Ron Keiflin
@ronkeiflin.bsky.social
Behavioral Neuroscientist • Associative learning • Decision-making @UC Santa Barbara
KeiflinLab.com
KeiflinLab.com
Pinned
Ron Keiflin
@ronkeiflin.bsky.social
· Dec 2
Neuroscience: Setting the neurobiological occasions for hierarchical learning and inference
Hierarchical associations help animals navigate the environment by using contextual
and latent states to guide learning and behavior. Chemogenetic inactivation in an
occasion setting task reveals that...
www.cell.com
ICYMI: @sophiepeterson.bsky.social work comparing OFC and hippocampus in the retrieval and inference of context-dependent predictions is now out in Current Biology
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Also check out the great summary by (bsky-less?) Matt Gardner: www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Also check out the great summary by (bsky-less?) Matt Gardner: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
#SfN25 attendees - make sure to head to the posters when you get to the meeting on Saturday afternoon (V7-V11: Gretchen, Megan, Margaret, Louisa, Bella) and Sunday morning (KK17: Micaela) to hear about our work. We're printing the posters now and they look rad.
November 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
#SfN25 attendees - make sure to head to the posters when you get to the meeting on Saturday afternoon (V7-V11: Gretchen, Megan, Margaret, Louisa, Bella) and Sunday morning (KK17: Micaela) to hear about our work. We're printing the posters now and they look rad.
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Folks at SfN come see the first Fraser Lab poster ever at FF6 on Tuesday Nov 18, 8am. Serena Miller has oodles of data to share on a new direction for us. Also, that day happens to be my birthday so you have to come say hi or else
November 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Folks at SfN come see the first Fraser Lab poster ever at FF6 on Tuesday Nov 18, 8am. Serena Miller has oodles of data to share on a new direction for us. Also, that day happens to be my birthday so you have to come say hi or else
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Check out our latest, online now at @sfnjournals.bsky.social www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
Superior colliculus projections drive dopamine neuron activity and movement but not value
To navigate dynamic environments, animals must rapidly integrate sensory information and respond appropriately to gather rewards and avoid threats. It is well established that dopamine (DA) neurons in...
www.jneurosci.org
October 15, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Check out our latest, online now at @sfnjournals.bsky.social www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Really excited to have this paper accepted for publication now in @natcomms.nature.com - stay tuned for the final version and huge congrats to @margestelzner.bsky.social!!!!
Very excited to share this major update to our paper delineating VTA GABA neuron encoding of valence and decision conflict. Studies led by the amazing @margestelzner.bsky.social. We leaned in here, taking the opportunity to add a lot of cool new data. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Really excited to have this paper accepted for publication now in @natcomms.nature.com - stay tuned for the final version and huge congrats to @margestelzner.bsky.social!!!!
🧠 Curious about grad school in Psych & Brain Sciences?
Join UC Santa Barbara’s PBS Department for a virtual open house on Oct 14 — meet faculty, connect with grad students, and learn more about the program!
Join UC Santa Barbara’s PBS Department for a virtual open house on Oct 14 — meet faculty, connect with grad students, and learn more about the program!
October 11, 2025 at 8:28 PM
🧠 Curious about grad school in Psych & Brain Sciences?
Join UC Santa Barbara’s PBS Department for a virtual open house on Oct 14 — meet faculty, connect with grad students, and learn more about the program!
Join UC Santa Barbara’s PBS Department for a virtual open house on Oct 14 — meet faculty, connect with grad students, and learn more about the program!
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
🎇 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
🎇 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...
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
First lab paper out today! Student authors: Mikayla Cutler and Abhi Thati 🎉🤩
Hippocampus | Neuroscience Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Hippocampus | Neuroscience Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Drug‐Related Engrams and Their Role in the Persistence and Recurrence of Drug‐Related Behaviors
Memory is a cornerstone of human behavior, and addiction offers a compelling model of its persistence and plasticity. The scope of engram research has rapidly expanded to include addiction-related ph....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 3:38 PM
First lab paper out today! Student authors: Mikayla Cutler and Abhi Thati 🎉🤩
Hippocampus | Neuroscience Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Hippocampus | Neuroscience Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
I'm recruiting a PhD student to study how enkephalins affect cognitive processing in the rodent frontal cortex. The project uses pharmacology, multi-electrode recordings, and fiber photometry, and is funded by NIDA. Please share with trainees applying this cycle. Thanks!
October 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I'm recruiting a PhD student to study how enkephalins affect cognitive processing in the rodent frontal cortex. The project uses pharmacology, multi-electrode recordings, and fiber photometry, and is funded by NIDA. Please share with trainees applying this cycle. Thanks!
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
We have an open NIH-funded postdoc position in the lab to study circuit and neurochemical mechanisms of cognitive and motivational deficits in opioid withdrawal. Apply here: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09885 or message/email for more information.
Postdoctoral Scholars - Ostlund Laboratory - Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care
University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ap.uci.edu
October 3, 2025 at 5:41 PM
We have an open NIH-funded postdoc position in the lab to study circuit and neurochemical mechanisms of cognitive and motivational deficits in opioid withdrawal. Apply here: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09885 or message/email for more information.
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Honored to be elected to serve as the next vice co-chair, along with the amazing @sciolinolab.bsky.social, for the Catecholamines Gordon Research Conference. I first came to this meeting in 2011 as a grad student and it was transformative for my career. Excited to help cultivate that for others.
August 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Honored to be elected to serve as the next vice co-chair, along with the amazing @sciolinolab.bsky.social, for the Catecholamines Gordon Research Conference. I first came to this meeting in 2011 as a grad student and it was transformative for my career. Excited to help cultivate that for others.
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
If you are a highly motivated grad student (@uabneuro.bsky.social) or a prospective postdoc with experience in behavior, neural recordings, or programming, and would like to contribute to this project, just contact me. Details on kmcostalab.com
K.M. Costa Lab
kmcostalab.com
August 26, 2025 at 3:42 PM
If you are a highly motivated grad student (@uabneuro.bsky.social) or a prospective postdoc with experience in behavior, neural recordings, or programming, and would like to contribute to this project, just contact me. Details on kmcostalab.com
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
My hero!!!!
We are thrilled to announce that OneNeuro Co-Director Patricia Janak, Ph.D., has been elected as the 2026-2027 President of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). @janaklab.bsky.social
View the official announcement: www.sfn.org/publications...
View the official announcement: www.sfn.org/publications...
August 22, 2025 at 7:29 PM
My hero!!!!
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
We are thrilled to announce that OneNeuro Co-Director Patricia Janak, Ph.D., has been elected as the 2026-2027 President of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). @janaklab.bsky.social
View the official announcement: www.sfn.org/publications...
View the official announcement: www.sfn.org/publications...
August 11, 2025 at 7:44 PM
We are thrilled to announce that OneNeuro Co-Director Patricia Janak, Ph.D., has been elected as the 2026-2027 President of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). @janaklab.bsky.social
View the official announcement: www.sfn.org/publications...
View the official announcement: www.sfn.org/publications...
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
New Dispatch in @currentbiology.bsky.social w/ @RobinPiquet & @dryacinetensaouti.bsky.social highlighting elegant work from the @iordanova.bsky.social lab that formally disentangles whether dopamine signals reward prediction errors or value.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1ldGk3QW8S...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1ldGk3QW8S...
August 21, 2025 at 1:13 PM
New Dispatch in @currentbiology.bsky.social w/ @RobinPiquet & @dryacinetensaouti.bsky.social highlighting elegant work from the @iordanova.bsky.social lab that formally disentangles whether dopamine signals reward prediction errors or value.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1ldGk3QW8S...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1ldGk3QW8S...
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Very excited to share this major update to our paper delineating VTA GABA neuron encoding of valence and decision conflict. Studies led by the amazing @margestelzner.bsky.social. We leaned in here, taking the opportunity to add a lot of cool new data. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Very excited to share this major update to our paper delineating VTA GABA neuron encoding of valence and decision conflict. Studies led by the amazing @margestelzner.bsky.social. We leaned in here, taking the opportunity to add a lot of cool new data. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Catching up on announcements — huge congrats to @sophiepeterson.bsky.social on a successful defense! Proud PI moment!
July 18, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Catching up on announcements — huge congrats to @sophiepeterson.bsky.social on a successful defense! Proud PI moment!
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
🚨New paper alert! 🚨 Inactivation of the nucleus reuniens causes relapse of extinguished fear. Here we show this “circuit-induced relapse” depends on hippocampal fear memories and is mediated by hippocampal engrams. Congrats to the team!
Hippocampal ensembles regulate circuit-induced relapse of extinguished fear
Molecular Psychiatry - Hippocampal ensembles regulate circuit-induced relapse of extinguished fear
urldefense.com
May 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
🚨New paper alert! 🚨 Inactivation of the nucleus reuniens causes relapse of extinguished fear. Here we show this “circuit-induced relapse” depends on hippocampal fear memories and is mediated by hippocampal engrams. Congrats to the team!
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Check out our latest! Studies led by the amazing Megan Brickner - she finds really interesting patterns of dopamine signaling in the basolateral amygdala that report the emotional salience of sensory state transitions. These are largely non-associative, value-free signals, in contrast to classic DA.
Basolateral amygdala dopamine transmits a nonassociative emotional salience signal https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.15.654323v1
May 17, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Check out our latest! Studies led by the amazing Megan Brickner - she finds really interesting patterns of dopamine signaling in the basolateral amygdala that report the emotional salience of sensory state transitions. These are largely non-associative, value-free signals, in contrast to classic DA.
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Thrilled to announce that our paper is now finally out! 🎉We combine scRNAseq, 2p imaging, ephys, and behavior to understand the role of lateral septal Nts neurons in opioid withdrawal. Curious about the septum and addiction? Give it a read👇
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Opioid-driven disruption of the septum reveals a role for neurotensin-expressing neurons in withdrawal
Opioid withdrawal produces a dysphoric state that can lead to relapse. Simon et al.
reveal that lateral septal neurotensin-expressing neurons are selectively activated
by naloxone and drive changes in...
www.cell.com
May 16, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Thrilled to announce that our paper is now finally out! 🎉We combine scRNAseq, 2p imaging, ephys, and behavior to understand the role of lateral septal Nts neurons in opioid withdrawal. Curious about the septum and addiction? Give it a read👇
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Very surprised (but very excited) to announce that I’ll be officially starting as an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and as part of the new Data Science and AI Institute in July 2026!
May 15, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Very surprised (but very excited) to announce that I’ll be officially starting as an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and as part of the new Data Science and AI Institute in July 2026!
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
I’m excited to share a new paper from the lab. The study led by Xiaowei Gu reveals how the mPFC encodes complex emotional memories, using an internal model to infer emotional associations and memories via projections to the amygdala. a🧵(1/8)
rdcu.be/el19t
rdcu.be/el19t
Prefrontal encoding of an internal model for emotional inference
Nature - Neurons in the rodent dorsomedial prefrontal cortex encode a flexible internal model of emotion by linking directly experienced and inferred associations with aversive experiences.
rdcu.be
May 14, 2025 at 11:35 PM
I’m excited to share a new paper from the lab. The study led by Xiaowei Gu reveals how the mPFC encodes complex emotional memories, using an internal model to infer emotional associations and memories via projections to the amygdala. a🧵(1/8)
rdcu.be/el19t
rdcu.be/el19t
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Sharing a new paper from the lab. This paper, led by Sangyoon Ko, represents a merging of two longstanding research themes in the lab-- adult neurogenesis and systems consolidation.
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
Systems consolidation reorganizes hippocampal engram circuitry
Nature - A study shows that loss of memory precision associated with systems consolidation can be explained by neurogenesis-dependent reorganization of engram circuitry within the hippocampus over...
rdcu.be
May 14, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Sharing a new paper from the lab. This paper, led by Sangyoon Ko, represents a merging of two longstanding research themes in the lab-- adult neurogenesis and systems consolidation.
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
🚨Very excited to share a new paper from our lab in Neuron (@cp-neuron.bsky.social) on the influence of the estrous cycle on structural and functional plasticity in the hippocampus: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Thread below 🧠🧪🧵:
Thread below 🧠🧪🧵:
The estrous cycle modulates hippocampal spine dynamics, dendritic processing, and spatial coding
Histological evidence suggests that the estrous cycle exerts a powerful influence on CA1 neurons in the mammalian hippocampus. Decades have passed sin…
www.sciencedirect.com
May 13, 2025 at 4:39 PM
🚨Very excited to share a new paper from our lab in Neuron (@cp-neuron.bsky.social) on the influence of the estrous cycle on structural and functional plasticity in the hippocampus: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Thread below 🧠🧪🧵:
Thread below 🧠🧪🧵:
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Join us in beautiful Santa Barbara! We're hiring a full-time junior specialist/research technician to play a central role in data collection & analysis of brain imaging studies of pregnancy & menopause.
Learn more & apply at: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02974
Or help us spread the word 💫
Learn more & apply at: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02974
Or help us spread the word 💫
May 12, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Join us in beautiful Santa Barbara! We're hiring a full-time junior specialist/research technician to play a central role in data collection & analysis of brain imaging studies of pregnancy & menopause.
Learn more & apply at: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02974
Or help us spread the word 💫
Learn more & apply at: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02974
Or help us spread the word 💫
Reposted by Ron Keiflin
Our latest! We measure dopamine signals as rats disambiguate cues that predict reward or threat. We find that dopamine flexibly tracks the changing salience and value of cues, but according to region-specific scales, rapid within-trial dopamine fluctuations prioritize different stimulus features.
Striatal dopamine represents valence on dynamic regional scales
Adaptive decision making relies on dynamic updating of learned associations where environmental cues come to predict valenced stimuli, such as food or threat. Cue-guided behavior depends on a network ...
www.jneurosci.org
March 21, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Our latest! We measure dopamine signals as rats disambiguate cues that predict reward or threat. We find that dopamine flexibly tracks the changing salience and value of cues, but according to region-specific scales, rapid within-trial dopamine fluctuations prioritize different stimulus features.