Ciarán Murphy-Royal
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murphyroyallab.org
Ciarán Murphy-Royal
@murphyroyallab.org
Glia-neuron interactions - Astrocytes, Synapses, Behaviour, & Stress

Associate Professor
Dept. of Neuroscience
Université de Montréal - CRCHUM
www.murphyroyallab.org


Neurobiology of Stress workshop
16-19 June 2026, Montreal
www.stress2026.com
Pinned
Sept 2025 lab photo!
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Huge milestone for the lab last week with @lewisholt.bsky.social defending his PhD!
He really got tested by the jury and put on a phenomenal performance fitting with all the exceptional work he did in the lab.

Really sad to see Lewis go, but we managed to squeeze in one last lab party!
December 15, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Fantastic talk from @papouinlab.bsky.social at the @crchum.bsky.social !

Next on to @lewisholt.bsky.social ‘s PhD defense!
December 12, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Fantastic presentation from @mathiasgua.bsky.social at @umontreal.ca Neuro department research day.

Showing all his cool new data!
December 10, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
It's happening! Canada launched two programs to recruit international researchers.

Canada Impact+ Research Chairs (1 million/yr for 8 yrs +)
Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders.

I will do my best to facilitate the process for those interested. Hit me up.

www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...
The Government of Canada introduces new programs for international researchers - Canada.ca
www.canada.ca
December 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Final journal club of the year so we rounded up what we thought were the best papers of 2025! 🤩

Limit was 1 per person, so tough decisions were made...

www.murphyroyallab.org/journal-club
Journal Club — Murphy-Royal Lab
www.murphyroyallab.org
December 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
After a constructive and extensive revision, happy to share our manuscript published in @elife.bsky.social entitled "Dorsal hippocampus mediates light–tone associations in male mice" (doi.org/10.7554/eLif...). Congrats to Julia Pinho, @carlarduaso.bsky.social and @imanzanaressierra.bsky.social.
Dorsal hippocampus mediates light–tone associations in male mice
A light–tone sensory preconditioning task in male mice is developed revealing sex differences and demonstrating that dorsal, but not ventral, hippocampal CaMKII-positive neurons encode innocuous stimu...
doi.org
December 4, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Will find way to incorporate this into next talk! 🫶
Frontiers | Taylor Swift versus Mozart: music preferences of C57BL/6J mice
IntroductionMusic has become an established complementary element of modern medicine, demonstrating beneficial effects towards various diseases such as demen...
www.frontiersin.org
December 3, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
New York Times article on science funding with some depressing but familiar curves with interactive graphics.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine (Gift Article)
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
On behalf of CANGlia: Call for 2026 symposia proposals for the 2026 CANGlia Meeting in Montreal (May 15–16).
Submit by Dec 31, 2025 to canglia2024@gmail.com
All areas of glial research welcome. Details: https://www.networkglia.eu/activities/
Activities - Network Glia e. V.
Call for CANGlia 2026 Symposia Proposals | Deadline: December 31st, 2025 The Canadian Association for Neuroscientists who study Glia (CANGlia) is now accepting Proposals for the 2026 CANGlia Meeting in Montreal (May 15-16th, 2026), with a deadline of Wednesday, December 31st, 2025. Please see below for more details and do not hesitate to reach out …
www.networkglia.eu
December 2, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Please repost: another kind of Black-Friday deal!
November 28, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Nature Sci Rep publishes incoherent AI slop. eLife publishes a paper which the reviewers didn't agree with, making all the comments and responses public with thoughtful commentary. One of these journals got delisted by Web of Science for quality concerns from not doing peer review. Guess which one?
November 27, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Out now: Favila, Capece Marsico et al. 2025, Nature Communications: Using longitudinal deep-brain imaging, we report that amygdala interneurons exhibit complex and heterogeneous plasticity during associative learning, at both the single-cell and population level.
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Heterogeneous plasticity of amygdala interneurons in associative learning and extinction - Nature Communications
In this study, the authors uncover how diverse inhibitory interneurons in the amygdala flexibly contribute to fear and safety learning, revealing a key role for inhibition in emotional memory and adap...
www.nature.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
New lab paper drop, this one has been a long time coming! Driven by Rob Aukema (now a postdoc with Kerry Ressler) this paper in Science Advances answered the lingering question of what role the amygdala plays in stress-induced neuroendocrine responses.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A network of basolateral amygdala projection neurons contributes to stress-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
A network of basolateral amygdala neurons, but not singular projections, contributes to the neuroendocrine response to stress.
www.science.org
November 25, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Excited to share the first publication out of my lab!

www.jove.com/t/69418/simu...

We describe the approach that I developed during my postdoc in the Thompson Lab for inducing stroke in behaving mice while recording neuronal activity in the emerging core.
November 21, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
👉🏼👉🏾👉🏻👉🏿👉🏽An opportunity for a PhD studentship in my lab to investigate the mechanisms that mediate the specialization astrocyte endfeet (subcellular compartments enwrapping the vasculature) in collaboration with the magnificent Lorena Arancibia.

See below:
November 19, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Share your research at the next Canadian Neuroscience Meeting May 18-21, 2026 in Montreal!
Calls for Parallel Symposia, Satellite Meetings, Poster Abstract and Travel & Professional Awards are now open - Don't miss these opportunities!
can-acn.org/meeting-2026/
November 14, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Time to hibernate… or ski to work! 😅
November 11, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Finally it’s here! 🌟⬇️

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

I’m sooo excited to share our latest article led by Steve Hill and Isabel Bravo-Ferrer
1- How does the vasculature communicate with astrocytes?
2- Is this communication dependent to what happens in the body.
3- Is it relevant to human diseases?
Fig. 1: Establishment of methods to identify astrocyte endfoot proteins. | Nature Communications
www.nature.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Fantastic weekend at the Hypothalamic Mechanisms Retreat organized by @katrinachoe.bsky.social & Mijail Rojas-Carvajal ! Unfortunately didnt take too many pictures apart from the 'family tree' but it was so nice to share lots of unpublished work and get some critical feedback!
November 3, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
If you are attending #SfN25, please join @amygleichman.bsky.social and I on Monday at 9PM for a casual social gathering to discuss all things non-neuronal!

Date: Monday, Nov 17th
Time: 9PM till close
Location: The Smoking Gun SD, 555 Market St.

All welcome, please free to spread the word!
October 29, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Really nice work from our neighbours Stephanie Fulton and team investigating links between inflammation, anxiety, and microglia!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Anxiety induced by systemic inflammation involves microglial engulfing of nucleus accumbens inputs and diminished excitability of dopamine D1 receptor neurons
The neuroimmune corollaries of systemic inflammation can generate anxiodepressive behaviors and psychomotor slowing. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a …
www.sciencedirect.com
October 25, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
Des idées brillantes, des projets porteurs : le Congrès étudiant du @CRCHUM a mis en lumière une relève inspirante et les talents de demain.
👏 Bravo à l’équipe des Affaires étudiantes pour l’organisation.

Pour connaître les noms des lauréats et lauréates ⬇️
www.chumontreal.qc.ca/actualites/i...
Idées audacieuses et esprits en effervescence au congrès étudiant du CRCHUM
Les 16 et 17 octobre, plus de 300 personnes se sont réunies au Centre de recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM) pour le 26e congrès des étudiant(e)s, stagiaires et résident(e)s. Organisé par l’équipe des Affaires...
www.chumontreal.qc.ca
October 24, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Ciarán Murphy-Royal
New paper from the lab led by Ali Golbabaei. If you’re interested in systems consolidation, generalization and hippocampal neurogenesis a short 🧵 follows:

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lsO73QW8S...
authors.elsevier.com
October 1, 2025 at 12:39 AM