Raaj Gowrishankar
@outraajeous.bsky.social
Neurobiology of motivated behavior. Assistant Professor, MUSC | Postdoc, UW | Ph.D., Vanderbilt. he/him 🌈
http://www.raajgowrishankarlab.org/
http://www.raajgowrishankarlab.org/
Pinned
Gowrishankar Lab
www.raajgowrishankarlab.org
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 Raaj Gowrishankar
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
December 27, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
New paper drop! 🧠💊 Our new paper out in Molecular Psychiatry shows that the serotonin 1B receptor is important for the neural and antidepressant/anxiolytic behavioral responses to psilocybin in mice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The serotonin 1B receptor is required for some of the behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice - Molecular Psychiatry
Molecular Psychiatry - The serotonin 1B receptor is required for some of the behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice
www.nature.com
December 21, 2025 at 7:50 PM
New paper drop! 🧠💊 Our new paper out in Molecular Psychiatry shows that the serotonin 1B receptor is important for the neural and antidepressant/anxiolytic behavioral responses to psilocybin in mice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Thank you - so happy to join such an exciting and supportive department!
Welcome to Vancouver and UBC! We’re excited to have you @milanium.bsky.social!
en route to Vancouver. thrilled to start my lab @psych.ubc.ca @arts.ubc.ca and join the @dmcbrainhealth.bsky.social - doors open Jan 2026. it's great to be back, 🇨🇦.
December 22, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Thank you - so happy to join such an exciting and supportive department!
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Cool basal ganglia preprints today!
2 on DA/ACh
1. @paulkramer.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
2. @arifahamid.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Motor learning @juangallego.bsky.social and @clopathlab.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
2 on DA/ACh
1. @paulkramer.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
2. @arifahamid.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Motor learning @juangallego.bsky.social and @clopathlab.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Excitatory nicotinic signaling drives action potential bursting in dopaminergic axons
Axons of dopamine (DA) neurons express nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) that have been shown to both facilitate and suppress striatal DA release, but the mechanisms underlying these opposing actions are u...
www.biorxiv.org
December 21, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Cool basal ganglia preprints today!
2 on DA/ACh
1. @paulkramer.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
2. @arifahamid.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Motor learning @juangallego.bsky.social and @clopathlab.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
2 on DA/ACh
1. @paulkramer.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
2. @arifahamid.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Motor learning @juangallego.bsky.social and @clopathlab.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
In a recent pub, grad students Kijoon and Corinne co-led a study where we made molecular tools to manipulate transposable elements (TEs) in mouse prefrontal cortex. We saw that transcriptional escape of brain TEs uniquely impaired complex social behavior.
Read it here:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Read it here:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Derepression of transposable elements in the mouse prefrontal cortex disrupts social behavior | PNAS
The neurobiological origins of social behaviors are poorly understood. Previous studies
have linked the function of a single Krüppel-associated box...
www.pnas.org
December 17, 2025 at 4:56 PM
In a recent pub, grad students Kijoon and Corinne co-led a study where we made molecular tools to manipulate transposable elements (TEs) in mouse prefrontal cortex. We saw that transcriptional escape of brain TEs uniquely impaired complex social behavior.
Read it here:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Read it here:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Thrilled this is out, led by former PD Cameron Ogg (now with her own lab at @rhodescollege.bsky.social!). It was a driven by a desire to see, in real-time, how LC activity/NE release influences downstream targets in behaving animals. SO hard to do, but Cameron did it! www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Locus coeruleus norepinephrine neurons facilitate orbitofrontal cortex remapping and behavioral flexibility
Ogg et al. use in vivo imaging techniques to record activity in the locus coeruleus
(LC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) during a reversal learning task in freely
moving rodents. They show that man...
www.cell.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Thrilled this is out, led by former PD Cameron Ogg (now with her own lab at @rhodescollege.bsky.social!). It was a driven by a desire to see, in real-time, how LC activity/NE release influences downstream targets in behaving animals. SO hard to do, but Cameron did it! www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Miniscope Processing Suite Goes Live! ariasarch.github.io/MPS_Installe...
MPS is a comprehensive pipeline for processing miniscope calcium imaging data. From raw videos to publication-ready traces, MPS guides you through every step with an intuitive GUI and powerful algorithms. Mac or PC.
MPS is a comprehensive pipeline for processing miniscope calcium imaging data. From raw videos to publication-ready traces, MPS guides you through every step with an intuitive GUI and powerful algorithms. Mac or PC.
November 12, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Miniscope Processing Suite Goes Live! ariasarch.github.io/MPS_Installe...
MPS is a comprehensive pipeline for processing miniscope calcium imaging data. From raw videos to publication-ready traces, MPS guides you through every step with an intuitive GUI and powerful algorithms. Mac or PC.
MPS is a comprehensive pipeline for processing miniscope calcium imaging data. From raw videos to publication-ready traces, MPS guides you through every step with an intuitive GUI and powerful algorithms. Mac or PC.
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Thought now was as good a time as ever to join bsky - Excited to share a big part of my PhD work is finally published- 7+ years of experiments from a great team of people. Wishing I could be at #sfn2025 to celebrate with you guys! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cocaine seeking and consumption are oppositely regulated by mesolimbic dopamine in male rats - Nature Communications
Here authors demonstrate how opposing trajectories of dopamine transmission underlie changes in drug seeking and taking over chronic drug use. Increased dopamine to drug cues elevates craving, whereas...
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Thought now was as good a time as ever to join bsky - Excited to share a big part of my PhD work is finally published- 7+ years of experiments from a great team of people. Wishing I could be at #sfn2025 to celebrate with you guys! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
The Day Lab will be representing our work at the annual Society for Neuroscience conference (@sfn.org) in San Diego this week in two sessions - stop by to see updates on a lot of really cool science! #SfN2025 #Neuroscience
November 14, 2025 at 9:02 PM
The Day Lab will be representing our work at the annual Society for Neuroscience conference (@sfn.org) in San Diego this week in two sessions - stop by to see updates on a lot of really cool science! #SfN2025 #Neuroscience
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Congratulations Max E. Joffe, Ph.D. for being awarded the NEECA Award for the top paper from an early-career researcher, from their own independent lab, published in print in NPP during 2024 tinyurl.com/yfha88u9!
November 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Congratulations Max E. Joffe, Ph.D. for being awarded the NEECA Award for the top paper from an early-career researcher, from their own independent lab, published in print in NPP during 2024 tinyurl.com/yfha88u9!
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 Raaj Gowrishankar
Calling aspiring group leaders! We've just opened applications for group leader fellowship sponsorship to start a lab in UCL NPP. Deadline 5 Jan. @uclnpp.bsky.social tinyurl.com/3h33dvev
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
tinyurl.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Calling aspiring group leaders! We've just opened applications for group leader fellowship sponsorship to start a lab in UCL NPP. Deadline 5 Jan. @uclnpp.bsky.social tinyurl.com/3h33dvev
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Introducing CorText: a framework that fuses brain data directly into a large language model, allowing for interactive neural readout using natural language.
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Introducing CorText: a framework that fuses brain data directly into a large language model, allowing for interactive neural readout using natural language.
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Extremely cool project by @initself.bsky.social , querying neural data in order to understand it. 👇
Introducing CorText: a framework that fuses brain data directly into a large language model, allowing for interactive neural readout using natural language.
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
November 3, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Extremely cool project by @initself.bsky.social , querying neural data in order to understand it. 👇
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
ATTN: Two faculty positions are available in my department (neuroscience) at the University of Minnesota. This is a general search with no topic focus. November 20th application deadline.
Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job
Assistant Prof job code: 364920
Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921
Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job
Assistant Prof job code: 364920
Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 PM
ATTN: Two faculty positions are available in my department (neuroscience) at the University of Minnesota. This is a general search with no topic focus. November 20th application deadline.
Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job
Assistant Prof job code: 364920
Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921
Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job
Assistant Prof job code: 364920
Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Wonderful read about the work ethos among 1980s Xerox service technicians and the importance of practical wisdom and storytelling. That’s what drew me to the community of multiphoton microscope tinkerers, and it explains why I find meaning in the unglamorous process of troubleshooting.
The Soul of Maintaining a New Machine - First Draft | Books in Progress
Books in Progress is what we call a “public drafting tool”: Drafts will be made available for comment from the public, allowing for direct collaboration between author and reader.
books.worksinprogress.co
October 14, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Wonderful read about the work ethos among 1980s Xerox service technicians and the importance of practical wisdom and storytelling. That’s what drew me to the community of multiphoton microscope tinkerers, and it explains why I find meaning in the unglamorous process of troubleshooting.
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Tachykinin 1-expressing neurons in the lateral habenula signal negative reward prediction error https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.11.680558v1
October 13, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Tachykinin 1-expressing neurons in the lateral habenula signal negative reward prediction error https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.11.680558v1
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
15 years in the making, we confirmed that mitochondria - the powerhouse of the cell - have an unusual localization in patients who experience psychosis (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders). You’ll never guess what kind of patient cells we used to make this discovery… 🧵
October 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
15 years in the making, we confirmed that mitochondria - the powerhouse of the cell - have an unusual localization in patients who experience psychosis (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders). You’ll never guess what kind of patient cells we used to make this discovery… 🧵
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Why does the naked mole rat have the longest lifespan of any rodent, nearly 40 years?
A 30-year long mystery unraveled @ScienceMagazine today!
Its cGAS enzyme in cells has 4 missense mutations that upends its function, promoting DNA repair and suppressing inflammation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A 30-year long mystery unraveled @ScienceMagazine today!
Its cGAS enzyme in cells has 4 missense mutations that upends its function, promoting DNA repair and suppressing inflammation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Why does the naked mole rat have the longest lifespan of any rodent, nearly 40 years?
A 30-year long mystery unraveled @ScienceMagazine today!
Its cGAS enzyme in cells has 4 missense mutations that upends its function, promoting DNA repair and suppressing inflammation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A 30-year long mystery unraveled @ScienceMagazine today!
Its cGAS enzyme in cells has 4 missense mutations that upends its function, promoting DNA repair and suppressing inflammation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
For all the knucklehead reviewers out there.
Principles for proper peer review - Earl K. Miller
jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/qag76ip8...
#neuroscience
Principles for proper peer review - Earl K. Miller
jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/qag76ip8...
#neuroscience
Principles for proper peer review
jocnf.pubpub.org
October 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
For all the knucklehead reviewers out there.
Principles for proper peer review - Earl K. Miller
jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/qag76ip8...
#neuroscience
Principles for proper peer review - Earl K. Miller
jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/qag76ip8...
#neuroscience
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
🚨 New preprint alert!
🧠🤖
We propose a theory of how learning curriculum affects generalization through neural population dimensionality. Learning curriculum is a determining factor of neural dimensionality - where you start from determines where you end up.
🧠📈
A 🧵:
tinyurl.com/yr8tawj3
🧠🤖
We propose a theory of how learning curriculum affects generalization through neural population dimensionality. Learning curriculum is a determining factor of neural dimensionality - where you start from determines where you end up.
🧠📈
A 🧵:
tinyurl.com/yr8tawj3
The curriculum effect in visual learning: the role of readout dimensionality
Generalization of visual perceptual learning (VPL) to unseen conditions varies across tasks. Previous work suggests that training curriculum may be integral to generalization, yet a theoretical explan...
tinyurl.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:26 PM
🚨 New preprint alert!
🧠🤖
We propose a theory of how learning curriculum affects generalization through neural population dimensionality. Learning curriculum is a determining factor of neural dimensionality - where you start from determines where you end up.
🧠📈
A 🧵:
tinyurl.com/yr8tawj3
🧠🤖
We propose a theory of how learning curriculum affects generalization through neural population dimensionality. Learning curriculum is a determining factor of neural dimensionality - where you start from determines where you end up.
🧠📈
A 🧵:
tinyurl.com/yr8tawj3
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
My group at Science has been running a big campaign to engineer new channelrhodopsins.
Excited to share the first results from it today: a suite of highly sensitive new opsins.
We call them "WAChRs".
Everyday indoor office lighting is enough to activate them pretty strongly.
Excited to share the first results from it today: a suite of highly sensitive new opsins.
We call them "WAChRs".
Everyday indoor office lighting is enough to activate them pretty strongly.
September 18, 2025 at 2:06 PM
My group at Science has been running a big campaign to engineer new channelrhodopsins.
Excited to share the first results from it today: a suite of highly sensitive new opsins.
We call them "WAChRs".
Everyday indoor office lighting is enough to activate them pretty strongly.
Excited to share the first results from it today: a suite of highly sensitive new opsins.
We call them "WAChRs".
Everyday indoor office lighting is enough to activate them pretty strongly.
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
In a new paper, we analyze published RNAseq and discover impact to the expression of transposable element transcripts in the brains of people with major depressive disorder. Natalie Truby, a recent-grad from the lab, spearheaded this work.
Read about it here:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
Read about it here:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
Redirecting
doi.org
September 5, 2025 at 5:44 PM
In a new paper, we analyze published RNAseq and discover impact to the expression of transposable element transcripts in the brains of people with major depressive disorder. Natalie Truby, a recent-grad from the lab, spearheaded this work.
Read about it here:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
Read about it here:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
Reposted by Raaj Gowrishankar
Great story in the @thetransmitter.bsky.social today by
@callimcflurry.bsky.social. It was fun chatting about @melcooperphd.bsky.social's new research on astrocyte networks.
Read the story here: www.thetransmitter.org/astrocytes/a...
Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@callimcflurry.bsky.social. It was fun chatting about @melcooperphd.bsky.social's new research on astrocyte networks.
Read the story here: www.thetransmitter.org/astrocytes/a...
Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Astrocyte networks span large swaths of brain
The networks are plastic, connect brain regions that aren’t connected by neurons and may enable long-distance communication between astrocytes, a new preprint shows.
www.thetransmitter.org
September 3, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Great story in the @thetransmitter.bsky.social today by
@callimcflurry.bsky.social. It was fun chatting about @melcooperphd.bsky.social's new research on astrocyte networks.
Read the story here: www.thetransmitter.org/astrocytes/a...
Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@callimcflurry.bsky.social. It was fun chatting about @melcooperphd.bsky.social's new research on astrocyte networks.
Read the story here: www.thetransmitter.org/astrocytes/a...
Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...