ZeigerLab
zeigerlab.bsky.social
ZeigerLab
@zeigerlab.bsky.social
Science from the Zeiger Lab at UCLA. Neural circuits, stroke, movement disorders. zeigerlab.com
Pinned
On the same day we posted this manuscript describing our work on the circuit mechanisms of cognitive impairment in PD, the grant funding the research was suspended. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Cortical α-synuclein pathology induces cell autonomous neuronal hypoactivity and compensatory circuit changes in a model of early Lewy Body Dementia
Cognitive impairment is a common non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) and a defining feature of Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). Although many cognitive domains can be affected, impairments i...
www.biorxiv.org
Reposted by ZeigerLab
If you’re interested in the roles of glia in stroke and TBI, kick off #SfN2025 with a minisymposium on Saturday afternoon in room 6B!

@droligo.bsky.social and I are also hosting a glia get-together Monday night, sponsored by Avantor and @plasmidsaurus.bsky.social - all glia-inclined are welcome!
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
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In a major win for UC faculty groups and unions that sued, a federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump from imposing a $1.2-billion fine on UCLA along with stipulations for deep campus changes in exchange for being eligible for federal grants: www.latimes.com/california/s...
Judge blocks Trump administration push to fine UCLA $1.2 billion for alleged antisemitism
A federal judge late Friday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from imposing a $1.2-billion fine on UCLA for alleged civil rights violations over antisemitism, its recog...
www.latimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Reposted by ZeigerLab
Very happy to have contributed to this new review on Lewy body dementia in @thelancetneuro.bsky.social led by Sonja W. Scholz. We highlight the latest advances in genetics and pathology. @liddelowsa.bsky.social Check it out! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Advances in the genetics and pathology of Lewy body dementia
Lewy body dementia is a heterogeneous disease that is underdiagnosed and poorly understood. Pathologically, Lewy body dementia is characterised by the…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Anyone out there have any first hand experience with NIH reviews of an R01 with mostly mouse experiments? Curious to know how the guidance emphasizing NAMs is being implemented.
October 31, 2025 at 2:33 AM
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New finding from the lab. This surprised us since it went against the common assumption that increasing peri-infarct blood flow is best for stroke recovery. Congrats to Kamal and the team!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Knockdown of endothelial Serpine1 improves stroke recovery by attenuating peri-infarct blood flow and blood brain barrier disruption
Focal stroke leads to complex changes in the cerebral microcirculation in surviving brain tissues that strongly influence recovery. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1; encoded by Serpine1) is hi...
www.biorxiv.org
October 16, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by ZeigerLab
Thrilled to share this work from my postdoc with Tom Carmichael, available online @ Neuron! Long story short: we find even more evidence that all reactive astrocytes are not equal, and we can take advantage of those differences to improve repair after stroke.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Regionally mapped astrocytic responses to cortical and white matter stroke show differential roles in astrocyte-induced vascular remodeling
Stroke is a major cause of disability. Astrocytes respond to stroke in a gradated manner, but details of that response and its consequences for tissue…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 10, 2025 at 11:13 PM
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🎇 Excited to finally share JL Romero Sosa’s publication! Results are from single-cell imaging in different subregions of rat frontal cortex during ✨de novo learning. Spoiler: everything is not everywhere all at once www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Neural coding of choice and outcome are modulated by uncertainty in orbitofrontal but not secondary motor cortex - Nature Communications
Neural mechanisms underlying flexible learning and decision-making are not fully understood. Using single-cell calcium imaging, authors here found that neurons in orbitofrontal and secondary motor cortex exhibit complementary roles in reward learning, with neurons in the former exerting a sustained role in conditions of uncertainty.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by ZeigerLab
Anyone else get anxiety on Sundays just thinking about what you meant to accomplish and what you need to do during the upcoming week?
October 5, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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Here is the formal letter the NIH sent today to UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk.

“These projects are fully reinstated, and the letter dated July 31, 2025 is rescinded without conditions. Funds will be made available immediately and are no longer suspended, terminated, or restricted.”
September 25, 2025 at 1:47 AM
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In the early years of my PhD I remember being asked if we'd ever treat or cure diseases like HIV or Huntington's. I remember saying maybe, but not knowing if I believed. Seeing research pay off as real impact on human lives is - incredible.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

www.bbc.com/news/article...
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time
One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.
www.bbc.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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BREAKING: A federal judge has ordered Trump to restore $500 million in frozen UCLA NIH grants. The same judge, Rita F. Lin, previously ordered all UCLA NSF grants reinstated. Lin has now nearly entirely reversed Trump's July de-funding of UCLA research: www.latimes.com/california/s...
Federal judge orders Trump to restore $500 million in frozen UCLA medical research grants
A San Francisco-based federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to restore all National Institutes of Health grants to UCLA, roughly $500 million, that the government suspended in July.
www.latimes.com
September 23, 2025 at 1:00 AM
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We shared research about things affecting us all: addiction, autism, brain injury, dementia, mental illness. This work has been arbitrarily cut or delayed.
Thats a human brain on cafeteria tray. UCLA fair shows off science cuts. @sfn.org @standupforscience.bsky.social www.latimes.com/california/s...
Yes, that’s a human brain on a cafeteria tray. UCLA fair shows off science cuts under Trump
UCLA's researchers go low-tech to plead their case to the public with poster boards and props. The Trump administration has suspended more than $500 million in research grants to the university.
www.latimes.com
September 13, 2025 at 5:35 PM
More coverage of suspended science outreach efforts this week at UCLA.

laist.com/news/educati...
UCLA researchers host science fair to showcase work suspended by the Trump administration
On Thursday evening, dozens of researchers hosted a science fair at UCLA to demonstrate the long-term impact of frozen grants.
laist.com
September 14, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by ZeigerLab
“Supporters of the proposal said it would effectively create a state version of the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, two of the nation’s largest institutional funders of scientific and public health research.”
🧪 #giftarticle
California’s $23 Billion Plan to Restore Federal Cuts to Scientific Research
www.nytimes.com
September 13, 2025 at 7:29 PM
This was a great event I was happy to help organize it. It was so heartening to see so many folks put their time and effort into making it happen. At the same time, it is eye opening to realize how little most folks out in the public, including our own backyard, know about what is going on.
Going on more than six weeks without $500 million in federal research grants cut under Trump, UCLA faculty and students took their cases public this week in the "Science Fair for Suspended Research" -- including demonstrations with preserved human brains: www.latimes.com/california/s...
Yes, that’s a human brain on a cafeteria tray. UCLA fair shows off science cuts under Trump
UCLA's researchers go low-tech to plead their case to the public with poster boards and props. The Trump administration has suspended more than $500 million in research grants to the university.
www.latimes.com
September 13, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by ZeigerLab
After a #stroke, patients typically undergo extensive #rehabilitation and a slow journey to recover the ability to do everyday tasks. However, ASNR Past President Dr. Tom Carmichael is developing a drug to produce the same effects as rehabilitation and could augment or replace rehab after a stroke.
A Pill to Heal the Brain Could Revolutionize Neuroscience
www.nytimes.com
September 5, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by ZeigerLab
join us for our Science Fair for Suspended Research, sponsored by the UCLA Faculty Association and the UCLA Brain Research Institute! We are reaching out to the public to show the life-saving research that is at stake in the Trump admin's attack on UCLA research!
September 3, 2025 at 1:23 AM
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A little hesitant to post this on here, as I wrote it specifically for the Jewish community in Detroit...but maybe it'll inspire other scientists to write articles in their hometown papers. www.thejewishnews.com/opinion/biom...
Biomedical Research Deserves Support
I know that our country is very divided right now, but I still have some hope that most Americans can at least come together around the idea of supporting biomedical research.
www.thejewishnews.com
August 22, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by ZeigerLab
Now out in @natneuro.nature.com

What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed?

Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation

www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7

🧵1/18
August 21, 2025 at 9:20 AM
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🚨 150 University of California law professors (and counting) have now signed this open letter to the UC Regents and other officials, explaining the flagrant illegality of the Trump Administration’s UCLA funding cut offs, and urging the UC to fight back. sites.google.com/view/uclawfa...
August 15, 2025 at 6:52 PM
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NEW: @danielnmiller.bsky.social and I report on how $584 million in grant fund freezes are hitting UCLA researchers looking into Lyme disease, pancreatic cancer and cryptography in financial markets: www.latimes.com/california/s...
'A continual assault.' How UCLA's research faculty is grappling with Trump funding freeze
The Trump administration has suspended $584 million in grants at UCLA over what the U.S. Department of Justice has described as the school's 'deliberate indifference' to Jewish students' civil rights.
www.latimes.com
August 10, 2025 at 8:25 PM