Argel Aguilar Valles

Merci, Caro!

lets talk about sex

DCC and the Architecture of Stress Vulnerability: A Guidance Cue for Depression

And continuing with the news dump, also check out the commentary I wrote for @biologicalpsych.bsky.social Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, on the recently published article from Cecilia Flores's lab @mcgilluniversity.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Led by Sara Siddiqi and Marie Huc, in collaboration with Ian Colman, Natalia Jaworska and Natalina Salmaso! Do check it out! @carleton.ca @uottawa.ca

Sex differences in placebo and antidepressant response to intranasal esketamine for treatment-resistant depression - Molecular Psychiatry Molecular Psychiatry - Sex differences in placebo and antidepressant response to intranasal esketamine for treatment-resistant depression

We've been quiet for a while, but the lab has been quite productive, publishing several articles. Today, in Molecular Psychiatry, we published a study on sex differences in placebo and antidepressant response to intranasal esketamine for treatment-resistant depression! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Registration is filling up fast!

Interested in epigenetics of stress?
Today I’m presenting our work on the role of H3K36me3 and H3K27me1 in resilience and susceptibility to chronic stress at #ACNP2026
@harvardbrainsci.bsky.social
@sinaibrain.bsky.social
@ericjnestler.bsky.social
Poster W139👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

The serotonin 1B receptor is required for some of the behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice - Molecular Psychiatry Molecular Psychiatry - The serotonin 1B receptor is required for some of the behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice

New paper drop! 🧠💊 Our new paper out in Molecular Psychiatry shows that the serotonin 1B receptor is important for the neural and antidepressant/anxiolytic behavioral responses to psilocybin in mice.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Using, misusing, and improving online machine learning-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging published data: A perspective on NeuroQuery Online, text-based meta-analysis tools for large databases represent a new digital advance for medical, health, and neuroscience research, among other…

Check out recent commentary on some automated meta-analysis tools for fMRI studies: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Genetic Reduction of the Translational Repressors FMRP and 4E‐BP2 Preserves Memory in Mouse Models of Alzheimer's Disease Genetic reduction of the translational repressors FMRP or 4E-BP2 prevents amyloid-β oligomer–induced suppression of hippocampal protein synthesis and memory loss in mice. Targeting translational cont....

Finally out, the last paper of a great collaboration with @mvlourenco.bsky.social, Sergio Ferrerira, and Nahum Sonenberg. Led by Felipe Campos and Danielle Cozachenco. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Effects of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure on Offspring Mental Health: A Focus on the Role of the Immune System Globally, there is increasing legalization, permissiveness and acceptability of medical and recreational cannabis use—including among pregnant people.…

Had a lot of fun writing this review on prenatal cannabis exposure and the immune system with some of my fave 🇨🇦 cannabinoid colleagues @mallarchak.bsky.social @cannabrain.bsky.social @johnhowland.bsky.social @drjkhokhar.bsky.social LaboTremblay @uvic.ca
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A network of basolateral amygdala projection neurons contributes to stress-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis A network of basolateral amygdala neurons, but not singular projections, contributes to the neuroendocrine response to stress.

New lab paper drop, this one has been a long time coming! Driven by Rob Aukema (now a postdoc with Kerry Ressler) this paper in Science Advances answered the lingering question of what role the amygdala plays in stress-induced neuroendocrine responses.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

📢To all scientists working on STRESS and/or RESILIENCE:

Save the date: 2027 GSRNet Conference, February 3–5, 2027 in Lausanne

Cutting-edge science, discussion sessions & great networking across our global community to connect, exchange, and advance our field together

Check for updates gsr-net.org

Indeed… it would seem these people (researchers and the journal) would rather be sued than acknowledge their mistakes and the damages they caused… in the end their lack of humility just undermines trust in science and research

Infamous antidepressant drug trial back in spotlight after journal sued A heavily criticized drug study that promoted the use of an antidepressant to treat youth suffering from depression is back in the spotlight after the journal that published it was sued, and a child p...

www.ctvnews.ca/health/artic...

Very glad to share our newest paper published in Molecular Psychiatry: Investigating milk-derived extracellular vesicles as mediators of maternal stress and environmental intervention www.nature.com/articles/s41... fun collab w/ @jordanmarrocco.bsky.social. Please enjoy! #OpenAccess #MaternalHealth

Super excited to be visiting @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social tomorrow for my talk titled: How High? Impact of Cannabis Vaping, Edibles and Genetics on the Brain”! Thanks to @katrinachoe.bsky.social for the invite! Come by if you’re nearby!

Multimodal learning enables chat-based exploration of single-cell data - Nature Biotechnology CellWhisperer uses multimodal learning of transcriptomes and text to answer questions about single-cell RNA-sequencing data.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

When people celebrate the individual genius of folks in science, they should also
mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)

An important contribution by @picardonhealth.bsky.social. As Budget 2025, university- and college-based is critical to Canadian growth. Why are parliamentarians throwing a stick in the wheel by sharing what was promised to be confidential information and increasing the burden on peer reviewers.

Warm congratulations to @carmensandi10.bsky.social for winning the Mika Salpeter award. Incredibly well-deserved as I know of few other stellar neuroscientists who have advanced the careers of women in the field

Funny how being decent person has to be labelled as far-left in the US…

Looking forward to joining @uccresearch.bsky.social research and the @ucc.ie community for this Public Lecture & In Conversation with the brilliant @jfcryan.bsky.social

& Deeply honored to be receiving an UCC Honorary Doctorate!

See you very soon in Cork!

Enormous thanks to the Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation for this award!

I am thrilled and truly humbled, & I share it with my lab over the years and our wonderful collaborators!

A timely boost to keep our science moving!

Thanks to everyone for your kind messages!

Looking forward to #FENS2026!

Neuroscientists! This is a great opportunity to recognize excellent colleagues for a prize and linked to give a talk at the FENS Forum in 2026! Nominate or apply directly! Deadline: Oct 29th!

ALBA-Elsevier Award for Neuroscience - @network-alba.bsky.social

@gsrnet.bsky.social just launched Stress & Resilience Webinar Series with a great inaugural seminar by @kalischlab.bsky.social covering what stress resilience is, how to measure it & which processes help mitigate stress’s impact on mental health
Missed it live? Recording soon available gsr-net.org

Psychedelic compounds directly excite 5-HT2A layer V medial prefrontal cortex neurons through 5-HT2A Gq activation - Translational Psychiatry Translational Psychiatry - Psychedelic compounds directly excite 5-HT2A layer V medial prefrontal cortex neurons through 5-HT2A Gq activation

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Very happy to share our new paper in Biological Psychiatry, showing that Urolithin A reverses high anxiety by repairing mitochondrial function in the nucleus accumbens.

Big kudos to first co-authors David Mallet & Doğukan Ülgen, our amazing team, and collaborators!

🔗 Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

The effect of methamphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine on peripheral endocannabinoid concentrations: a study in healthy adults - Psychopharmacology Rationale Stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) can impact neurobiological systems implicated in stress, reward processing, and drug use. Although recent preclinical evidence implicates the endocannabinoid (eCB) system in these processes, little is known about the acute effects of stimulants on eCB levels in humans. Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of acute administration of the prototypical psychostimulant MA and the psychostimulant-empathogen MDMA on circulating eCB levels in healthy adults. Methods Using a within-subject, double-blind design, this study assessed the acute effects of MA (20 mg), MDMA (100 mg), and placebo on plasma eCB levels in healthy human participants (N = 22) during three separate sessions. Blood samples assessing concentrations of the eCBs anandamide (AEA) and 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) were collected between 150- and 180-minutes post-drug administration, and subjective measures of drug effects were collected at regular intervals. Results MA, but not MDMA, was associated with significantly lower 2-AG plasma concentrations compared to placebo. Neither drug impacted AEA concentrations. However, during the placebo condition, higher AEA concentrations were correlated with disliking the ‘drug effects’, suggesting a possible relationship between AEA levels and negative expectations of subjective drug effects. Conclusions These findings provide novel insights into how stimulant drugs act on the eCB system and may help to develop treatments for SUDs.

Congrats to @pact-lab.bsky.social PhD student @anadeutsch.bsky.social on her 1st first-author paper from the lab! 🎉

She explored how MDMA & methamphetamine impact cortisol, endocannabinoids, & BDNF levels in healthy humans and how this relates to the subjective drug experience 💊👇