary architecture and gene activity are largely uncoupled"
TAD boundary architecture and gene activity are uncoupled
Topologically associating domains (TADs) are prominent features of genome organization. A proposed function of TADs is to contribute to gene regulation by promoting chromatin interactions within a TAD...
www.biorxiv.org
December 18, 2025 at 11:43 AM
"We find that while TAD boundaries pair more frequently than non-boundary regions, these interactions are infrequent and are uncorrelated with transcriptional activity of genes within the TAD. (...) These results suggest that TAD boundary architecture and gene activity are largely uncoupled"
Go @cobarnes27.bsky.social and team!!!!
#YearInReview @cobarnes27.bsky.social, @adonisrubio.bsky.social & team have designed a series of dual or “bispecific” antibodies, called CoV2-biRN, which could potentially resist the ever-evolving SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as other coronaviruses in the future: news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...
New antibodies show potential to neutralize virus that causes COVID-19
A Stanford-led team has found two antibodies that can work together to defeat all SARS-CoV-2 variants. More research is needed, but the approach could help in the development of treatments to keep…
news.stanford.edu
December 18, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Go @cobarnes27.bsky.social and team!!!!
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
"there's a new serif in town"
Marco Rubio ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor's decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move
Rubio Stages Font Coup: Times New Roman Ousts Calibri
The secretary of state called it a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters.
www.huffpost.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:06 AM
"there's a new serif in town"
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
PDAC is a terrible malady and needs new inroads. We integrate a cell atlas, develop 3D tumoroid models, and map phenotypic spaces at scale. Very cool data inside! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1..., www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 4, 2025 at 10:32 PM
PDAC is a terrible malady and needs new inroads. We integrate a cell atlas, develop 3D tumoroid models, and map phenotypic spaces at scale. Very cool data inside! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1..., www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
This paper is blowing my mind www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Fat sensory cues in early life program central response to food and obesity - Nature Metabolism
Non-nutritive sensory components of high-fat diet, such as bacon flavour, are sufficient to impair metabolic health in offspring in mice.
www.nature.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:37 AM
This paper is blowing my mind www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
Enteric nervous system-derived VIP restrains differentiation of LGR5+ stem cells toward the secretory lineage controlling type 1 and 2 immune balance @natimmunol.nature.com @champalimaudf.bsky.social @neuroimmune-rok.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 25, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Enteric nervous system-derived VIP restrains differentiation of LGR5+ stem cells toward the secretory lineage controlling type 1 and 2 immune balance @natimmunol.nature.com @champalimaudf.bsky.social @neuroimmune-rok.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Teaching a class tomorrow in a subject I have never actually taken a class in
November 30, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Teaching a class tomorrow in a subject I have never actually taken a class in
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
Harvard gets its research funding back through defiance and lawsuits.
Majority of Harvard’s Research Funding Has Been Restored
As of Tuesday, Harvard University had recouped most of the federal research funding it lost when the Trump administration froze its access to grants earlier this year, multiple local news organization...
www.insidehighered.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Harvard gets its research funding back through defiance and lawsuits.
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
More detailed functional interrogation of enteric neuron subpopulations www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
Properties and functions of transcriptionally distinct enteric neurons
Developing genetic access to transcriptionally distinct enteric neurons in vivo enables
the examination of morphological heterogeneity across cell types as well as cell-type-specific
influences on GI ...
www.cell.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:15 AM
More detailed functional interrogation of enteric neuron subpopulations www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
Is staying active, supporting your community, and having fun in your plans for 2026??
If so, mark your calendars for the 3rd annual Rise Up: Pi Race on March 14th, 2026!
If so, mark your calendars for the 3rd annual Rise Up: Pi Race on March 14th, 2026!
November 25, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Is staying active, supporting your community, and having fun in your plans for 2026??
If so, mark your calendars for the 3rd annual Rise Up: Pi Race on March 14th, 2026!
If so, mark your calendars for the 3rd annual Rise Up: Pi Race on March 14th, 2026!
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
Imagine, if you will, that NASA updated its website to suggest gravity might not exist, prompting CalTech and CERN to release statements saying, "With great sadness, we can no longer recommend listening to NASA."
This is what's happening in epidemiology.
This is what's happening in epidemiology.
November 21, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Imagine, if you will, that NASA updated its website to suggest gravity might not exist, prompting CalTech and CERN to release statements saying, "With great sadness, we can no longer recommend listening to NASA."
This is what's happening in epidemiology.
This is what's happening in epidemiology.
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
@hhmi.org Summer Undergraduate Research Experience - #CechFellows named in honor of Prof Tom Cech
Deadline to apply: 12/22/2025
Spend 9 weeks in a paid, mentored biomedical research experience in an HHMI lab. See you next summer!!!
www.hhmi.org/programs/cec...
Deadline to apply: 12/22/2025
Spend 9 weeks in a paid, mentored biomedical research experience in an HHMI lab. See you next summer!!!
www.hhmi.org/programs/cec...
Summer Undergraduate Research Experience | HHMI
The Cech Fellows Program is a paid, nine-week summer research experience empowering the next generation of scientific leaders.
www.hhmi.org
November 22, 2025 at 4:15 PM
@hhmi.org Summer Undergraduate Research Experience - #CechFellows named in honor of Prof Tom Cech
Deadline to apply: 12/22/2025
Spend 9 weeks in a paid, mentored biomedical research experience in an HHMI lab. See you next summer!!!
www.hhmi.org/programs/cec...
Deadline to apply: 12/22/2025
Spend 9 weeks in a paid, mentored biomedical research experience in an HHMI lab. See you next summer!!!
www.hhmi.org/programs/cec...
What an honor to be recognized as one of @thetransmitter.bsky.social Rising Stars of Neuroscience 2025!
Check out this year's award winners and their contributions to
neuroscience at www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...
Check out this year's award winners and their contributions to
neuroscience at www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...
November 15, 2025 at 3:31 PM
What an honor to be recognized as one of @thetransmitter.bsky.social Rising Stars of Neuroscience 2025!
Check out this year's award winners and their contributions to
neuroscience at www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...
Check out this year's award winners and their contributions to
neuroscience at www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...
My brilliant 4 year old daughter did not realize it but she painted the myenteric plexus, submucosal plexus, and mucosal glia
November 14, 2025 at 8:18 PM
My brilliant 4 year old daughter did not realize it but she painted the myenteric plexus, submucosal plexus, and mucosal glia
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
And here is the story after peer review. This work highlights our current approach, which is to use Piezo channels to uncover new areas of biology that are shaped by mechanical forces: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 13, 2025 at 10:05 PM
And here is the story after peer review. This work highlights our current approach, which is to use Piezo channels to uncover new areas of biology that are shaped by mechanical forces: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
What if inflammation doesn’t just bring in immune cells, but changes the entire neighborhood?
Our new preprint led by brilliant MD/PhD student @kateletai.bsky.social in collaboration with the Cominelli lab and @biancaislam.bsky.social explores this question:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our new preprint led by brilliant MD/PhD student @kateletai.bsky.social in collaboration with the Cominelli lab and @biancaislam.bsky.social explores this question:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Epithelial and stromal remodeling in murine Crohn’s disease-like ileitis
Background and Aims Inflammatory bowel disease is characterized by progressive epithelial, immune, and stromal dysfunction. Human datasets yield important insights yet are inherently descriptive, requ...
www.biorxiv.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:53 AM
What if inflammation doesn’t just bring in immune cells, but changes the entire neighborhood?
Our new preprint led by brilliant MD/PhD student @kateletai.bsky.social in collaboration with the Cominelli lab and @biancaislam.bsky.social explores this question:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our new preprint led by brilliant MD/PhD student @kateletai.bsky.social in collaboration with the Cominelli lab and @biancaislam.bsky.social explores this question:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
People might not realize - this wasn’t just one problematic person. He was (and is) influential. And this has real consequences.
“Female scientists who have kids can’t be taken seriously” and many other jabs at women have been directly said to me, within the last decade, by other scientists.
“Female scientists who have kids can’t be taken seriously” and many other jabs at women have been directly said to me, within the last decade, by other scientists.
I read this book when I was 15 and fell in love with DNA. I re-read it at 32 with lived experience in Science and it filled me with rage. I cannot pick up that book now. It reveals what women were/are up against.
Based on his self-described behavior in The Double Helix and these actions it is easy and appropriate to write him off as an ignorant jerk.
38/41
38/41
November 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM
People might not realize - this wasn’t just one problematic person. He was (and is) influential. And this has real consequences.
“Female scientists who have kids can’t be taken seriously” and many other jabs at women have been directly said to me, within the last decade, by other scientists.
“Female scientists who have kids can’t be taken seriously” and many other jabs at women have been directly said to me, within the last decade, by other scientists.
THIS WEEKEND!
Register to hear from me and two of my lab members!
We will talk about:
-our journey in science
-what we study in the lab
-the importance of investing in science
-how supporting international scholars and scientists from diverse backgrounds benefits everyone
Register to hear from me and two of my lab members!
We will talk about:
-our journey in science
-what we study in the lab
-the importance of investing in science
-how supporting international scholars and scientists from diverse backgrounds benefits everyone
Next weekend, members of our lab are hosting a Teach-In! Open to everyone, in person and virtual.
Come learn about the brain inside your gut and what happens when misinformation and defunding threaten research
Come learn about the brain inside your gut and what happens when misinformation and defunding threaten research
November 7, 2025 at 4:38 PM
THIS WEEKEND!
Register to hear from me and two of my lab members!
We will talk about:
-our journey in science
-what we study in the lab
-the importance of investing in science
-how supporting international scholars and scientists from diverse backgrounds benefits everyone
Register to hear from me and two of my lab members!
We will talk about:
-our journey in science
-what we study in the lab
-the importance of investing in science
-how supporting international scholars and scientists from diverse backgrounds benefits everyone
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
Reposted by Marissa Scavuzzo she/her
The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor.
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
November 5, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor.
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
November 5, 2025 at 10:15 PM
The Allen Institute is a premier scientific powerhouse that upholds values - open science, team science, and collaboration - that promote the progress of science rather than individual advancement. Past NGLs are leaders in their fields. To be a part of this group is a huge honor!
The Next Generation Leaders program at the Allen Institute recognizes and supports emerging and diverse early career researchers in bioscience. alleninstitute.org/news/allen-i...
Allen Institute announces 2025 Next Generation Leaders
Fostering collaboration and innovation from emerging leaders in bioscience
alleninstitute.org
November 4, 2025 at 10:20 PM
The Allen Institute is a premier scientific powerhouse that upholds values - open science, team science, and collaboration - that promote the progress of science rather than individual advancement. Past NGLs are leaders in their fields. To be a part of this group is a huge honor!