Tara Raam
@tararaam.bsky.social
neuroscience K99 postdoc @UCLA 🧠 • reclaimed californian 🌞 • studying mouse collectives, concerned with the human collective 🐭 • she/her
www.tararaam.com
www.tararaam.com
missing out on all the SfN fun this year, but for the very best reason 🥰🫶🏼
November 12, 2025 at 10:19 PM
missing out on all the SfN fun this year, but for the very best reason 🥰🫶🏼
Reposted by Tara Raam
I am excited to share my PhD work on head-direction cells recorded in the wild, now published in @science.org, where we recorded neurons in bats flying outdoors on an island.
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
October 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I am excited to share my PhD work on head-direction cells recorded in the wild, now published in @science.org, where we recorded neurons in bats flying outdoors on an island.
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
Reposted by Tara Raam
During these uncertain times, I’m very happy to see that my institution, @scripps.edu has an open tenure-track Assistant Professor position. Any field in Chemistry or Biology is welcome. I’d especially love to see fellow neuroscientists apply. Please repost!
apply.interfolio.com/174756
apply.interfolio.com/174756
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
October 14, 2025 at 5:35 PM
During these uncertain times, I’m very happy to see that my institution, @scripps.edu has an open tenure-track Assistant Professor position. Any field in Chemistry or Biology is welcome. I’d especially love to see fellow neuroscientists apply. Please repost!
apply.interfolio.com/174756
apply.interfolio.com/174756
Reposted by Tara Raam
Finally out: our recent work with Nick Betley is a view into how the brain reshapes its behavior in the face of competing survival needs- and also a potential angle on treatment targets for enduring pain.
A brief rundown...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A brief rundown...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A parabrachial hub for need-state control of enduring pain - Nature
Activity in a set of parabranchial neurons in the mouse brain is increased during chronic pain, predicts coping behaviour, and can be modulated by circuits activated by survival threats.
www.nature.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Finally out: our recent work with Nick Betley is a view into how the brain reshapes its behavior in the face of competing survival needs- and also a potential angle on treatment targets for enduring pain.
A brief rundown...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A brief rundown...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tara Raam
And we are live!
Excited to announce the 2025 Multi-Agent Behavior Challenge on cross-lab supervised action recognition in mice 🐁🐀🖱️
Running on Kaggle until December 15th, with a $50,000 prize pool going to the top five submissions!
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
Excited to announce the 2025 Multi-Agent Behavior Challenge on cross-lab supervised action recognition in mice 🐁🐀🖱️
Running on Kaggle until December 15th, with a $50,000 prize pool going to the top five submissions!
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
September 18, 2025 at 6:24 PM
And we are live!
Excited to announce the 2025 Multi-Agent Behavior Challenge on cross-lab supervised action recognition in mice 🐁🐀🖱️
Running on Kaggle until December 15th, with a $50,000 prize pool going to the top five submissions!
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
Excited to announce the 2025 Multi-Agent Behavior Challenge on cross-lab supervised action recognition in mice 🐁🐀🖱️
Running on Kaggle until December 15th, with a $50,000 prize pool going to the top five submissions!
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
Reposted by Tara Raam
✨ The Art of Open Science ✨
This beautiful crossstitch was created by Leah Blankenship, an undergraduate student at the @uoregon.bsky.social! This meticulously embroidered art uses data from our Allen Brain Reference Atlases.
#OpenScienceWeek
This beautiful crossstitch was created by Leah Blankenship, an undergraduate student at the @uoregon.bsky.social! This meticulously embroidered art uses data from our Allen Brain Reference Atlases.
#OpenScienceWeek
September 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
✨ The Art of Open Science ✨
This beautiful crossstitch was created by Leah Blankenship, an undergraduate student at the @uoregon.bsky.social! This meticulously embroidered art uses data from our Allen Brain Reference Atlases.
#OpenScienceWeek
This beautiful crossstitch was created by Leah Blankenship, an undergraduate student at the @uoregon.bsky.social! This meticulously embroidered art uses data from our Allen Brain Reference Atlases.
#OpenScienceWeek
Reposted by Tara Raam
Can't wait to read this preprint from Misha Ahrens and team. Calcium imaging in larval zebrafish, in every cell in the body! Amazing.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 22, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Can't wait to read this preprint from Misha Ahrens and team. Calcium imaging in larval zebrafish, in every cell in the body! Amazing.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Tara Raam
Important initiative 👇
August 21, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Important initiative 👇
Reposted by Tara Raam
1. The philosophy of science sometimes gets an unearned reputation as a purely academic exercise that offers little by way of concrete tools for advancing research.
This is wrong.
And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.
This is wrong.
And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.
August 19, 2025 at 4:59 AM
1. The philosophy of science sometimes gets an unearned reputation as a purely academic exercise that offers little by way of concrete tools for advancing research.
This is wrong.
And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.
This is wrong.
And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.
questions for science bsky:
how would you describe the primary longings, aspirations, and frustrations of scientists today? what cultural or conceptual shifts (as opposed to financial or material) could take place in the scientific ecosystem that would help address these frustrations?
how would you describe the primary longings, aspirations, and frustrations of scientists today? what cultural or conceptual shifts (as opposed to financial or material) could take place in the scientific ecosystem that would help address these frustrations?
August 18, 2025 at 8:41 PM
questions for science bsky:
how would you describe the primary longings, aspirations, and frustrations of scientists today? what cultural or conceptual shifts (as opposed to financial or material) could take place in the scientific ecosystem that would help address these frustrations?
how would you describe the primary longings, aspirations, and frustrations of scientists today? what cultural or conceptual shifts (as opposed to financial or material) could take place in the scientific ecosystem that would help address these frustrations?
Reposted by Tara Raam
1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said."
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
RFK Jr. in interview with Scripps News: ‘Trusting the experts is not science’
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. sat down with Scripps News for a wide-ranging interview, discussing mRNA vaccine funding policy changes and a recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
www.scrippsnews.com
August 12, 2025 at 4:48 AM
1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said."
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
Reposted by Tara Raam
Aidan Bedford
"Interspecies interaction between humpback whale and bottlenose dolphins."
"Interspecies interaction between humpback whale and bottlenose dolphins."
July 18, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Aidan Bedford
"Interspecies interaction between humpback whale and bottlenose dolphins."
"Interspecies interaction between humpback whale and bottlenose dolphins."
Reposted by Tara Raam
It's officially published!! In my main postdoc work with @markplitt.bsky.social and @lgiocomo.bsky.social, we found that the hippocampus simultaneously encodes an animal's spatial position and its experience relative to reward in parallel population codes. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A flexible hippocampal population code for experience relative to reward - Nature Neuroscience
Sosa et al. find that hippocampal neural activity in mice encodes both environmental location and experience relative to rewards, spanning distances far from reward, through parallel and flexible popu...
www.nature.com
June 12, 2025 at 5:24 PM
It's officially published!! In my main postdoc work with @markplitt.bsky.social and @lgiocomo.bsky.social, we found that the hippocampus simultaneously encodes an animal's spatial position and its experience relative to reward in parallel population codes. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tara Raam
What they aren’t showing on Fox News
June 12, 2025 at 12:15 AM
What they aren’t showing on Fox News
Reposted by Tara Raam
Fascinating new paper shows that when researchers “pivot” to new areas of work the outcome is less impactful.
#ScienceOfScience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#ScienceOfScience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The pivot penalty in research - Nature
An analysis of millions of scientific papers and patents reveals a ‘pivot penalty’ when researchers shift direction, with the impact of studies decreasing rapidly the further they move from their prev...
www.nature.com
June 1, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Fascinating new paper shows that when researchers “pivot” to new areas of work the outcome is less impactful.
#ScienceOfScience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#ScienceOfScience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tara Raam
With mRNA and CRISPR this country could be entering a scientific heyday and instead we’re torching the institutions that make it all possible.
Baby Is Healed With World’s First Personalized Gene-Editing Treatment
www.nytimes.com
May 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
With mRNA and CRISPR this country could be entering a scientific heyday and instead we’re torching the institutions that make it all possible.
Reposted by Tara Raam
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 Tara Raam
Another scoop from Jeff Mervis (@policyhound.bsky.social): NSF's ~1400 grant terminations have disproportionately affected PIs from groups underrepresented in science: women, racial & ethnic minorities, & those with disabilities. 1/3
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF
Efforts to shrink staff, budget, and focus have alarmed members of Congress
www.science.org
May 13, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Another scoop from Jeff Mervis (@policyhound.bsky.social): NSF's ~1400 grant terminations have disproportionately affected PIs from groups underrepresented in science: women, racial & ethnic minorities, & those with disabilities. 1/3
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Tara Raam
Because we must build good things while we scream about the bad, I have started a "Data for Good" team @data-for-good-team.bsky.social that partners with organizations needing short-term data science help. We have three projects ongoing & will add more as our capacity grows.
data-for-good-team.org
data-for-good-team.org
May 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Because we must build good things while we scream about the bad, I have started a "Data for Good" team @data-for-good-team.bsky.social that partners with organizations needing short-term data science help. We have three projects ongoing & will add more as our capacity grows.
data-for-good-team.org
data-for-good-team.org
finally moved on over here 🤗🌞✌🏼
May 10, 2025 at 12:19 AM
finally moved on over here 🤗🌞✌🏼
Reposted by Tara Raam
Exciting news!! I’m joining the tenure-track faculty at University of Colorado Boulder this fall as an Assistant Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience!
The Sosa Lab will study how memory is shaped by cognitive and physiological demands, including during pregnancy and the postpartum period. 🧵
The Sosa Lab will study how memory is shaped by cognitive and physiological demands, including during pregnancy and the postpartum period. 🧵
April 25, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Exciting news!! I’m joining the tenure-track faculty at University of Colorado Boulder this fall as an Assistant Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience!
The Sosa Lab will study how memory is shaped by cognitive and physiological demands, including during pregnancy and the postpartum period. 🧵
The Sosa Lab will study how memory is shaped by cognitive and physiological demands, including during pregnancy and the postpartum period. 🧵