Robyn St. Laurent
@robynstlaurent.bsky.social
neuromodulation | opioids | neural circuits | addiction | psychiatric disorders
Postdoc (Stanford, Malenka Lab), PhD (Brown, Kauer Lab), postbac (NIDA, Shaham Lab)
When not sciencing, find me outside running and competing with the Impala Racing Team⚡️
Postdoc (Stanford, Malenka Lab), PhD (Brown, Kauer Lab), postbac (NIDA, Shaham Lab)
When not sciencing, find me outside running and competing with the Impala Racing Team⚡️
Pinned
✨Normal science funding is broken but the showgirl must go on ✨
We are crowdfunding for our project to identify a next-gen preclinical OCD mouse model!
🔗 researchhub.com/referral/joi...
#OCD #Neuroscience #CrowdfundingScience
🧪👩🔬 🧠 🧬 💸
We are crowdfunding for our project to identify a next-gen preclinical OCD mouse model!
🔗 researchhub.com/referral/joi...
#OCD #Neuroscience #CrowdfundingScience
🧪👩🔬 🧠 🧬 💸
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
🤯TRIPPING IN YOUR SLEEP: Psychedelics, The Placebo Effect, & How Human Connection Heals the Brain with Dr. Boris Heifets @theborislab.bsky.social💭 Ep. 51 of A Chat with Uma out now! 🌟
This ep is truly a dream come true (no pun intended)-a MUST listen! 🙌🏾 Tune in📲 creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
This ep is truly a dream come true (no pun intended)-a MUST listen! 🙌🏾 Tune in📲 creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
August 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
🤯TRIPPING IN YOUR SLEEP: Psychedelics, The Placebo Effect, & How Human Connection Heals the Brain with Dr. Boris Heifets @theborislab.bsky.social💭 Ep. 51 of A Chat with Uma out now! 🌟
This ep is truly a dream come true (no pun intended)-a MUST listen! 🙌🏾 Tune in📲 creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
This ep is truly a dream come true (no pun intended)-a MUST listen! 🙌🏾 Tune in📲 creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
✨Normal science funding is broken but the showgirl must go on ✨
We are crowdfunding for our project to identify a next-gen preclinical OCD mouse model!
🔗 researchhub.com/referral/joi...
#OCD #Neuroscience #CrowdfundingScience
🧪👩🔬 🧠 🧬 💸
We are crowdfunding for our project to identify a next-gen preclinical OCD mouse model!
🔗 researchhub.com/referral/joi...
#OCD #Neuroscience #CrowdfundingScience
🧪👩🔬 🧠 🧬 💸
August 14, 2025 at 2:49 AM
✨Normal science funding is broken but the showgirl must go on ✨
We are crowdfunding for our project to identify a next-gen preclinical OCD mouse model!
🔗 researchhub.com/referral/joi...
#OCD #Neuroscience #CrowdfundingScience
🧪👩🔬 🧠 🧬 💸
We are crowdfunding for our project to identify a next-gen preclinical OCD mouse model!
🔗 researchhub.com/referral/joi...
#OCD #Neuroscience #CrowdfundingScience
🧪👩🔬 🧠 🧬 💸
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
In this month’s “Liftoff,” @agonru.bsky.social talks about the importance of taking care of the little things, and Andrew Kesner says that the real key to success lies in your collaborator community.
By @franciscorr25.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/liftoff-new-...
By @franciscorr25.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/liftoff-new-...
Liftoff: New lab alerts
Learn about early-career scientists starting their own labs.
www.thetransmitter.org
July 16, 2025 at 5:01 PM
In this month’s “Liftoff,” @agonru.bsky.social talks about the importance of taking care of the little things, and Andrew Kesner says that the real key to success lies in your collaborator community.
By @franciscorr25.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/liftoff-new-...
By @franciscorr25.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/liftoff-new-...
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
New from @dralexharris.bsky.social, Ula Skupio, and myself in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social: a long in the works review trying to untangle what stress is doing in the VTA, and what the piles of confusing data might teach us about what the VTA is doing at all.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Untangling the multifaceted VTA responses to stress
Stress has profound impacts on the ventral tegmental area (VTA). However, the complex and opposing effects of stress on the VTA have limited our abili…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 16, 2025 at 12:54 PM
New from @dralexharris.bsky.social, Ula Skupio, and myself in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social: a long in the works review trying to untangle what stress is doing in the VTA, and what the piles of confusing data might teach us about what the VTA is doing at all.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
U.S. researchers are speaking up for science in local newspapers | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. researchers are speaking up for science in local newspapers
Through two grassroots efforts, more than 80 op eds have been published in news outlets across the country
www.science.org
June 19, 2025 at 12:55 PM
U.S. researchers are speaking up for science in local newspapers | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
New work from my lab looking at how dopamine neurons are affected by stress and males and females! This paper comes to you through three rounds of major building construction, a pandemic, six months that we could not get TTX, some animal facility shenanigans and now is here on your internet!
Sex‐Specific Adaptations to VTA Circuits Following Subchronic Stress
Subchronic variable stress, a paradigm shown to have divergent behavioral effects in males and females, induces shared and distinct physiological adaptations in the VTA. While both males and females ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
New work from my lab looking at how dopamine neurons are affected by stress and males and females! This paper comes to you through three rounds of major building construction, a pandemic, six months that we could not get TTX, some animal facility shenanigans and now is here on your internet!
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
Current situation at Harvard Medical School for NIH grants view.u.hms.harvard.edu?qs=3ed8c01b9...
Harvard Medical School
view.u.hms.harvard.edu
May 15, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Current situation at Harvard Medical School for NIH grants view.u.hms.harvard.edu?qs=3ed8c01b9...
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
New opportunity for Bay Area undergrads to gain computational neuroscience exposure and training!
I’m teaming up with @neuronush.bsky.social to offer this to students in our communities 💕🧠🧪
Please share with any students who might be interested!
Tiny.cc/ucsfcompneuro
I’m teaming up with @neuronush.bsky.social to offer this to students in our communities 💕🧠🧪
Please share with any students who might be interested!
Tiny.cc/ucsfcompneuro
May 3, 2025 at 2:58 AM
New opportunity for Bay Area undergrads to gain computational neuroscience exposure and training!
I’m teaming up with @neuronush.bsky.social to offer this to students in our communities 💕🧠🧪
Please share with any students who might be interested!
Tiny.cc/ucsfcompneuro
I’m teaming up with @neuronush.bsky.social to offer this to students in our communities 💕🧠🧪
Please share with any students who might be interested!
Tiny.cc/ucsfcompneuro
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
BREAKING: Reports that Trump would try to cut NIH's budget by 40% have come true.
The request released moments ago would:
- Cut $18 BILLION to NIH's $47b budget
- Eliminate NIMHD, NCCIH, FIC
- Collapse ICs into five 'focus areas'
There's also a long screed about NIH's deficiencies.
The request released moments ago would:
- Cut $18 BILLION to NIH's $47b budget
- Eliminate NIMHD, NCCIH, FIC
- Collapse ICs into five 'focus areas'
There's also a long screed about NIH's deficiencies.
May 2, 2025 at 2:50 PM
BREAKING: Reports that Trump would try to cut NIH's budget by 40% have come true.
The request released moments ago would:
- Cut $18 BILLION to NIH's $47b budget
- Eliminate NIMHD, NCCIH, FIC
- Collapse ICs into five 'focus areas'
There's also a long screed about NIH's deficiencies.
The request released moments ago would:
- Cut $18 BILLION to NIH's $47b budget
- Eliminate NIMHD, NCCIH, FIC
- Collapse ICs into five 'focus areas'
There's also a long screed about NIH's deficiencies.
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
🔔BREAKING🔔
The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding.
This is censorship disguised as oversight.
Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3):
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding.
This is censorship disguised as oversight.
Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3):
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones
US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.
www.nature.com
May 2, 2025 at 1:31 AM
🔔BREAKING🔔
The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding.
This is censorship disguised as oversight.
Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3):
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding.
This is censorship disguised as oversight.
Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3):
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
All NIDA F31 diversity scholars officially losing their funding...
I barely have words.
Expected at this point but so so disappointing and unfair. We are effectively punishing some of America's best science students for telling the government they are from an underrepresented community.
I barely have words.
Expected at this point but so so disappointing and unfair. We are effectively punishing some of America's best science students for telling the government they are from an underrepresented community.
April 29, 2025 at 8:08 PM
All NIDA F31 diversity scholars officially losing their funding...
I barely have words.
Expected at this point but so so disappointing and unfair. We are effectively punishing some of America's best science students for telling the government they are from an underrepresented community.
I barely have words.
Expected at this point but so so disappointing and unfair. We are effectively punishing some of America's best science students for telling the government they are from an underrepresented community.
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
As someone who has spent the last 25 years studying sex differences in brain function and behavior and the last 10 advocating (loudly) for SABV and working to help my colleagues implement the policy into their work, this is utterly heartbreaking.
Great write up at @thetransmitter.bsky.social on the seeming erasure of SABV in the new era of NIH. Gotta say The Transmitter is killing it the last few weeks, first to report on the Federal Register block and now this. Leading the charge! 💪 www.thetransmitter.org/policy/exclu...
Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies
Such a shift would “put us back in the dark ages in terms of our science,” says neuroscientist Anne Murphy, who helped to formulate the original policy.
www.thetransmitter.org
February 25, 2025 at 3:37 PM
As someone who has spent the last 25 years studying sex differences in brain function and behavior and the last 10 advocating (loudly) for SABV and working to help my colleagues implement the policy into their work, this is utterly heartbreaking.
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
Very creative, San Francisco! 8647 ✊
April 19, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Very creative, San Francisco! 8647 ✊
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
Check out the latest -From Our Neurons To Yours- podcast episode! I discuss my work using large speech and language systems as "model species" to understand how the human brain processes language 🧠
What can AI teach us about how the brain understands language?
In today's podcast, we explore how LLMs are helping neuroscientists study how we process language with Stanford psychologist and faculty scholar Laura Gwilliams @lauragwilliams.bsky.social.
neuroscience.stanford.edu/news/what-ch...
In today's podcast, we explore how LLMs are helping neuroscientists study how we process language with Stanford psychologist and faculty scholar Laura Gwilliams @lauragwilliams.bsky.social.
neuroscience.stanford.edu/news/what-ch...
April 17, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Check out the latest -From Our Neurons To Yours- podcast episode! I discuss my work using large speech and language systems as "model species" to understand how the human brain processes language 🧠
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
A much-needed joint effort from five labs to see which behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice are reliable, and which may be spurious 🐁🍄
@theborislab.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social @indigenerd.bsky.social Vikaas Sohal and Stephan Lammel 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@theborislab.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social @indigenerd.bsky.social Vikaas Sohal and Stephan Lammel 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A multi-institutional investigation of psilocybin's effects on mouse behavior
Studies reporting novel therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs are rapidly emerging. However, the reproducibility and reliability of these findings could remain uncertain for years. Here, we impleme...
www.biorxiv.org
April 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
A much-needed joint effort from five labs to see which behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice are reliable, and which may be spurious 🐁🍄
@theborislab.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social @indigenerd.bsky.social Vikaas Sohal and Stephan Lammel 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@theborislab.bsky.social @mazenkheirbek.bsky.social @indigenerd.bsky.social Vikaas Sohal and Stephan Lammel 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.
April 2, 2025 at 1:09 AM
I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
📣 Across the U.S., cuts to federal funding for health research are projected to cause losses of $16B and 68,500 jobs. How will YOUR area be impacted?
Excited to share SCIMaP, a website that our team has created to communicate the impact of funding cuts. #PsychSciSky #MedicalSky
scienceimpacts.org
Excited to share SCIMaP, a website that our team has created to communicate the impact of funding cuts. #PsychSciSky #MedicalSky
scienceimpacts.org
SCiMaP
scienceimpacts.org
March 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
📣 Across the U.S., cuts to federal funding for health research are projected to cause losses of $16B and 68,500 jobs. How will YOUR area be impacted?
Excited to share SCIMaP, a website that our team has created to communicate the impact of funding cuts. #PsychSciSky #MedicalSky
scienceimpacts.org
Excited to share SCIMaP, a website that our team has created to communicate the impact of funding cuts. #PsychSciSky #MedicalSky
scienceimpacts.org
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
I was delighted to have an editorial in my hometown paper on the administration's threat to the NIH and what it means for the health and welfare of my peeps. For the good it may do, I urge you to also write one @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social
Bonus: It's cathartic to write a scream into the void.
Bonus: It's cathartic to write a scream into the void.
March 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
I was delighted to have an editorial in my hometown paper on the administration's threat to the NIH and what it means for the health and welfare of my peeps. For the good it may do, I urge you to also write one @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social
Bonus: It's cathartic to write a scream into the void.
Bonus: It's cathartic to write a scream into the void.
submitted my 4th grant application of 2025 ✅✅✅✅
a dog is sitting on top of a bed with the words `` i go to bed now night '' written on it .
Alt: a dog is sitting on top of a bed with the words `` i go to bed now night '' written on it .
media.tenor.com
March 11, 2025 at 2:08 AM
submitted my 4th grant application of 2025 ✅✅✅✅
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
From Newmarket, NH, 🫎 to Stanford, neuroscientist Robyn St. Laurent researches OCD & addiction to develop new treatments. ‘The opportunities I had shouldn’t be the exception; they should be the foundation for the next generation.’ 🧪🏠
@robynstlaurent.bsky.social
www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinio...
@robynstlaurent.bsky.social
www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinio...
Robyn St. Laurent: Why science funding matters more than you think
Cutting funding to NIH and and NSF does more than take away career paths for our upcoming generations; it threatens the well-being of people.
www.seacoastonline.com
March 2, 2025 at 6:19 PM
From Newmarket, NH, 🫎 to Stanford, neuroscientist Robyn St. Laurent researches OCD & addiction to develop new treatments. ‘The opportunities I had shouldn’t be the exception; they should be the foundation for the next generation.’ 🧪🏠
@robynstlaurent.bsky.social
www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinio...
@robynstlaurent.bsky.social
www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinio...
I wrote an opinion column for the local newspaper in southern NH where I am from. Thanks to @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social for the inspiration! Please consider doing this in your hometown! #SciAdvocate 🧪👩🔬
www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinio...
www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinio...
Robyn St. Laurent: Why science funding matters more than you think
Cutting funding to NIH and and NSF does more than take away career paths for our upcoming generations; it threatens the well-being of people.
www.seacoastonline.com
March 2, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I wrote an opinion column for the local newspaper in southern NH where I am from. Thanks to @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social for the inspiration! Please consider doing this in your hometown! #SciAdvocate 🧪👩🔬
www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinio...
www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinio...
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
SfN joins 600 organizations & more than 3,500 people across the country in @researchamerica.bsky.social's coalition letter urging Congress to protect vital NIH funding.
Read the full letter: bit.ly/3XhgFCJ
#NeuroSky #NeuroAdvocate
Read the full letter: bit.ly/3XhgFCJ
#NeuroSky #NeuroAdvocate
February 26, 2025 at 8:45 PM
SfN joins 600 organizations & more than 3,500 people across the country in @researchamerica.bsky.social's coalition letter urging Congress to protect vital NIH funding.
Read the full letter: bit.ly/3XhgFCJ
#NeuroSky #NeuroAdvocate
Read the full letter: bit.ly/3XhgFCJ
#NeuroSky #NeuroAdvocate
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
I created a brief spreadsheet of reductions I've heard of so far. Any additions you know of (especially if you have the links/receipts) would be great: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Graduate Reductions Across Biomedical Sciences (2025)
docs.google.com
February 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
I created a brief spreadsheet of reductions I've heard of so far. Any additions you know of (especially if you have the links/receipts) would be great: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent
Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠
sciencehomecoming.com
sciencehomecoming.com
Science Homecoming
sciencehomecoming.com
February 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠
sciencehomecoming.com
sciencehomecoming.com
Reposted by Robyn St. Laurent