Zach Rosenthal
@zachrosenthal.bsky.social
👨⚕️ PGY4 psychiatry resident @ Penn Med, ⚡️🧠 neuroscientist postdoc and 🌈 🏔 human person. Previously WashU MSTP, Haverford College, and Scribbles Pre-school. Views my own.
Pinned
Zach Rosenthal
@zachrosenthal.bsky.social
· May 18
Electroconvulsive therapy generates a postictal wave of spreading depolarization in mice and humans - Nature Communications
The underlying mechanism of electroconvulsive therapy remains not fully understood. Here, the authors use optical neuroimaging in mice and humans to show that electroconvulsive therapy elicits a secon...
doi.org
Hot off the press! We found that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) induces a previously undescribed, second brain event after seizure, called cortical spreading depolarization (CSD), using optical neuroimaging in both a mouse model to human patients. 🧵 below!
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
🚨 New science alert! Our cross-species study, now in Nature Neuroscience, demonstrates psychedelics distort how we should interpret functional brain imaging.
👇🧵
nature.com/articles/s41...
#Neuroscience #Psychedelics #BrainImaging
👇🧵
nature.com/articles/s41...
#Neuroscience #Psychedelics #BrainImaging
Psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonism alters neurovascular coupling and differentially affects neuronal and hemodynamic measures of brain function
Nature Neuroscience - Padawer-Curry et al. show that the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A receptor agonist DOI alters neurovascular coupling in mice, with implications for the interpretation of human fMRI...
nature.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:18 PM
🚨 New science alert! Our cross-species study, now in Nature Neuroscience, demonstrates psychedelics distort how we should interpret functional brain imaging.
👇🧵
nature.com/articles/s41...
#Neuroscience #Psychedelics #BrainImaging
👇🧵
nature.com/articles/s41...
#Neuroscience #Psychedelics #BrainImaging
Super proud of this collaboration with rockstar Ryan Raut - born out of playing in the sandbox in our last year of grad school! Multi-scale brain activity can be predicted from a simple measure of arousal like pupil diameter. Out with linear causality, in with dynamic systems to explain neurobiology
Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics - Nature
Reframing of arousal as a latent dynamical system can reconstruct multidimensional measurements of large-scale spatiotemporal brain dynamics on the timescale of seconds in mice.
www.nature.com
September 24, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Super proud of this collaboration with rockstar Ryan Raut - born out of playing in the sandbox in our last year of grad school! Multi-scale brain activity can be predicted from a simple measure of arousal like pupil diameter. Out with linear causality, in with dynamic systems to explain neurobiology
WOW this is the honor of a lifetime, Vienna (Airport Conference Center) here I come!
August 6, 2025 at 1:52 AM
WOW this is the honor of a lifetime, Vienna (Airport Conference Center) here I come!
Toward a Better Understanding of Electroconvulsive Therapy | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/deny...
Toward a Better Understanding of Electroconvulsive Therapy
When we don't understand how something works, we often fear it. That has been the case with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), but new research may be shedding needed light.
www.psychologytoday.com
July 12, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Toward a Better Understanding of Electroconvulsive Therapy | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/deny...
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
The Baller Lab is thrilled to announce that @elenaccooper.bsky.social just had her first first-author publication! “Investigating mood and cognition in people with multiple sclerosis: a prospective cross-sectional study protocol” is now published on BMJ Open: bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/5/e094733! 🧠
Investigating mood and cognition in people with multiple sclerosis: a prospective cross-sectional study protocol
Introduction Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated neurological disorder that affects one million people in the USA. Up to 50% of patients with MS experience depression, yet the mechanisms of ...
bmjopen.bmj.com
June 3, 2025 at 8:09 PM
The Baller Lab is thrilled to announce that @elenaccooper.bsky.social just had her first first-author publication! “Investigating mood and cognition in people with multiple sclerosis: a prospective cross-sectional study protocol” is now published on BMJ Open: bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/5/e094733! 🧠
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
Two Harvard economists forecast the impact of the administration’s proposed NIH budget cuts- stunning losses in new therapies, life expectancy, and economic output with a “social cost 16 times greater than the savings the administration is attempting to achieve."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe
This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...
jamanetwork.com
May 29, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Two Harvard economists forecast the impact of the administration’s proposed NIH budget cuts- stunning losses in new therapies, life expectancy, and economic output with a “social cost 16 times greater than the savings the administration is attempting to achieve."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
New evidence shows electroconvulsive therapy triggers a brain event called cortical spreading depolarization, challenging previous assumptions about how ECT achieves its therapeutic effects. doi.org/g9mnvt
Electroconvulsive therapy's 'hard reset' effect: Brain wave discovery challenges long-held assumption
During his third-year psychiatry clerkship as a medical student, Zach Rosenthal, MD, Ph.D., was part of a team providing care to a young man with schizophrenia and severe catatonia.
medicalxpress.com
May 29, 2025 at 4:33 PM
New evidence shows electroconvulsive therapy triggers a brain event called cortical spreading depolarization, challenging previous assumptions about how ECT achieves its therapeutic effects. doi.org/g9mnvt
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
Northwestern has not received any NIH funds since March. No written communication about why or what can be done. Thank you Ben Singer for raising awareness at #ATS2025
May 18, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Northwestern has not received any NIH funds since March. No written communication about why or what can be done. Thank you Ben Singer for raising awareness at #ATS2025
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
It is beyond disturbing when the NIH and HHS Directors do not understand that animal models are essential in research
www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/a...
www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/a...
There is no replacement (yet) for animal models in medical research
The NIH is “reducing animal use in research.” But there is no replacement for animal models.
www.statnews.com
May 19, 2025 at 12:24 PM
It is beyond disturbing when the NIH and HHS Directors do not understand that animal models are essential in research
www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/a...
www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/a...
Hot off the press! We found that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) induces a previously undescribed, second brain event after seizure, called cortical spreading depolarization (CSD), using optical neuroimaging in both a mouse model to human patients. 🧵 below!
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Electroconvulsive therapy generates a postictal wave of spreading depolarization in mice and humans - Nature Communications
The underlying mechanism of electroconvulsive therapy remains not fully understood. Here, the authors use optical neuroimaging in mice and humans to show that electroconvulsive therapy elicits a secon...
doi.org
May 18, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Hot off the press! We found that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) induces a previously undescribed, second brain event after seizure, called cortical spreading depolarization (CSD), using optical neuroimaging in both a mouse model to human patients. 🧵 below!
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
Thanks to expansion microscopy, clever labeling, and modern segmentation approaches, doing connectomics with #light #microscopy has become feasible - huge congratulations Mojtaba & the Danzl lab at @istaresearch.bsky.social !
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Light-microscopy-based connectomic reconstruction of mammalian brain tissue - Nature
A technique called LICONN (light-microscopy-based connectomics) allows mapping of brain tissue at synapse level and simultaneous measurement of molecular information, thus enabling quantification of c...
www.nature.com
May 8, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Thanks to expansion microscopy, clever labeling, and modern segmentation approaches, doing connectomics with #light #microscopy has become feasible - huge congratulations Mojtaba & the Danzl lab at @istaresearch.bsky.social !
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
Excited to share the culmination of my postdoctoral work in the Thompson Lab out today in Nature Communications!
rdcu.be/ehfWU
rdcu.be/ehfWU
Contralesional hippocampal spreading depolarization promotes functional recovery after stroke
Nature Communications - Neural mechanisms underlying deep brain strokes are not fully understood. Here authors demonstrate that spreading depolarizations occur in the intact contralesional...
rdcu.be
April 10, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Excited to share the culmination of my postdoctoral work in the Thompson Lab out today in Nature Communications!
rdcu.be/ehfWU
rdcu.be/ehfWU
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
🧠 NEW PAPER: How do we capture excitability noninvasively in mood and emotion networks in the human brain? Here, we used real-time optimization to improve these measures!
@sparmi.bsky.social @stanfordpntlab.bsky.social @clinicalneuroph.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2025.02.261 1/7
@sparmi.bsky.social @stanfordpntlab.bsky.social @clinicalneuroph.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2025.02.261 1/7
Redirecting
doi.org
April 9, 2025 at 11:26 PM
🧠 NEW PAPER: How do we capture excitability noninvasively in mood and emotion networks in the human brain? Here, we used real-time optimization to improve these measures!
@sparmi.bsky.social @stanfordpntlab.bsky.social @clinicalneuroph.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2025.02.261 1/7
@sparmi.bsky.social @stanfordpntlab.bsky.social @clinicalneuroph.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2025.02.261 1/7
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
🚨iGluSnFR4 is finally out!🚨🧪
We present iGluSnFR4f and 4s, a novel pair of genetically-encoded glutamate indicators designed for high-fidelity imaging of synaptic activity in the living brain. ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🎥 Below: iGluSnFR4s detecting minis in cultures w/ TTX
#Neuroscience
We present iGluSnFR4f and 4s, a novel pair of genetically-encoded glutamate indicators designed for high-fidelity imaging of synaptic activity in the living brain. ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🎥 Below: iGluSnFR4s detecting minis in cultures w/ TTX
#Neuroscience
March 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
🚨iGluSnFR4 is finally out!🚨🧪
We present iGluSnFR4f and 4s, a novel pair of genetically-encoded glutamate indicators designed for high-fidelity imaging of synaptic activity in the living brain. ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🎥 Below: iGluSnFR4s detecting minis in cultures w/ TTX
#Neuroscience
We present iGluSnFR4f and 4s, a novel pair of genetically-encoded glutamate indicators designed for high-fidelity imaging of synaptic activity in the living brain. ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🎥 Below: iGluSnFR4s detecting minis in cultures w/ TTX
#Neuroscience
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024.
That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved.
Show me a better investment than that.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved.
Show me a better investment than that.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report
National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.
www.forbes.com
March 12, 2025 at 8:47 PM
New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024.
That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved.
Show me a better investment than that.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved.
Show me a better investment than that.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
📣🗣️Reminder to PA residents- keep calling @fetterman.senate.gov and tell him NOT to support a continuing resolution until language is included in the bill to prevent impoundment!
DC: (202) 224-4254
Pittsburgh: (412) 803-3501
Philly: (215) 241-1090
Wilkes-Barre: (570) 820-4088
Erie: (814) 453-3010
DC: (202) 224-4254
Pittsburgh: (412) 803-3501
Philly: (215) 241-1090
Wilkes-Barre: (570) 820-4088
Erie: (814) 453-3010
The weeks of performative “resistance” from those in my party were limited to undignified antics.
Voting to shut the government down will punish millions or risk a recession.
I disagree with many points in the CR, but I will never vote to shut our government down.
Voting to shut the government down will punish millions or risk a recession.
I disagree with many points in the CR, but I will never vote to shut our government down.
March 12, 2025 at 5:12 PM
📣🗣️Reminder to PA residents- keep calling @fetterman.senate.gov and tell him NOT to support a continuing resolution until language is included in the bill to prevent impoundment!
DC: (202) 224-4254
Pittsburgh: (412) 803-3501
Philly: (215) 241-1090
Wilkes-Barre: (570) 820-4088
Erie: (814) 453-3010
DC: (202) 224-4254
Pittsburgh: (412) 803-3501
Philly: (215) 241-1090
Wilkes-Barre: (570) 820-4088
Erie: (814) 453-3010
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
The ad-hoc termination of training grants, PhD fellowships, and center grants at Columbia is catastrophic and sends a message.
The WH will:
* Seek revenge at all costs
* Destroy science & higher ed, if it can
* Risk lives, careers and the economy.
Rest assured: they will not stop w/Columbia
The WH will:
* Seek revenge at all costs
* Destroy science & higher ed, if it can
* Risk lives, careers and the economy.
Rest assured: they will not stop w/Columbia
March 11, 2025 at 2:54 PM
The ad-hoc termination of training grants, PhD fellowships, and center grants at Columbia is catastrophic and sends a message.
The WH will:
* Seek revenge at all costs
* Destroy science & higher ed, if it can
* Risk lives, careers and the economy.
Rest assured: they will not stop w/Columbia
The WH will:
* Seek revenge at all costs
* Destroy science & higher ed, if it can
* Risk lives, careers and the economy.
Rest assured: they will not stop w/Columbia
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
In order to protect students from antisemitism at Columbia, the administration (advised by not one but two people who did a Nazi salute this year) is freezing support for students to learn science.
I have confirmation from several sources now that all T32s, many F30s and F31s, and most or all Center awards (P30, P50) have been terminated at Columbia.
This is quite damaging to research and to individuals.
This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...
This is quite damaging to research and to individuals.
This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...
March 11, 2025 at 5:32 PM
In order to protect students from antisemitism at Columbia, the administration (advised by not one but two people who did a Nazi salute this year) is freezing support for students to learn science.
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
I have confirmation from several sources now that all T32s, many F30s and F31s, and most or all Center awards (P30, P50) have been terminated at Columbia.
This is quite damaging to research and to individuals.
This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...
This is quite damaging to research and to individuals.
This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...
March 11, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I have confirmation from several sources now that all T32s, many F30s and F31s, and most or all Center awards (P30, P50) have been terminated at Columbia.
This is quite damaging to research and to individuals.
This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...
This is quite damaging to research and to individuals.
This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
Hi friends, If you haven't seen it already, I was part of a mess this week — about science in the United States, and about NIH research aimed at understanding things like Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, autism, and depression.
🧪 Thread with some details. 🧠📈 🧠🤖
1/10
🧪 Thread with some details. 🧠📈 🧠🤖
1/10
Compelling pushback from @jmgrohneuro.bsky.social and the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) regarding termination of tenure-track investigators driven by DOGE.
1/2
1/2
March 10, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Hi friends, If you haven't seen it already, I was part of a mess this week — about science in the United States, and about NIH research aimed at understanding things like Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, autism, and depression.
🧪 Thread with some details. 🧠📈 🧠🤖
1/10
🧪 Thread with some details. 🧠📈 🧠🤖
1/10
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
The House Continuing Resolution budget “adjustments” for NIH are drastic. Here are some examples:
March 9, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The House Continuing Resolution budget “adjustments” for NIH are drastic. Here are some examples:
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
👇🎯 The public isn't going to understand this, unless the presidents of R1 universities around the country <loudly> & <collectively> get out into the public square & start explaining this & calling out the existential threat to the entire 🇺🇸 university system. The silence is deafening right now.
The public really needs to understand this. Every university system in the world rests on public funding, there has never been an alternative model at any time in history.
We have universities for literally the same reason that we have roads and armies.
We have universities for literally the same reason that we have roads and armies.
I don't disagree that the US university business model was/is fragile, but surely not for this reason?
There is no society in the history of humanity that has successfully built a good university system without massive govt subsidies. US had already pushed the idea very far.
There is no society in the history of humanity that has successfully built a good university system without massive govt subsidies. US had already pushed the idea very far.
March 8, 2025 at 8:45 PM
👇🎯 The public isn't going to understand this, unless the presidents of R1 universities around the country <loudly> & <collectively> get out into the public square & start explaining this & calling out the existential threat to the entire 🇺🇸 university system. The silence is deafening right now.
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
“While other universities across our city, as we’ve heard, our commonwealth, our region, are reaffirming their commitment to their values in response to attempts to scare, distract and divide us, Penn has chosen simply to fold in advance,” Saval added.
"Senior Penn administrators met with Pennsylvania lawmakers on Tuesday morning to discuss the University’s rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, with multiple elected officials expressing concern about recent changes — and one calling the meeting 'bullshit.'"
‘Cowardice’: Pa. lawmakers express disappointment with Penn’s DEI response at meeting with admin.
One lawmaker said that Penn “has made a cowardly move” in “rushing to heed dog-whistle demands from a feckless federal leadership.”
www.thedp.com
February 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM
“While other universities across our city, as we’ve heard, our commonwealth, our region, are reaffirming their commitment to their values in response to attempts to scare, distract and divide us, Penn has chosen simply to fold in advance,” Saval added.
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
In case you were wondering how Fox News is covering the proposed cuts at the NIH:
February 23, 2025 at 1:45 AM
In case you were wondering how Fox News is covering the proposed cuts at the NIH:
Reposted by Zach Rosenthal
@nature.com “Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? Tell Nature” www.nature.com/articles/d41... via Signal:
Max Kozlov: mkozlov.01;
Dan Garisto: dgaristo.72;
Heidi Ledford: hledford.01;
Jeff Tollefson: jtollefson.11;
Alexandra Witze: alexwitze.01;
General Nature: naturenews.61 🧪
Max Kozlov: mkozlov.01;
Dan Garisto: dgaristo.72;
Heidi Ledford: hledford.01;
Jeff Tollefson: jtollefson.11;
Alexandra Witze: alexwitze.01;
General Nature: naturenews.61 🧪
Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? How to contact Nature
Use this form to share information with Nature’s news team, or to make suggestions for future coverage.
www.nature.com
February 16, 2025 at 10:24 PM
@nature.com “Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? Tell Nature” www.nature.com/articles/d41... via Signal:
Max Kozlov: mkozlov.01;
Dan Garisto: dgaristo.72;
Heidi Ledford: hledford.01;
Jeff Tollefson: jtollefson.11;
Alexandra Witze: alexwitze.01;
General Nature: naturenews.61 🧪
Max Kozlov: mkozlov.01;
Dan Garisto: dgaristo.72;
Heidi Ledford: hledford.01;
Jeff Tollefson: jtollefson.11;
Alexandra Witze: alexwitze.01;
General Nature: naturenews.61 🧪