Francesco Papaleo Lab

Astrocytes enable amygdala neural representations supporting memory - Nature Astrocytes in the basolateral amygdala dynamically track fear state and support fear memory retrieval and extinction.

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

Evidence accumulation from experience and observation in the cingulate cortex - Nature Humans and monkeys integrated experiential and observational evidence during a two-player task, and the anterior cingulate cortex combined the information sources into a unified neural belief representation that explains behavioural asymmetries.

Nature research paper: Evidence accumulation from experience and observation in the cingulate cortex

go.nature.com/4qE2Uu0

Facial gestures are enacted through a cortical hierarchy of dynamic and stable codes Facial gestures are one fundamental set of communicative behaviors in primates, generated through the dynamic arrangement of many fine muscles. Anatomy shows that facial muscles are under direct contr...

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

This is your brain on Ritalin. Got your attention? Stimulant medications like Ritalin (methylphenidate) do, but not in the way you might think. They don't act directly on the brain’s attention systems! Find out what's really happening in @cellpress.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

Wow nice... here still warm 🤔😅...

🎉 Big news! The first IBNS 2026 keynote speakers are now announced! More will come...

www.ibnsconnect.org/keynotes-2026
@ibnsconnect.bsky.social #IBNS2026

🚨 Big news for the neuroscience community!

The Call for Abstracts, Travel Grants and Registrations for #FENS2026 is officially open! 🧠

👉 Register and submit your work today: https://loom.ly/usQR0ao

This looks very cool. Looking forward to reading it!

Time to get working on your symposium proposals!

📣 Roll call
-Who's coming to Cape town?
-Who needs speaker suggestions for a panel?
-Who'd like to join a panel (especially trainees!)
@mfendt.bsky.social @dr-stan.bsky.social @nicoleferrara.bsky.social @eelkesnoeren.bsky.social

Oxytocin seals the blood–brain barrier, improving 22q11.2 deletion syndrome trajectories Castellani et al. show that intranasal administration of oxytocin during the neonatal period alleviates behavioural and immune alterations in a mouse model

Oxytocin seals the blood–brain barrier, improving 22q11.2 deletion syndrome trajectories url: academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Long journey with so many great people contributing. Special drive by Giulia Castellani , initiated by M. Ciampoli, continued by A Benedetti V Ferretti and so many from our lab. Wonderful synergy with Bice CHINI! I want to dedicate this also to Larry Young
academic.oup.com/brain/advanc...

Oxytocin closing the Blood Brain Barrier?? 🧠 😊 Check out our new paper showing this unexpected effect with consequences on behavioral trajectories, microglia activation, peripheral immune system...

academic.oup.com/brain/advanc...

Università di Camerino BANDO DI CONCORSO PER L’AMMISSIONE AL CORSO DI DOTTORATO DI RICERCA DI INTERESSE NAZIONALE "THEORETICAL AND APPLIED NEUROSCIENCE" - CICLO XLI (a.a. 2025/2026). NOTICE OF COMPETITION FOR ADMISSION TO T...

Official call for PhD fellowship in our lab here, THEORETICAL AND APPLIED NEUROSCIENCE. Call is open till middle of August. Looking forward to working with you :)

www.unicam.it/bandi/2025/b...

The heat won’t stop the energy — science (and fans!) in full swing!
🔆🪭💪
#EBBS2025

Come to Genova in October, 2-day Workshop on Social Behavior and its Dysfunctions. FREE registration, info in the attached Flyer:

Sex differences in brain–behavior relationships in the first 2 years of life url:https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article-abstract/35/6/bhaf133/8158513

VTA-ACC dopaminergic circuit mediates trait anxiety-related observational learning of social avoidance in male mice - Neuropsychopharmacology Neuropsychopharmacology - VTA-ACC dopaminergic circuit mediates trait anxiety-related observational learning of social avoidance in male mice

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

Neuropeptidergic transmission shapes emergent properties of prefrontal cortical circuits underlying learning The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is essential for top-down control of affect and its dysfunction is implicated in many psychiatric disorders. Inhibitory interneurons expressing somatostatin have been impli...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Integrating reproductive states and social cues in the control of sociosexual behaviors A subset of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex is shown to exert top-down regulation of adaptive innate reproductive behaviors by integrating social cues with estrous states to orchestrate socios...

Integrating reproductive states and social cues in the control of sociosexual behaviors in PFC: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Etna, Sicily, now:

HIRING! Are you looking for a PhD fellowship? Come join our group geco.iit.it
Opening position starting from November 2025, official call coming out soon. Write me if interested francesco.papaleo@iit.it

Norepinephrine signals through astrocytes to modulate synapses Locus ceruleus (LC)–derived norepinephrine (NE) drives network and behavioral adaptations to environmental saliencies by reconfiguring circuit functional connectivity, but the underlying synapse-level...

Norepinephrine signals through astrocytes to modulate synapses | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Self-experience of a negative event alters responses to others in similar states through prefrontal cortex CRF mechanisms - Nature Neuroscience Maltese et al. show in mice that experiencing an adverse event affects future interaction with others experiencing the same stressor. These self-experience socioemotional reactions are orchestrated by...

Congrats Josh and Xiaowei, looking forward to dig into it well!! It seems very relevant to our recent findings on mPFC CRF neurons holding emotional memories when exposed to others' same emotional state! I would love to hear your opinion www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Self-experience of a negative event alters responses to others in similar states through prefrontal cortex CRF mechanisms - Nature Neuroscience Maltese et al. show in mice that experiencing an adverse event affects future interaction with others experiencing the same stressor. These self-experience socioemotional reactions are orchestrated by...

Do you know the identity of these specific population of mPFC neurons? It might be relevant to our recent work: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻
Interesting review on spontaneous activity and predictions.
Idea of "predictions" is natural enough (how could it be otherwise?) but the emphasis on constructing models of the world is not persuasive. And the Bayesian motivation is way too vague imo.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

A cryptic role for reciprocal helping in a cooperatively breeding bird - Nature A study of the cooperative breeding behaviour of superb starlings during 40 consecutive breeding seasons over 20 years reveals long-term reciprocal helping between both related and unrelated individua...

Our latest superb starling work in @nature.com. We observe long-term reciprocal helping relationships, and suggest reciprocity is an underappreciated mechanism promoting the stability of cooperatively breeding societies. Led by Alexis Earl and @gerrycarter.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Multiple #funding opportunities are OPEN to support your #neuroscience journey! Whether you're aiming for PhD, conference travel, or research support - explore & apply 🔍
buff.ly/olJ2I0b

#IBROinAsiaPacific #IBROinUSCanada #IBROinAfrica #IBROinLatAm #IBROinEurope
@fens.org @wellcometrust.bsky.social

Psychedelic control of neuroimmune interactions governing fear - Nature Inflammatory monocytes in the brain meninges promote stress-induced fear behaviour, and the pathways involved can be modulated using psychedelic compounds.

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

🚨 Come work with us!

3-year fully funded PhD position in Social and Cognitive Neuroscience @univie.ac.at @clauslamm.bsky.social to join our project investigating prosocial behavior under uncertainty.

More info: shorturl.at/1fnb2

Please share widely 🔁

BRAIN PONDERINGS podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson Neuroscientist Mark Mattson in conversations with other scientists at the forefront of brain research. Here are a few of the major questions that BRAIN PONDERINGS guests will tackle: How have brai...

Nice chat about the Socio-Emotional Brain with Mark Mattson. Check our conversation on his podcast:

the Brain Ponderings:
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/39HsoeK...

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@brainponder...