Camille Testard

OHSU board contemplates closure of primate research center; its scientists plead for support Scientists at the Oregon National Primate Research Center say their work is driving critical medical advances. But leadership at the federal level has questioned the value of the research model, and c...

The same conservatives pushing to close facilities like this will then go on to ridicule biomedical research done on lower animals as "wasteful and irrelevant to human health". You can't have it both ways. www.opb.org/article/2026...

Dr. Zoe Donaldson — Stories of WiN studies the neural circuits that govern social bonding and social loss, and how variations in these circuits shape emotional outcomes

Our latest profile is here! Dr. Zoe Donaldson (@neurozoe.bsky.social) studies the neural circuits that govern social bonding & social loss, and how variations in these circuits shape emotional outcomes.

Follow the link to listen! #StoriesOfWiN #WomenInNeuroscience

storiesofwin.org/profiles/202...

The location on that map corresponds to the ones on a macaque brain and its roughly accurate for that. I can’t tell you if it can accurately place them on a mouse brain since this is not at all a mouse brain.

Sorry but that is not an accurate mouse brain. It’s a macaque brain with olfactory bulbs from a rodent brain.

Public engagement: building common ground How can we help to bridge this divide? Simply producing more excep­ tional science will not be enough to rebuild public trust. Rather, we must adopt a new model that recognizes communication and advocacy as core pillars of science, on a par with rigor and reproducibility. Public engagement efforts should be valued for faculty promotions, much like obtaining grants and publishing our findings in scientific journals. Researchers should be recognized and rewarded for activities such as giving public talks, working with local schools, engaging with policy­ makers, developing social media campaigns and platforms or writing accessible articles for general audiences. Developing these skills must be an integral part of scientific training, reinforcing the notion that the responsibility to champion science lies with us. Courses that teach graduate students and postdocs to communicate complex ideas clearly, to use social media effectively and to advocate for evidence­based policies must be deemed critical and supported by our universities. These efforts should not be viewed as distractions from research but woven into the fabric of what we do as scientists. Rebuilding public trust requires a cultural paradigm shift: scientists must see themselves not just as producers of knowledge, but also as its ambassadors and translators. Such a fundamental change will occur only if it is embraced by our scientific leaders and institutions, emphasizing the critical role of public engagement for science to succeed.

A thought-provoking piece in Nature Neuroscience by many neuroscience colleagues: "Science must break its silence to rebuild public trust". Lots to think about here.

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

Fabulous work!!! Really excited to see where you go with this :)

🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity!

We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵

A white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) decides whether to consume a warningly colored white-barred acraea butterfly (Telchinia encedon). Photo (c) Mike Rowe

📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org

We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6

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

Programmed seasonal brain shrinkage in the common shrew via water loss without cell death Brain plasticity, the brain’s inherent ability to adapt its structure and function, is crucial for responding to environmental challenges but is usual…

The secret to shrew brain shrinkage? 🤔
Not cell loss, but water loss!
Our new paper shows that brain cells shrink by losing water, a wild feat of brain plasticity 🤯

Check the paper!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @labdavalos.bsky.social @batichica.bsky.social

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

Nine former CDC directors, from Bill Foege onward, speak out about the incalculable harm that RFK, Jr. is doing to public health in the US and around the world.

Gift link.

Thanks for the shoutout!

Donald Trump’s proposed budget would gut American science It would slash cancer research, drug trials, space exploration, and so much more.

Cutting $20 billion to NIH over 25 years may save $500 billion on paper, but it’d end up costing $8.2 trillion in lost human health.

But NIH isn't the only thing being cut. The budget also slashes all NSF-funded science by 73 percent. NASA faces “the biggest single-year cut to NASA in history."

the U.S. Capitol building on an overcast day, looking ominous

URGENT! Contact your senators today to advocate to fund science agencies and programs!

The Senate Appropriations Committee & its subcommittees are writing appropriation bills for the federal FY26 budget now.

Here's how you can help: esa.org/esablog/2025...

RFK Jr. Denies Cuts to Scientific Research While Slashing Staff, Funding - FactCheck.org Under the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services has canceled or frozen billions of dollars in scientific research grants and attempted to cull around 20,000 agency employee...

While pushing through absolutely devastating cuts to research, science, and scientists, RFK Jr. blatantly lies to Congress saying there have been no cuts to research, science, and scientists.

www.factcheck.org/2025/05/rfk-...

Graphs showing 25 years of budgets for the National Institute of Health, NASA, and the NSF. In all cases, the proposed budget for next year is far, far below any year of the previous quarter century.

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

World’s first personalized CRISPR therapy given to baby with genetic disease Treatment seems to have been effective, but it is not clear whether such bespoke therapies can be widely applied.

A baby boy with a devastating genetic disease is thriving after becoming the first known person to receive a bespoke, CRISPR therapy-for-one, designed to correct his specific disease-causing mutation

https://go.nature.com/45bprqu

As someone directly affected by this, let me be clear:

I'd rather lose my job because Harvard chose to fight than keep my job and see a generation of white supremacists parade its corpse around like a war trophy.

Fight the Oligarchy Rally Poster with event details for: Las Vegas, NV, Tempe, AZ, Greeley, CO, Denver, CO, and Tucson, AZ

⚡️FIGHT THE OLIGARCHY RALLY ⚡️
STARTING TOMORROW.

Nevada. Arizona. Colorado.
You, me, and Bernie.
Dem and GOP districts. ❤️💙

See you there 💪🏽🌞

U.S. BRAIN Initiative set to lose $81 million this year A government spending bill, approved today by the House of Representatives, allocates 20 percent less funding for the program than last year.

"This is a massive loss for neuroscience,” says Cory Miller.

By @avaskham.bsky.social

www.thetransmitter.org/funding/u-s-...

Curious How Trump’s Cost Cutting Could Affect Your National Park Visit? You Might Not Get a Straight Answer. National Park Service staff have received talking points ordering them to describe layoffs as “workforce management actions” and to reassure visitors that changes resulting from the cuts won’t impede…

A series of emails sent to national parks workers provided instructions on how to describe staff cuts to visitors.

They were told to avoid the word “fired” and not blame closures on staffing levels.

By @anjeanette-damon.bsky.social

Altered proportions of retinal cell types and distinct visual codes in rodents occupying divergent ecological niches Allen et al. apply a systems-level transcriptional and functional classification of neurons in the visual system of related murids: nocturnal Mus musculus and day-active Rhabdomys pumilio. They demons...

Delighted that my first bluesky post is to share our latest paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social comparing the visual code and retinal neurons of day and night active rodents. A fun journey of discovery with a wonderful team! @dns-uom.bsky.social
www.cell.com/current-biol...

True facts.

Trump: Gutting National Parks—And Hiding the Evidence

National parks hit 331M visits, but Trump officials don’t want you to know. A leaked memo bans the Park Service from promoting the numbers—while firing rangers, closing visitor centers, and cutting safety.

This won’t go well—we love our parks.

Why I Stand Up for Science Science shapes our world, drives innovation, and protects our future—but it needs voices like yours to defend and champion it. We want to hear your story. Why do you stand up for science?Is it beca…

We want to know—why are YOU standing up for science?

Whether it's a commitment to evidence-based policy, a drive to protect our planet, or the personal impact of recent events on your career, we want to feature your story.

Head to standupforscience2025.org/science-stor... to share yours ☀️

A Lady Professor with brown hair and glasses, wearing a scarf in red, green, yellow, & black, a gift from an incredible lactation consultant, sitting in in front of cactus.

I escaped poverty because I am a scientist.

And I am a scientist because of the National Science Foundation.

A 🧵:

MacaqueNet: Advancing comparative behavioural research through large‐scale collaboration We present MacaqueNet, a global community of macaque researchers who developed the first publicly searchable, standardised database on affiliative and agonistic behaviour. This cross-species database...

So exciting to see MacaqueNet out into the world! 🤩

Learn about our global community & database centralizing standardized affiliative & agonistic data from 61 populations across 14 macaque species: doi/10.1111/1365...

Explore >600 networks & request data: macaquenet.github.io/database/

Second paper out this week 😱😱

We present YOLO-Behaviour, a flexible, easy to implement, robust framework for automated behavioural annotation from videos, published in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social!!

[paper] doi.org/10.1111/2041...
[documentation] alexhang212.github.io/YOLO_Behavio...

Check our latest in which we leverage shape metrics to compare neural geometry across regions, sessions or subjects and how their differences predict behavior.

w/ Nejatbakhsh, Duong, @sarah-harvey.bsky.social, Brincat, @siegellab.bsky.social, @earlkmiller.bsky.social & @itsneuronal.bsky.social