Mazen Kheirbek
@mazenkheirbek.bsky.social
Neuroscientist at UCSF
www.kheirbeklab.org
www.kheirbeklab.org
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
Apply by Oct 15 - please spread the word!
Tenure-track faculty search of the UCSF Biochemistry & Biophysics Department is open for applications!
We are looking for creative, innovative scientists asking fundamental questions in any area of biology.
Join our vibrant, collaborative, and supportive community!
aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05702
We are looking for creative, innovative scientists asking fundamental questions in any area of biology.
Join our vibrant, collaborative, and supportive community!
aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05702
September 16, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Apply by Oct 15 - please spread the word!
New paper from the lab, from Jeremy Biane and team, out today, characterizing the principles of stimulus feature coding in populations of ventral CA1 neurons.
July 30, 2025 at 7:45 PM
New paper from the lab, from Jeremy Biane and team, out today, characterizing the principles of stimulus feature coding in populations of ventral CA1 neurons.
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
New work! Learning is assumed to involve synaptic plasticity, but which specific synapses change to enable higher order cognitive functions? We actually find that cognitive flexibility involves potentiation of long-range GABAergic synapses from prefrontal PV neurons: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Synaptic plasticity of prefrontal long-range inhibition regulates cognitive flexibility
While glutamatergic synaptic plasticity is believed to be a fundamental mechanism mediating learning, the behavioral significance of plasticity at cortical GABAergic synapses remains less well underst...
www.biorxiv.org
June 30, 2025 at 5:55 PM
New work! Learning is assumed to involve synaptic plasticity, but which specific synapses change to enable higher order cognitive functions? We actually find that cognitive flexibility involves potentiation of long-range GABAergic synapses from prefrontal PV neurons: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
Come to our symposium tomorrow morning at #NeuroFrance2025 if you want to hear about extero- and interoceptive impact on emotions!
If you're attending #NeuroFrance2025 in beautiful Montpellier and you're interested in sensory processing and emotions, don't miss out our symposium tomorrow (Thursday) morning! Organized together with @mariocarta.bsky.social
@socneuro.bsky.social
@socneuro.bsky.social
May 14, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Come to our symposium tomorrow morning at #NeuroFrance2025 if you want to hear about extero- and interoceptive impact on emotions!
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
I’m excited to share a new paper from the lab. The study led by Xiaowei Gu reveals how the mPFC encodes complex emotional memories, using an internal model to infer emotional associations and memories via projections to the amygdala. a🧵(1/8)
rdcu.be/el19t
rdcu.be/el19t
Prefrontal encoding of an internal model for emotional inference
Nature - Neurons in the rodent dorsomedial prefrontal cortex encode a flexible internal model of emotion by linking directly experienced and inferred associations with aversive experiences.
rdcu.be
May 14, 2025 at 11:35 PM
I’m excited to share a new paper from the lab. The study led by Xiaowei Gu reveals how the mPFC encodes complex emotional memories, using an internal model to infer emotional associations and memories via projections to the amygdala. a🧵(1/8)
rdcu.be/el19t
rdcu.be/el19t
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
Sharing a new paper from the lab. This paper, led by Sangyoon Ko, represents a merging of two longstanding research themes in the lab-- adult neurogenesis and systems consolidation.
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
Systems consolidation reorganizes hippocampal engram circuitry
Nature - A study shows that loss of memory precision associated with systems consolidation can be explained by neurogenesis-dependent reorganization of engram circuitry within the hippocampus over...
rdcu.be
May 14, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Sharing a new paper from the lab. This paper, led by Sangyoon Ko, represents a merging of two longstanding research themes in the lab-- adult neurogenesis and systems consolidation.
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
A much-needed joint effort from five labs to see which behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice are reliable, and which may be spurious 🐁🍄
@theborislab.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social @indigenerd.bsky.social Vikaas Sohal and Stephan Lammel 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@theborislab.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social @indigenerd.bsky.social Vikaas Sohal and Stephan Lammel 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A multi-institutional investigation of psilocybin's effects on mouse behavior
Studies reporting novel therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs are rapidly emerging. However, the reproducibility and reliability of these findings could remain uncertain for years. Here, we impleme...
www.biorxiv.org
April 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
A much-needed joint effort from five labs to see which behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice are reliable, and which may be spurious 🐁🍄
@theborislab.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social @indigenerd.bsky.social Vikaas Sohal and Stephan Lammel 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@theborislab.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social @indigenerd.bsky.social Vikaas Sohal and Stephan Lammel 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
Excited to share our latest story! We found disentangled memory representations in the hippocampus that generalized across time and environments, despite the seemingly random drift and remapping of single cells. This code enabled the transfer of prior knowledge to solve new tasks
March 17, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Excited to share our latest story! We found disentangled memory representations in the hippocampus that generalized across time and environments, despite the seemingly random drift and remapping of single cells. This code enabled the transfer of prior knowledge to solve new tasks
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
🚨📃New Wassum Lab Paper📃🚨
Out today, @jackiegio.bsky.social discovered brain pathways that support agency and habit and how chronic stress disrupts them to rob of us our agency and cause us to form rigid habits 🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free full text: rdcu.be/eaxEv
Out today, @jackiegio.bsky.social discovered brain pathways that support agency and habit and how chronic stress disrupts them to rob of us our agency and cause us to form rigid habits 🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free full text: rdcu.be/eaxEv
A dual-pathway architecture for stress to disrupt agency and promote habit - Nature
Adaptive decision-making often requires an understanding of our agency in a situation; however, chronic stress can disrupt agency and promote inflexible, habitual behaviour by turning off a brain path...
www.nature.com
February 19, 2025 at 11:37 PM
🚨📃New Wassum Lab Paper📃🚨
Out today, @jackiegio.bsky.social discovered brain pathways that support agency and habit and how chronic stress disrupts them to rob of us our agency and cause us to form rigid habits 🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free full text: rdcu.be/eaxEv
Out today, @jackiegio.bsky.social discovered brain pathways that support agency and habit and how chronic stress disrupts them to rob of us our agency and cause us to form rigid habits 🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free full text: rdcu.be/eaxEv
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
For our inaugural post on bsky, we're happy to share our preprint on tardigrades as a new model organism for neuroscience. Exciting times for these little critters! www.focolab.org/post/our-pre...
Our preprint "The tardigrade as an emerging model organism for systems neuroscience" is up.
We have been making the case for some time that tardigrades, aka water bears, would be an amazing new model organism for certain big systems neuroscience questions. We put this into a detailed paper o...
www.focolab.org
January 14, 2025 at 7:09 PM
For our inaugural post on bsky, we're happy to share our preprint on tardigrades as a new model organism for neuroscience. Exciting times for these little critters! www.focolab.org/post/our-pre...
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
Scientist position at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. We are looking for neuroscientists with interests in the molecular and cellular bases of cognition. The position is open-rank, and the successful candidate will also be appointed at U Toronto. Deadline is Feb 15th. Come join us!
career.sickkids.ca
December 17, 2024 at 2:04 PM
Scientist position at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. We are looking for neuroscientists with interests in the molecular and cellular bases of cognition. The position is open-rank, and the successful candidate will also be appointed at U Toronto. Deadline is Feb 15th. Come join us!
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
Check out our pre-print from Xiaowei Gu! It shows how the medial prefrontal cortex encodes an internal model of emotional associations which can be used for inference
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
December 8, 2024 at 12:07 PM
Check out our pre-print from Xiaowei Gu! It shows how the medial prefrontal cortex encodes an internal model of emotional associations which can be used for inference
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗮
Looks like a very cool paper.
#neuroscience
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Looks like a very cool paper.
#neuroscience
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
December 5, 2024 at 12:17 AM
𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗮
Looks like a very cool paper.
#neuroscience
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Looks like a very cool paper.
#neuroscience
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
A beautiful work with a wonderful team! A lot of new ideas and a huge number of elegant experiments
Excited to share our new paper out now @natureportfolio.bsky.social, where we identified neural signatures of stress susceptibility and resilience in the amygdala-ventral hippocampal network to enable control of anhedonia!
Thread below:
Thread below:
December 4, 2024 at 6:35 PM
A beautiful work with a wonderful team! A lot of new ideas and a huge number of elegant experiments
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
Excited to share our new paper out now @natureportfolio.bsky.social, where we identified neural signatures of stress susceptibility and resilience in the amygdala-ventral hippocampal network to enable control of anhedonia!
Thread below:
Thread below:
December 4, 2024 at 5:46 PM
Excited to share our new paper out now @natureportfolio.bsky.social, where we identified neural signatures of stress susceptibility and resilience in the amygdala-ventral hippocampal network to enable control of anhedonia!
Thread below:
Thread below:
Reposted by Mazen Kheirbek
What is the neural code and statistical structure of neural states characterizing stress?
Our new work in Nature answers these questions and more. Thanks to my amazing co-first @fxia.bsky.social @stefanofusi.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social for precious guidance
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Our new work in Nature answers these questions and more. Thanks to my amazing co-first @fxia.bsky.social @stefanofusi.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social for precious guidance
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
December 4, 2024 at 6:04 PM
What is the neural code and statistical structure of neural states characterizing stress?
Our new work in Nature answers these questions and more. Thanks to my amazing co-first @fxia.bsky.social @stefanofusi.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social for precious guidance
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Our new work in Nature answers these questions and more. Thanks to my amazing co-first @fxia.bsky.social @stefanofusi.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social for precious guidance
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I am excited that my first Bluesky post is to share our new paper in @natureportfolio.bsky.social - "Understanding the neural code of stress to control anhedonia." With @fxia.bsky.social , @valeriafascianelli.bsky.social and @stefanofusi.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Understanding the neural code of stress to control anhedonia - Nature
Examination of the neural activity in the basolateral amygdala and ventral CA1 of mice during tasks or rest following exposure to social stress reveals signatures of resilience and susceptibility to s...
www.nature.com
December 4, 2024 at 7:08 PM
I am excited that my first Bluesky post is to share our new paper in @natureportfolio.bsky.social - "Understanding the neural code of stress to control anhedonia." With @fxia.bsky.social , @valeriafascianelli.bsky.social and @stefanofusi.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...