Steve Maren
@stevemaren.bsky.social
Brains, emotions, memories. Director, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 🔶🔷
Pinned
Lots of amazing science happening at Beckman! Whether your interests are in molecules or minds, you will be amazed by our innovative, interdisciplinary research. Give us a follow to learn about our latest news, events, and employment and fellowship opportunities!!🔸🔬🧠🧪🔹
@beckmanillinois.bsky.social
@beckmanillinois.bsky.social
🚨Applications are now open for 2026 @beckmanillinois.bsky.social Postdoctoral Fellowships! We provide 3 years of support ($63k/year) for candidates conducting interdisciplinary research with two or more Beckman faculty members. Please apply and RT! beckman.illinois.edu/opportunitie...
Postdoctoral Fellows Program
The Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers three postdoctoral fellow programs to support outstanding scientists: Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellows Program, Car...
beckman.illinois.edu
November 1, 2025 at 3:46 PM
🚨Applications are now open for 2026 @beckmanillinois.bsky.social Postdoctoral Fellowships! We provide 3 years of support ($63k/year) for candidates conducting interdisciplinary research with two or more Beckman faculty members. Please apply and RT! beckman.illinois.edu/opportunitie...
Lots of amazing science happening at Beckman! Whether your interests are in molecules or minds, you will be amazed by our innovative, interdisciplinary research. Give us a follow to learn about our latest news, events, and employment and fellowship opportunities!!🔸🔬🧠🧪🔹
@beckmanillinois.bsky.social
@beckmanillinois.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Lots of amazing science happening at Beckman! Whether your interests are in molecules or minds, you will be amazed by our innovative, interdisciplinary research. Give us a follow to learn about our latest news, events, and employment and fellowship opportunities!!🔸🔬🧠🧪🔹
@beckmanillinois.bsky.social
@beckmanillinois.bsky.social
Reposted by Steve Maren
Ted’s Café at the Beckman Institute
✅ Complete renovation
✅ Glass walls and welcoming décor
✅ New chef and menu
✅ New dining room
🩷 Ribbon cutting today!!!
beckman.illinois.edu/teds-cafe/be...
✅ Complete renovation
✅ Glass walls and welcoming décor
✅ New chef and menu
✅ New dining room
🩷 Ribbon cutting today!!!
beckman.illinois.edu/teds-cafe/be...
September 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Ted’s Café at the Beckman Institute
✅ Complete renovation
✅ Glass walls and welcoming décor
✅ New chef and menu
✅ New dining room
🩷 Ribbon cutting today!!!
beckman.illinois.edu/teds-cafe/be...
✅ Complete renovation
✅ Glass walls and welcoming décor
✅ New chef and menu
✅ New dining room
🩷 Ribbon cutting today!!!
beckman.illinois.edu/teds-cafe/be...
Reposted by Steve Maren
Beckman is on Bluesky!
If you want to see what we're all about, check out our 2023-2024 annual report. 🔷🔶
Its stories showcase how Beckman research serves real people, including athletes, educators, students and surgeons. 🤝
go.beckman.illinois.edu/annualreport
If you want to see what we're all about, check out our 2023-2024 annual report. 🔷🔶
Its stories showcase how Beckman research serves real people, including athletes, educators, students and surgeons. 🤝
go.beckman.illinois.edu/annualreport
December 12, 2024 at 8:15 PM
Beckman is on Bluesky!
If you want to see what we're all about, check out our 2023-2024 annual report. 🔷🔶
Its stories showcase how Beckman research serves real people, including athletes, educators, students and surgeons. 🤝
go.beckman.illinois.edu/annualreport
If you want to see what we're all about, check out our 2023-2024 annual report. 🔷🔶
Its stories showcase how Beckman research serves real people, including athletes, educators, students and surgeons. 🤝
go.beckman.illinois.edu/annualreport
Isn’t it weird that 27 years of important behavioral neuroscience work published from 1973-2000 in Psychobiology has been disappeared because it isn’t on PubMed? That’s 100s of papers that the field has no knowledge of….
September 25, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Isn’t it weird that 27 years of important behavioral neuroscience work published from 1973-2000 in Psychobiology has been disappeared because it isn’t on PubMed? That’s 100s of papers that the field has no knowledge of….
Reposted by Steve Maren
Yes, I am on the academic job market looking to start my own lab at the intersection of molecular, computational, and systems neuroscience! If you think my work may be interest to your department, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Thank you, Keri!
Thank you, Keri!
Congrats Michael! Really appreciate the brilliance & creativity you brought to the analyses and as always, sincere dedication to open science 🧪 🧠
@mictott.bsky.social is on the job market!! Amazing skillset spanning wet lab/computational at molecular, cellular + systems level - and across species!
@mictott.bsky.social is on the job market!! Amazing skillset spanning wet lab/computational at molecular, cellular + systems level - and across species!
Very excited to share my second postdoc, now out in Science Advances! We used targeted snRNA-seq to profile four major subnuclei of the primate across three species (including humans). 1/13 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
September 18, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Yes, I am on the academic job market looking to start my own lab at the intersection of molecular, computational, and systems neuroscience! If you think my work may be interest to your department, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Thank you, Keri!
Thank you, Keri!
Reposted by Steve Maren
Congrats Michael! Really appreciate the brilliance & creativity you brought to the analyses and as always, sincere dedication to open science 🧪 🧠
@mictott.bsky.social is on the job market!! Amazing skillset spanning wet lab/computational at molecular, cellular + systems level - and across species!
@mictott.bsky.social is on the job market!! Amazing skillset spanning wet lab/computational at molecular, cellular + systems level - and across species!
Very excited to share my second postdoc, now out in Science Advances! We used targeted snRNA-seq to profile four major subnuclei of the primate across three species (including humans). 1/13 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Transcriptomic diversity of amygdalar subdivisions across humans and nonhuman primates
Specialized cell types and links to psychiatric disorders are revealed by genetic mapping of primate amygdala neurons.
www.science.org
September 18, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Congrats Michael! Really appreciate the brilliance & creativity you brought to the analyses and as always, sincere dedication to open science 🧪 🧠
@mictott.bsky.social is on the job market!! Amazing skillset spanning wet lab/computational at molecular, cellular + systems level - and across species!
@mictott.bsky.social is on the job market!! Amazing skillset spanning wet lab/computational at molecular, cellular + systems level - and across species!
🚨New paper🚨 Excited to share this collaborative paper exploring nucleus reuniens correlates of fear conditioning in both rats and humans! Congrats @tugcettuna @F_Mourao_ @MicTott Muhammad Badarnee and Moh Milad!! rdcu.be/eyTPs
Associative coding of conditioned fear in the thalamic nucleus reuniens in rodents and humans
Communications Biology - The nucleus reuniens encodes associative value in both humans and rats. In rats, it also tracks defensive freezing states. The reuniens has a conserved role across species...
rdcu.be
August 2, 2025 at 1:20 AM
🚨New paper🚨 Excited to share this collaborative paper exploring nucleus reuniens correlates of fear conditioning in both rats and humans! Congrats @tugcettuna @F_Mourao_ @MicTott Muhammad Badarnee and Moh Milad!! rdcu.be/eyTPs
Reposted by Steve Maren
Hot off the presses: www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06... "Trump administration cuts to National Institutes of Health grants are illegal, a judge rules." #ScienceIsDefiance
Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Rules N.I.H. Grant Cuts Illegal, Orders Funds Restored
www.nytimes.com
June 16, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Hot off the presses: www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06... "Trump administration cuts to National Institutes of Health grants are illegal, a judge rules." #ScienceIsDefiance
Reposted by Steve Maren
I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding.
It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
Medical Research Funding — Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
unbreaking.org
May 30, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding.
It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
🚨New paper alert! 🚨 Inactivation of the nucleus reuniens causes relapse of extinguished fear. Here we show this “circuit-induced relapse” depends on hippocampal fear memories and is mediated by hippocampal engrams. Congrats to the team!
Hippocampal ensembles regulate circuit-induced relapse of extinguished fear
Molecular Psychiatry - Hippocampal ensembles regulate circuit-induced relapse of extinguished fear
urldefense.com
May 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
🚨New paper alert! 🚨 Inactivation of the nucleus reuniens causes relapse of extinguished fear. Here we show this “circuit-induced relapse” depends on hippocampal fear memories and is mediated by hippocampal engrams. Congrats to the team!
Wonderful review and happy to contribute!
➡️ Delighted to contribute to this piece on the mechanisms underlying memory reconsolidation and persistence, together with Hugo Bayer, Cristina Stern and @stevemaren.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Windows of change: Revisiting temporal and molecular dynamics of memory reconsolidation and persistenc
Retrieval can bring memories to a labile state, creating a window to modify its content during reconsolidation. Numerous studies have investigated thi…
www.sciencedirect.com
May 11, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Wonderful review and happy to contribute!
Reposted by Steve Maren
This marks my first-author contribution as part of the Maren Lab team! Our findings shed new light on the mechanisms underlying context-dependent extinction of learned fear. Huge thanks to @stevemaren.bsky.social , Tugce tuna, and @mictott.bsky.social for teamwork.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Hippocampal-prelimbic coupling during context-dependent extinction retrieval in rats
After fear conditioning, repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus (CS) alone produces a context-dependent extinction of learned fear. The hippocampus has a critical role in this process, but ...
www.biorxiv.org
May 5, 2025 at 4:06 PM
This marks my first-author contribution as part of the Maren Lab team! Our findings shed new light on the mechanisms underlying context-dependent extinction of learned fear. Huge thanks to @stevemaren.bsky.social , Tugce tuna, and @mictott.bsky.social for teamwork.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Steve Maren
Excellent review 👍👏 that highlights historical evidence and explores recent advancements in memory encoding research, and examines how dysfunction in ensemble coding may contribute to PTSD @stevemaren.bsky.social www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...
Integrating Aversive Memories in the Basolateral Amygdala
Decades of research have established a critical role of the basolateral complex of
the amygdala (BLA) in the encoding and storage of aversive memories. Much of this
work utilizes Pavlovian fear condit...
www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com
April 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Excellent review 👍👏 that highlights historical evidence and explores recent advancements in memory encoding research, and examines how dysfunction in ensemble coding may contribute to PTSD @stevemaren.bsky.social www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...
Good news at last; no less than 9 weeks after the budget end date, I finally received the NOA for the noncompeting continuation. What a relief!
Still waiting...
Now about 5 weeks without the noncompeting renewal. Anyone else in limbo?
April 9, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Good news at last; no less than 9 weeks after the budget end date, I finally received the NOA for the noncompeting continuation. What a relief!
Reposted by Steve Maren
Very excited to share the last bit of my PhD work with @stevemaren.bsky.social! In collaboration with Mohammad Milad's group, we conducted neural recordings of the thalamic nucleus reuniens in rodents and humans across fear conditioning and extinction. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
April 7, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Very excited to share the last bit of my PhD work with @stevemaren.bsky.social! In collaboration with Mohammad Milad's group, we conducted neural recordings of the thalamic nucleus reuniens in rodents and humans across fear conditioning and extinction. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Still waiting...
Now about 5 weeks without the noncompeting renewal. Anyone else in limbo?
April 4, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Still waiting...
For those still wondering…still no NOA for a noncompeting continuation after close to two months now (Feb 1)
Now about 5 weeks without the noncompeting renewal. Anyone else in limbo?
March 26, 2025 at 11:46 AM
For those still wondering…still no NOA for a noncompeting continuation after close to two months now (Feb 1)
NIH dollars still not flowing to UIUC--only 7 awards since February 1, zero since Mar 1. I still have no word on a Feb 1 noncompeting and shaking my fist at the sky appears not to be working 😂
March 12, 2025 at 1:23 AM
NIH dollars still not flowing to UIUC--only 7 awards since February 1, zero since Mar 1. I still have no word on a Feb 1 noncompeting and shaking my fist at the sky appears not to be working 😂
Fun to have @nickofferman.bsky.social back on the UIUC campus for a bento lunch, stories, a song, and a book signing to support the Japan House Ogura-Sato Annex. Naomi and I had the pleasure of meeting him!
March 8, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Fun to have @nickofferman.bsky.social back on the UIUC campus for a bento lunch, stories, a song, and a book signing to support the Japan House Ogura-Sato Annex. Naomi and I had the pleasure of meeting him!
Now about 5 weeks without the noncompeting renewal. Anyone else in limbo?
March 7, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Now about 5 weeks without the noncompeting renewal. Anyone else in limbo?
And NIH commons is down…
March 2, 2025 at 2:50 AM
And NIH commons is down…
Really awesome work here 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
🚨📃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 20, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Really awesome work here 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
Reposted by Steve Maren
Welp, there goes Lauer’s job. Glad to see him going out with his head up, though.
The new policy to comply with the temporary restraining orders (TROs) was issued today, February 12. The first TRO, however, was issued on January 31. The NIH memo reveals that the agency has been in violation of these orders for almost two weeks.
February 12, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Welp, there goes Lauer’s job. Glad to see him going out with his head up, though.
Act!
Takes all of 5 seconds!
February 6, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Act!