Nick Smith
@neuronnick.bsky.social
Neuroscientist. postdoc at UPenn Betley Lab. eating, learning, and dopamine
https://nicksmithneuro.com/
https://nicksmithneuro.com/
Great news from the Senate appropriations committee
“To the scientists wondering if there will even be an NIH by the end of this administration: this committee’s resounding message is ‘yes.’
“We support you and we need you to stay here and keep this research going.”
“We support you and we need you to stay here and keep this research going.”
August 1, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Great news from the Senate appropriations committee
Reposted by Nick Smith
Very excited to share my postdoc work- out now at PNAS!
Learn more about how neurons facing chronic autophagic stress compensate by upregulating two secretion pathways
Autophagic stress activates distinct compensatory secretory pathways in neurons | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Learn more about how neurons facing chronic autophagic stress compensate by upregulating two secretion pathways
Autophagic stress activates distinct compensatory secretory pathways in neurons | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
July 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Very excited to share my postdoc work- out now at PNAS!
Learn more about how neurons facing chronic autophagic stress compensate by upregulating two secretion pathways
Autophagic stress activates distinct compensatory secretory pathways in neurons | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Learn more about how neurons facing chronic autophagic stress compensate by upregulating two secretion pathways
Autophagic stress activates distinct compensatory secretory pathways in neurons | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Nick Smith
Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
How a discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR - Richmond Scientific
A discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR, the gold-standard COVID-19 tests used to fight the global pandemic.
www.richmondscientific.com
June 8, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
Reposted by Nick Smith
Excited to present our study in @natneuro.nature.com: a deep brain pathway that triggers safety-driven movement—overriding needs like finding food or social contacts. A look into how the brain weighs deep instincts. Congrats to all and first author @nkrauth.bsky.social. shorturl.at/toYFN
A hypothalamus–brainstem circuit governs the prioritization of safety over essential needs - Nature Neuroscience
Animals need to adapt behavior to balance survival with fulfillment of essential needs. Krauth et al. identify neurons in the lateral hypothalamus that, when activated, prioritize survival over other ...
shorturl.at
May 28, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Excited to present our study in @natneuro.nature.com: a deep brain pathway that triggers safety-driven movement—overriding needs like finding food or social contacts. A look into how the brain weighs deep instincts. Congrats to all and first author @nkrauth.bsky.social. shorturl.at/toYFN
Reposted by Nick Smith
Enrico’s flickers like a memory you’re not sure is yours. Somewhere up there, maybe, is grace, or just more fog. San Francisco, holding its breath.
May 14, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Enrico’s flickers like a memory you’re not sure is yours. Somewhere up there, maybe, is grace, or just more fog. San Francisco, holding its breath.
Reposted by Nick Smith
Thrilled to share our latest preprint and first major project from the lab, where we show a mechanism for direct interoceptive input to the insular cortex. Work by the incredible @zhezhao2017 with help from many others including @stefanoberto83.bsky.social
Direct interoceptive input to the insular cortex shapes learned feeding behavior https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.13.653896v1
May 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Thrilled to share our latest preprint and first major project from the lab, where we show a mechanism for direct interoceptive input to the insular cortex. Work by the incredible @zhezhao2017 with help from many others including @stefanoberto83.bsky.social
Reposted by Nick Smith
Check out our latest! Studies led by the amazing Megan Brickner - she finds really interesting patterns of dopamine signaling in the basolateral amygdala that report the emotional salience of sensory state transitions. These are largely non-associative, value-free signals, in contrast to classic DA.
Basolateral amygdala dopamine transmits a nonassociative emotional salience signal https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.15.654323v1
May 17, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Check out our latest! Studies led by the amazing Megan Brickner - she finds really interesting patterns of dopamine signaling in the basolateral amygdala that report the emotional salience of sensory state transitions. These are largely non-associative, value-free signals, in contrast to classic DA.
Reposted by Nick Smith
Excited to share our latest story: "The gut-brain vagal axis governs mesolimbic dopamine dynamics and reward events" 🎉.
Big congrats to 1st author Oriane Onimus 💪 🥳 & many thanks to all those involved 🙏🙏.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Big congrats to 1st author Oriane Onimus 💪 🥳 & many thanks to all those involved 🙏🙏.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The gut-brain vagal axis governs mesolimbic dopamine dynamics and reward events
Reward-related processes have traditionally been ascribed to neural circuits centered on the dopamine (DA) system. While exteroceptive stimuli, such as food and drugs of abuse, are well-established ac...
www.biorxiv.org
May 16, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Excited to share our latest story: "The gut-brain vagal axis governs mesolimbic dopamine dynamics and reward events" 🎉.
Big congrats to 1st author Oriane Onimus 💪 🥳 & many thanks to all those involved 🙏🙏.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Big congrats to 1st author Oriane Onimus 💪 🥳 & many thanks to all those involved 🙏🙏.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Nick Smith
My survey class on the history of science is essentially about the social conditions required for science. The final lecture is always about how the US became the dominant nation for research in the 2nd half of the 20th century, and how it in retrospect it may be seen as an anomalous "Golden Age."
April 19, 2025 at 6:32 PM
My survey class on the history of science is essentially about the social conditions required for science. The final lecture is always about how the US became the dominant nation for research in the 2nd half of the 20th century, and how it in retrospect it may be seen as an anomalous "Golden Age."
Reposted by Nick Smith
After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology.
April 16, 2025 at 9:00 PM
After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology.
Reposted by Nick Smith
Research briefing: A textbook assumption about the brain’s most abundant receptors needs to be rewritten
https://go.nature.com/3FDq3KZ
https://go.nature.com/3FDq3KZ
A textbook assumption about the brain’s most abundant receptors needs to be rewritten
Neuronal AMPA receptors previously assumed to be calcium impermeable are unexpectedly shown to transport calcium ions.
go.nature.com
March 20, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Research briefing: A textbook assumption about the brain’s most abundant receptors needs to be rewritten
https://go.nature.com/3FDq3KZ
https://go.nature.com/3FDq3KZ
Reposted by Nick Smith
Cutting funds for science and research will save you a penny on the dollar but may one day cost you a life that you love.
March 12, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Cutting funds for science and research will save you a penny on the dollar but may one day cost you a life that you love.
Reposted by Nick Smith
Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies www.thetransmitter.org/policy/exclu...
Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies
Such a shift would “put us back in the dark ages in terms of our science,” says neuroscientist Anne Murphy, who helped to formulate the original policy.
www.thetransmitter.org
February 24, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies www.thetransmitter.org/policy/exclu...
Reposted by Nick Smith
1/ 🧠 Excited to share our new preprint:
Convergent state-control of endogenous opioid analgesia
We uncover how cognitive + contextual factors—like injury, fear, and placebo—modulate pain through dynamic opioid signaling in the periaqueductal gray (PAG)
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Convergent state-control of endogenous opioid analgesia
We uncover how cognitive + contextual factors—like injury, fear, and placebo—modulate pain through dynamic opioid signaling in the periaqueductal gray (PAG)
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
January 4, 2025 at 5:25 PM
1/ 🧠 Excited to share our new preprint:
Convergent state-control of endogenous opioid analgesia
We uncover how cognitive + contextual factors—like injury, fear, and placebo—modulate pain through dynamic opioid signaling in the periaqueductal gray (PAG)
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Convergent state-control of endogenous opioid analgesia
We uncover how cognitive + contextual factors—like injury, fear, and placebo—modulate pain through dynamic opioid signaling in the periaqueductal gray (PAG)
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Nick Smith
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, led by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) - a gastroenterologist with an MD from LSU, just released a report entitled NIH IN THE 21st CENTURY: ENSURING TRANSPARENCY AND AMERICAN BIOMEDICAL LEADERSHIP. Since he is the ranking Republican,
1/n
1/n
December 18, 2024 at 9:37 PM
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, led by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) - a gastroenterologist with an MD from LSU, just released a report entitled NIH IN THE 21st CENTURY: ENSURING TRANSPARENCY AND AMERICAN BIOMEDICAL LEADERSHIP. Since he is the ranking Republican,
1/n
1/n
Reposted by Nick Smith
The John Le Carré Advent Calendar - My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com Books. (with apologies to @realjohnlecarre.bsky.social and @harkaway.bsky.social)
November 30, 2024 at 10:10 AM
The John Le Carré Advent Calendar - My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com Books. (with apologies to @realjohnlecarre.bsky.social and @harkaway.bsky.social)
Reposted by Nick Smith
Reposted by Nick Smith
Dear gut/brain neuroscientists -- is there a paper you'd consider groundbreaking in this field in the past ~10 years or so? Like, something that really changed how we thought about the gut/brain connection?
November 27, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Dear gut/brain neuroscientists -- is there a paper you'd consider groundbreaking in this field in the past ~10 years or so? Like, something that really changed how we thought about the gut/brain connection?
Reposted by Nick Smith
Just in time for Thanksgiving, we're grateful for the publication of our paper in #eLife
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We measured dopamine and behavioral responses to intraorally delivered sucrose across acquisition and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.
1/n
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We measured dopamine and behavioral responses to intraorally delivered sucrose across acquisition and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.
1/n
It Tastes Bad Melissa GIF
ALT: It Tastes Bad Melissa GIF
media.tenor.com
November 25, 2024 at 6:28 PM
Just in time for Thanksgiving, we're grateful for the publication of our paper in #eLife
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We measured dopamine and behavioral responses to intraorally delivered sucrose across acquisition and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.
1/n
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We measured dopamine and behavioral responses to intraorally delivered sucrose across acquisition and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.
1/n
Reposted by Nick Smith
How the #brain talks to the #gut and vice versa!
🧪🧠💩
Check out the great primer on gut-brain communication and #interoception by @amberalhadeff.bsky.social and Nilay Yapici
👇👇👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
🧪🧠💩
Check out the great primer on gut-brain communication and #interoception by @amberalhadeff.bsky.social and Nilay Yapici
👇👇👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 25, 2024 at 11:25 PM
How the #brain talks to the #gut and vice versa!
🧪🧠💩
Check out the great primer on gut-brain communication and #interoception by @amberalhadeff.bsky.social and Nilay Yapici
👇👇👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
🧪🧠💩
Check out the great primer on gut-brain communication and #interoception by @amberalhadeff.bsky.social and Nilay Yapici
👇👇👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Nick Smith
My paper is out!! 🎉
"Opponent control of reinforcement by striatal dopamine and serotonin", @Nature
Here, we show that dopamine and serotonin signals form a gas-brake system for reward in the mammalian brain
THREAD ⬇️
1/n
"Opponent control of reinforcement by striatal dopamine and serotonin", @Nature
Here, we show that dopamine and serotonin signals form a gas-brake system for reward in the mammalian brain
THREAD ⬇️
1/n
November 25, 2024 at 4:31 PM
My paper is out!! 🎉
"Opponent control of reinforcement by striatal dopamine and serotonin", @Nature
Here, we show that dopamine and serotonin signals form a gas-brake system for reward in the mammalian brain
THREAD ⬇️
1/n
"Opponent control of reinforcement by striatal dopamine and serotonin", @Nature
Here, we show that dopamine and serotonin signals form a gas-brake system for reward in the mammalian brain
THREAD ⬇️
1/n
As a kid, I put a sample of pond water on a slide using a little microscope I got for my birthday. To my surprise I found a stentor attached to a speck of green. Seeing that little microscopic life form churning away helped spark my interest in biology. Cool to see how it works!
Single cells can learn without a brain, but how? Our new preprint from @deeparajan.bsky.social describes a model for habituation in Stentor coeruleus, based on receptor internalization and recycling, along with new experiments inspired by the model. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 21, 2024 at 2:46 PM
As a kid, I put a sample of pond water on a slide using a little microscope I got for my birthday. To my surprise I found a stentor attached to a speck of green. Seeing that little microscopic life form churning away helped spark my interest in biology. Cool to see how it works!
Reposted by Nick Smith
🌟 Cai Lab Nature (@natureportfolio.bsky.social) paper alert! In work led by Joe Zaki, we find that rest periods after learning not only stabilize new memories BUT ALSO integrate new memories with older ones from days past! (1/10)
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 19, 2024 at 4:50 PM
🌟 Cai Lab Nature (@natureportfolio.bsky.social) paper alert! In work led by Joe Zaki, we find that rest periods after learning not only stabilize new memories BUT ALSO integrate new memories with older ones from days past! (1/10)
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Nick Smith
OPEN RANK #FACULTY #POSITION in #Pharmacology & #Neuroscience with expertise in #behavioral pharmacology/neuroscience of relevance to substance use disorders. Review of applications will start immediately. Target start date is Fall 2025. Come join us!
Apply here: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Apply here: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Professor / Associate Professor / Assistant Professor | U-M Careers
careers.umich.edu
November 18, 2024 at 2:08 PM
OPEN RANK #FACULTY #POSITION in #Pharmacology & #Neuroscience with expertise in #behavioral pharmacology/neuroscience of relevance to substance use disorders. Review of applications will start immediately. Target start date is Fall 2025. Come join us!
Apply here: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Apply here: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Reposted by Nick Smith
I've been attending the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB.org) conference since 1996 as a grad student, pdoc, prof and I now have the honor of serving as its President. Its an exceptionally warm group of scientists. Join us in Oxford UK on July 28 for the 2025 meetng!
November 17, 2024 at 6:15 PM
I've been attending the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB.org) conference since 1996 as a grad student, pdoc, prof and I now have the honor of serving as its President. Its an exceptionally warm group of scientists. Join us in Oxford UK on July 28 for the 2025 meetng!