Janel Le Belle
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janellebelle.bsky.social
Janel Le Belle
@janellebelle.bsky.social
3.1K followers 5.8K following 1.1K posts
UCLA Associate Professor, PhD Researcher of brains 🧠 (development, stem cells, neuroinflammation, autism, sensory processing, brain injury & repair)
Teacher of Neuroanatomy, Neurophilosophy (consciousness, cognitive science), & Stem Cell Biology
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janellebelle.bsky.social
Neuroscientists are also guilty as charged
Batman slapping Robin meme. Robin is saying “oh look a cool new research idea…” Batman says “OMG please finish the paper you’ve already started”
November 15, 2025 at 4:31 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
These sound exactly like the inane faxes that the parody of a billionaire tech founder who was really an idiot, Miles Bron in The Glass Onion, would send to his employees at all hours 😂
A scene from the film The Glass Onion showing a framed fax paper from the character Miles Bron that just says “child = NFT” that was supposed to be a brilliant idea.
November 13, 2025 at 5:28 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
LA morning hike & the Atwater Village bakery & cat rescue for some kitty therapy
View of the LA downtown skyline in fog from Griffith Park hiking trail Bakery selections at Atwater Village bakery Sign for Atwater cat rescue says “Need some cat therapy? Come visit us!” Picture of Azziz, a gray and white cat wearing a tie like a little businessman. He is available for adoption.
November 9, 2025 at 10:03 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Pictures from various movies with characters looking distraught and defeated
October 26, 2025 at 1:39 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
What do you mean?
Photo from Thomas Crowne affair movie
October 20, 2025 at 1:44 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.
Picture of Pierce Brosnan as Thomas Crowne at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC with the head security guard, Bobby) from the Thomas Crowne Affair movie. This movie holds up & is still a banger.
October 20, 2025 at 12:42 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Morning hike in Griffith Park and Halloween treats galore at the Atwater Village Bakery & cafe
Photo of rolling hills in Griffith Park Picture of monster cakes Halloween bakery treats: pumpkin face pies, monster rice crispy treats, & Halloween cookies Photo of “blood splattered” donuts
October 19, 2025 at 7:35 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Just put out my favorite Halloween decoration: the invertebrate skeleton 💀 🐙
Photo of a plastic octopus skeleton Halloween decoration on display
October 18, 2025 at 8:21 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Seeing that it’s #Caturday I feel it’s appropriate to share these cat-themed No Kings protest signs
Picture of black cat with crown on. Caption says “THE ONLY KING I SERVE! And yes, he is judging you!” Picture of white cat wearing crown. The cat is saying “Cool cats fight fascism!” The caption says “the only king I answer to is my cat” Picture of three cats. The caption says “my cats are antifa” Two protest signs. On shows two cats attacking a crown the other shows Trump in clown makeup and says “when you elect a clown expect a circus”
October 18, 2025 at 6:55 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
An excellent comprehensive review “Revisiting the critical roles of reactive microglia in traumatic brain injury”

journals.lww.com/internationa...
Graphical abstract of microglia in TBI review article
October 18, 2025 at 11:31 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Pictures of a wolf, alligator, tiger, bear, lion, shark, and the menswear guy’s profile picture with the caption “Apex Predators”
October 13, 2025 at 3:33 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
There’s nothing really funny about what’s happening but this is definitely funny. Thank you Portland, we needed this.
Painting of the frog costume person facing off against a line of police and national guard dressed for full combat. Text says: “The Portland Frog RE: the pepper spray I've tasted spicier I'm Mexican”
October 9, 2025 at 10:49 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
The iconic photograph of six United States Marines raising the US flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Caption says “Antifa, circa 1945”
September 27, 2025 at 6:10 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Late additions
Picture of a cat crying with caption "When you choose an academically challenging degree and get academically challenged" Pie chart that says "Benefits of staying in academia after PhD". The pie chart has red, green, yellow, and blue segments. The legend shows purple=salary, pink=wellness, torquois=stable mental health, & neon yellow=confidence in your future Picture of "Miss Sara Bellum" from The Powerpuff Girls cartoon next to an anatomical image of a sagittal section through the cerebellum Image of a brain with text "The Brain Is The Most Important Organ You Have. According To The Brain."
September 19, 2025 at 11:13 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
A walk to beach at the end of my parent's street this morning
A picture of the beach through the trees and trail surrounded by a wooden boardwalk in Satellite Beach FL A picture of the beach an newly installed dunes in Satellite Beach FL
September 18, 2025 at 3:54 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
San Diego slot canyon hike (Annie’s Canyon Trail)
My son walking ahead of me through a sandstone slot canyon Climbing the steep steps through the slot Climbing a ladder through the slots The view from the top of the sandstone cliffs on Annie’s canyon trail
September 14, 2025 at 3:15 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Getting my dorky professor memes ready for Fall quarter lecture slides. Please enjoy:
""I love you from the bottom of my heart" hypothalamus:” with photo of disappointed man with his hands on his hips “Your neurons when you start learning about neurons:” pic of Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at something where he recognizes himself "Sarah Connor watching you use Al for everything” with photo of Sarah Conner from the Terminator smoking a cigarette looking dead inside “Finally…pure cringe “ with photo of scientist holding a vial of green liquid up to the light as he inspects it
September 9, 2025 at 10:12 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Screenshot of tweet that says “Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on board? Me: Yes, but I'm not that kind of... Flight attendant: It's 11:52 PM and the passenger in 37F has a conference abstract due in seven minutes. It's currently 50 words over the limit. Me: Okay. I'm here.”
September 8, 2025 at 3:29 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
I asked an AI app to make a professional headshot for me as a scientist from a recent photo of myself and it made me a MAN because it assumed that a scientist must be male! 😂😂😂 So now I know what I'd look like as a man anyway 👨🏻‍🔬
Photo in the style of a professional headshot of a man in glasses wearing a lab coat over a button down shirt. It’s supposed to be me but I don’t see the resemblance.
September 2, 2025 at 4:15 AM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Got out for an early hike in the Calabasas hills before it became a bajillion degrees Fahrenheit in LA again today.
View down the trail we just hiked. It’s a dry, rocky terrain with green hills in the distance. It’s steeper than it looks. View of the striking rock formations jutting out from the green hillside. Me on a large rock overlooking a green hillside
September 1, 2025 at 11:03 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
Happy #Caturday Velcro would like to watch the bird videos now
August 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
What a long way we’ve fallen since you wrote this book. I read it as an American scientist studying & living in the UK (also married a Brit). It was nice to hear someone look beyond the superficial criticisms often leveled at the US & instead appreciate the sense of empowerment everyday Americans
Book cover from 1998 book, Bring Home the Revolution by Jonathan Freeland
August 29, 2025 at 10:13 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
This applies only to the grants that were already awarded and then cut. They are appear headed towards exactly what was laid out in Project 2025 for FUTURE grants: making red states special hubs for more funding & changing from a centralized national competition for funding to state block grants.
Image from news report that says “ 6:15 AM CDT Aug 15, 2025 Editorial Standards O Ayron Lewallen f X K Reporter BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a strengthened partnership on Wednesday, focusing on advancing health care quality in Alabama and nationwide, supported by over $28 million in federal funds secured by Sen. Katie Britt.”
August 26, 2025 at 4:39 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
An update Mindscape podcast on modeling/measuring emergent brain properties discussing this new paper would be great
Capturing the emergent dynamical structure in biophysical neural models PLoS Comput Biology 2025 May Authors Borjan Milinkovic, Lionel Barnett, Olivia Carter, Anil K Seth, & Thomas Andrillon
August 19, 2025 at 7:56 PM
janellebelle.bsky.social
This is also why NIH and government-funded research is so important. In addition to funding the entire biomedical research pipeline, it funds basic exploratory research that builds the foundation for more specific breakthroughs down the road. Research asking questions like 'How does a lizard regulate its blood sugar when it only eats a few times a year?' (GLP-1), 'What happens when a cone snail paralyzes its prey?' (non-opioid pain medication), or 'Why are patients taking heart medication reporting unexpected erections?' (Viagra) Again, these questions might sound aimless or even "wasteful" at first, and they don't lead to treatments right away, which is exactly why private industry won't fund them. So instead, government funds this research. And we all benefit from it through better treatments, longer lives, and a stronger economy. Because every $1 invested in the NIH generates $2.56 in economic activity. What a great ROl. Seems we should fund it more.
August 17, 2025 at 5:33 PM