Dr. Cate Peña
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cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Dr. Cate Peña
@cate-cholamine.bsky.social
4.1K followers 820 following 260 posts
Neuroscientist and mom. Interested in brain development, early life stress, epigenetics, cats, mountains, donuts, and lots of coffee.
www.PenaLab.org
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cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Oh hey look what arrived in the mail today @okaysteve.bsky.social!!
So excited to read this
Steve Ramirez’s new book, “How to change a memory”
October 28, 2025 at 12:04 AM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
When your last name is actually the best spam filter
Hi Professor Peã+A,
October 12, 2025 at 11:56 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Got to catch up with Pallav Kosuri, an old grad school friend, after his talk on DNA rotors (freakin cool, check it out doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1397-7). Among other things, we reflected on how grateful we are to get to do this amazing job. It’s *way* better than expected
September 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Congratulations to the newly minted Dr. Minerva! @ilanawitten.bsky.social and I are so proud!
September 5, 2025 at 9:10 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
My undergrads nailed their poster presentations today at @princetonneuro.bsky.social! So proud of them and their mentors
8 members of the Peña lab looking dapper in front of a poster
July 31, 2025 at 9:04 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
TOO SOON
Spam email with the headline “Exploring alternatives to animal testing?”
July 16, 2025 at 1:15 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
My biggest accomplishment of the summer is packing for consecutive conferences and family vacation into one carry-on + backpack without over or under packing.
Twilight 📸s: fjord cruise in Tromsø #IBNS2025, cathedral in Bordeaux #EBBS2025, touristing in Florence, and downtime in Lucca
July 13, 2025 at 12:14 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Science Day at the elementary school is my favorite day! Just look at this amazing schedule of 20+ stations that parents and volunteers run for all of the students!
May 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Honored to hood Dr. Rebekah Rashford today and celebrate the accomplishments of so many talented scientists and scholars! 🎓
Cate Peña (in Columbia’s robes) hooding Rebekah Rashford in Princeton’s robes. Photo from the official university instagram account.
May 27, 2025 at 1:44 AM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Last line of this email LOL 😭😭😭
April 11, 2025 at 8:13 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
My favorite time of year at @princetonneuro.bsky.social
Fully, unabashedly obsessed
March 31, 2025 at 7:19 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Exactly what Tamar said: an honor to participate in the National Academies workshop on stress and resilience for the last two days, and re-inspired and committed to this work!
March 25, 2025 at 10:29 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
New Jersey is standing up for science!!

But the fight isn’t over - now it’s time to get in the faces of our reps and force them to fight for us. As @samwang.bsky.social said, neuroscience tells us that
1) As social creatures, putting a face to the cause makes it memorable
#StandUpForScience2025
March 7, 2025 at 8:44 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
It’s happening, New Jersey! It’s time to rally for science!
Stand up for Science rally March 7th noon-2pm Trenton, NJ State Capitol Plaza standupforscience2025.org
February 26, 2025 at 1:05 AM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Ahhh, that’s how they’re going to avoid the pissed-off voters. 69M fewer women voters who changed their name upon marriage, by convention. CALL to vote NO on the #SAVEact. Holy $h!t
- via Jessica Yellin
SAVE Act: Many of you have seen stories about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, technically called H.R. 22. You’re asking us if it’s real. It is. In January, the GOP pledged to fast-track the bill, naming it one of their priorities this Congressional session. Lawmakers will vote on it soon. Here’s what it would do. First, and most importantly, it would make Americans provide some kind of formal document to prove their citizenship every time they register to vote (or re-register, as some places require after, say, a change in address). A driver’s license, REAL ID, military ID, or tribal ID wouldn’t be sufficient. Approved documents include a passport or birth certificate. What’s the problem? Well, it adds hurdles to voting, which are shown to depress the vote. And it would instantly disenfranchise 69 million married women who changed their last name. Their married names don’t match their birth certificate, so they would be unregistered until they took actions to prove their citizenship. Some challenges: tens of millions of American citizens don’t have access to the needed documents. What if, for example, you’re one of the 140 million Americans without a passport? Or if you lost your documents in an accident, and the government becomes very slow about providing you with your birth certificate or passport? The SAVE Act would either prevent you from voting or make it extremely difficult. That’s not all. The bill would also force states to conduct regular voter purges, which almost always result in legitimate citizens losing their right to vote. It would punish election workers with up to five years imprisonment for registering someone to vote without the right documents — even if they’re actually a citizen. Because you’d have to prove your citizenship in person with original documents, there would be no registration by mail or online. Switched party? Moved houses? Got married? Better get all your documentation in order and wait in line at a voter registration office, no matter how far that is, or no voting rights for you!
February 20, 2025 at 3:14 AM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Aaaaaand CZI decides not to continue its diversity initiatives
(not surprised, but still disappointed)
February 19, 2025 at 1:06 AM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
👩🏻‍🔬 vs ✈️ spending:
-NIH $ supports 2-4X economic ROI in Every Single State and turned 37.8B into 92B economic activity nationwide in 2024
-The US also paid Boeing 3.4T for new aircraft; Army had 17 deadly crashes in 2024
-We can support ~94 five-yr research programs for the cost of 1 (ONE) fighter jet
Every dollar spent by NIH generates $2.46 in new economic activity across the nation Source: https://www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-state/ Cost of fighter jets, ranging from $63M to $177M each
February 11, 2025 at 5:22 AM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
The lab surprised me with this cupcake-cake for our lab’s 6th anniversary!! 😭🥰🧬 Truly grateful to work with this hard-working, thoughtful, and fun team
February 4, 2025 at 6:16 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
It was one of the biggest honors of my life to speak in the same symposium as Cecile Richards in 2023. She (and Ann) worked so tirelessly for women’s rights - truly an inspiration. Now, more than ever, we’re all needed to Make Trouble
January 20, 2025 at 3:34 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Snow on campus 🫶
Snow on Princeton’s Nassau Hall at night Snow on the tiger statues outside Princeton’s Nassau Hall, at night
January 20, 2025 at 2:30 AM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
The real gift to my family this holiday season is collecting and rehousing all the single lost game pieces back in their boxes
December 27, 2024 at 3:45 AM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Nothing says cozy reading by the fireplace like our new review, “Molecular heterogeneity and development of the VTA”
Thanks @bensaunders.bsky.social and @bellonec.bsky.social for the invitation to contribute to this special issue on #Dopamine!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kIwj8MqMi...
Paper figure showing Allen Inst snRNAseq UMAPs of genes marking dopamine neuron clusters, relevant channels, and receptors
December 21, 2024 at 6:02 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
✅ Science
✅ Scientists (see also: photos from @thebalelab.bsky.social)
#ACNP2024
December 11, 2024 at 8:51 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Happening soon in Sonoran H-I! Don’t miss our session on early life adversity, organized by Chris Anacker and featuring @arrudacarvalho.bsky.social @milennavandijk.bsky.social
#ACNP2024
December 9, 2024 at 9:08 PM
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Got to listen to this session with some pretty fantastic scientists too!
Cc @kundakoviclab.bsky.social @themorrisonlab.bsky.social Jennifer Chan @ashleyonthebrain.bsky.social @ornaissler.bsky.social
December 9, 2024 at 6:38 PM