Ivan Alcantara
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ivancalcantara.bsky.social
Ivan Alcantara
@ivancalcantara.bsky.social
3.6K followers 610 following 61 posts
Currently interested in social behavior & physiology 🌎🧠

• CV Starr Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton Neuroscience Institute
• PhD in Neuroscience at NIH &
Brown University
• MSc in Cell Biology at MPI for Brain Research

he/him 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇭
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ivancalcantara.bsky.social
Ivan Alcantara @ivancalcantara.bsky.social · Jul 30
How do animals decide if they should forage for food or stay home to take care of newborn offspring? Whose needs come first? For my PhD work now out in Nature, we examined how hunger and parenting neurons interact and are reshaped postpartum in mice 🧵⬇️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A hypothalamic circuit that modulates feeding and parenting behaviours - Nature
Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of mouse hypothalamus and behavioural experiments show that specific hypothalamic networks regulate conflicting feeding versus parenting behaviours of female mice.
www.nature.com
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
chanda.blacksky.app
I was one of the first people to donate to Mamdani's campaign and TBH I thought I was donating to keep a dream alive, even though the dream was not going to become a reality

Choose hope. Choose to dream. Choose a just in case we win scenario. Sometimes we do.

Go forward knowing that, fam.
November 5, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
princetonupress.bsky.social
Tomorrow (Nov 3) at 6:30pm EST, join @harvardbookstore.bsky.social, the Harvard University Division of Science, and @harvardlibrary.bsky.social in welcoming award-winning neuroscientist @okaysteve.bsky.social for a discussion and signing of his new book, How to Change a Memory

RSVP: buff.ly/PEwnVu8
How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist's Quest to Alter the Past by Steve Ramirez Steve Ramirez
November 2, 2025 at 5:03 PM
ivancalcantara.bsky.social
Birthday cakes I made this month 🎂 Happy Halloween
October 31, 2025 at 9:07 PM
ivancalcantara.bsky.social
I miss the good old science Twitter days. How are the grad students that I followed years ago doing now? Have they defended? What are y’all up to 🥺
October 30, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
storiesofwin.bsky.social
We've added even more to our Applying to Faculty Jobs 101! Follow the link below to find tips from @drnancypadilla.bsky.social and @moeneuro.bsky.social on everything from where to find job ads, how to advocate for yourself, what goes into a research statement, and more!
October 21, 2025 at 2:24 PM
ivancalcantara.bsky.social
But what if there are two co-first authors and the first-first author is actually also co-corresponding author with the last author but the second-first author isn’t?
October 27, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
odedrechavi.bsky.social
Most Nature papers are published in Current Biology
cellpress.bsky.social Cell Press @cellpress.bsky.social · 18d
DNA from Napoleon’s 1812 army identifies the pathogens likely responsible for the army’s demise during their Russian retreat. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Nicolás Rascovan & colleagues
@currentbiology.bsky.social
Napoleon's retreat from Moscow CREDIT Barbieri et al., Current Biology
October 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
bendeskylab.com
New faculty job opening at @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social @columbiauniversity.bsky.social
Come be our colleague!
Application deadline: November 22
apply.interfolio.com/176153
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
paulvander24.bsky.social
My first first-author paper is published! At the intersection of metabolism and reproduction, we wrote this review with a broad audience in mind, and hope that there is something for everyone. Excited for the future of the field and honored to be a part of it!

academic.oup.com/endo/article...
Biological Mechanisms Balancing Torpor and Reproduction in Mammals
Abstract. Selective pressures have led to the development of innumerable unique strategies to maximize fitness—an organism's ability to survive and reprodu
academic.oup.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
cgrienberger.bsky.social
We are hiring 🎉 Brandeis Neuroscience is looking for an Assistant Professor. The search is in the broad area of cellular/circuit neuroscience. It’s a fantastic place to do research and train students.If you’re interested, apply and reach out with any questions!

academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30961
Brandeis University, Biology Department
Job #AJO30961, Assistant Professor in Biology and Neuroscience Program, Biology Department, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, US
academicjobsonline.org
October 22, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
kelseytea.bsky.social
🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity!

We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
October 22, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
endoeartha.bsky.social
Very excited and proud to share my postdoctoral research with @neurrriot.bsky.social looking at the context-specific encoding of social behavior 💃🕺 in hormone-sensitive, large-scale brain networks in mice!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#neuroskyence #compneurosky 🧪
1/12
September 25, 2025 at 4:45 PM
ivancalcantara.bsky.social
No labor today
September 1, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
chanda.blacksky.app
It should be said too that in the two-state solution scenario, this would still happen because apartheid with all its anti-miscegenation tendencies would still be baked in
jonathancohn.bsky.social Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · Aug 29
Seems from the case that rogue cops arrested him for the "crime" of being married to a Jewish woman and tried to cover up after. Apartheid state behavior. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Palestinian man married to Israeli arrested despite not being suspected of crime
***
www.haaretz.com
August 29, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
katharinehayhoe.com
@nature.com I love this article - but WHY are the only share options to X and Facebook when the whole point of the article is that science-based posts get more shares here?

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Research posts on Bluesky are more original — and get better engagement
Bluesky posts about science garner more likes and reposts than similar ones on X.
www.nature.com
August 29, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
drugmonkey.bsky.social
Underrepresented minority faculty in the USA face a double standard in promotion and tenure decisions
August 16, 2025 at 12:54 AM
ivancalcantara.bsky.social
Me not knowing I missed a paper from the 80’s
redpenblackpen.bsky.social RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · Aug 8
Really just had something like this feeling this afternoon. It’s the high that keeps you coming back for more
Cartoon of a scientist peering through a microscope saying "Whoaah!!!". Title says "The best part of Science is knowing, for a moment, something that nobody else in the world knows."
August 8, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
madycast.com
Brown University is caving to Trump.

They are banning trans women from female bathrooms, dorms, locker rooms, and sports across campus. They're also cracking down on trans care for minors, though that is unlikely to be broadly impactful since it's a university.

president.brown.edu/president/br...
development organizations years following the Effectiv brown.edu Private rimination laws, over the ten 10. t h he exception of actions to enforce this Agreement, the United States agrees not to institute any civil action or other adverse agency action against Brown, its officers, Corporation members, directors, agents, and employees (the "Brown Releasees) based on the Released Claims. The United States releases the Brown Releasees from any liability related to the Released Claims. The United States is not releasing Brown or the Brown Releases from any other liability. 11. The University will take the following steps to ensure compliance with Title IX and its implementing regulations, by providing safe and equitable opportunities and spaces for women: a. Brown Athletics facilities, the University willprovide female student-athletes with intimate facilities such as locker rooms and bathrooms strictly separated on the basis of sex. b. The University will define "male" and "female, for the purpose of all practices, policies and procedures adopted and implemented by the University for any athletic opportunity, event, competition, category, program, or activity designated for women, consistent with the definitions 3 adopted in Executive Order 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and estoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (Jan. 20, 2025), and Executive Order 14201, Keeping Men out of Women's Sports (Feb. 5, 2025). c. The University will offer women the option of female-only housing, restrooms, and showering facilities, and for these purposes will adopt the abovementioned definitions of "male' and "femalc." d. The University will ensure students have access to single-sex floors in on-campus housing, using the above-mentioned definition. 12. h University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from hi… president.brown.edu Private BROWN 5. Addressing government requirements for "male" and "female" defnitions for athletics and on-campus housing, as well as limits on gender-affirming care As we have for decades, Brown has agreed to abide by Title IX and NCAA eligibility rules regarding the participation of transgender athletes in intercollegiate sports. We also committed that the University will continue to provide housing and restroom access in a way that allows for gender- inclusive, women-only and men-only options. The agreement also states, The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."' The University will refer affected students who seek care from Student Health Services or the University Pharmacy to area specialists. The agreement does not affect medical teaching or training, and does not apply to clinical services provided by health systems that are separate entities from Brown, such as Brown University Health and Care New England. We remain fully commited to serving the health needs of all Brown students in a manner consistent with our long- established policy of nondiscrimination, which includes sex, gender identity and gender expression. The LGBTQ Center, Student Health and Wellness Services, and other offices in the Division of Campus Life, as well as the Warren Alpert Medical School School of Public Health. the College,
July 30, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
needhibhalla.bsky.social
I am honored to be selected as an ASCB fellow! SO much thanks to those who nominated me and provided letters of support!

And congratulations to the other Fellows selected! 🎉🥳🎊
August 7, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
cate-cholamine.bsky.social
Review now out in @npp-journal.bsky.social!
Epigenetic regulation of brain development, plasticity, and response to early life stress
rdcu.be/ezzYq
Epigenetic regulation of brain development, plasticity, and response to early-life stress
Neuropsychopharmacology - Epigenetic regulation of brain development, plasticity, and response to early-life stress
rdcu.be
August 6, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
nature.com
Nature research paper: A hypothalamic circuit that modulates feeding and parenting behaviours

go.nature.com/4l0XKoB
A hypothalamic circuit that modulates feeding and parenting behaviours - Nature
Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of mouse hypothalamus and behavioural experiments show that specific hypothalamic networks regulate conflicting feeding versus parenting behaviours of female mice.
go.nature.com
August 5, 2025 at 8:58 AM
ivancalcantara.bsky.social
Ever wondered how fasting and lactation affect gene expression in the hypothalamus? Looking for a dataset to mine? Look no further! We performed single-cell RNA sequencing of the arcuate nucleus and medial preoptic area in 4 groups of female mice: zenodo.org/records/1531...
August 4, 2025 at 4:07 PM
ivancalcantara.bsky.social
This is probably my favorite comment from a reviewer. Sometimes, less is more 😉

Read the full transcript of the reviewers’ comments and our responses for our recent @nature.com publication here: static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10...
July 31, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
felixbaier.bsky.social
🚨Very happy that my PhD work is now out in @nature.com!

We discovered that evolution, by acting in the midbrain, shifted the threshold to escape in Peromyscus mice, to fine-tune defensive strategies in different environments

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This was a truly collaborative effort! 🧵⬇️
July 23, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Ivan Alcantara
cedricboeckx.bsky.social
Terrific study, led by @ivancalcantara.bsky.social, on the neural circuitry underlying the prioritisation of competing motivated behaviors, out in @nature.com
🧪🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A hypothalamic circuit that modulates feeding and parenting behaviours - Nature
Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of mouse hypothalamus and behavioural experiments show that specific hypothalamic networks regulate conflicting feeding versus parenting behaviours of female mice.
www.nature.com
July 30, 2025 at 5:07 PM