@cellularscale

Assistant Professor @Georgetown University Department of Neuroscience

 Washington, DC
sites.google.com/view/evans-lab/home
Joined January 2012
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Our newest preprint shows sex specific effect of exercise on motor coordination and dopamine neuron excitability! This was actually really surprising to us. biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…
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This was one of those experiments where we thought there was no effect, or a tiny effect, because we grouped the male and female data together. Separating the groups by sex revealed that exercise was benefitting female mice, but not male mice.
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Excited to share our new findings on how chronic nicotine changes dopaminergic and cholinergic neural activity. biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…
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The reason for this is that nicotine's protective effects seem to be only preventative, in that it reduces the risk of developing Parkinson's, but doesn't have a therapeutic effect on symptoms or disease progression after diagnosis.
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We find that chronic nicotine, when administered to adult mice, decreases dopaminergic neuron spontaneous firing rate and rebound activity. These effects could protect the neurons by decreasing their metabolic load.
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Interested in doing you PhD at Georgetown? Come chat with students and faculty at grad fair booth 48A. #SfN25
Three smiling students behind a table that says Georgetown University.

ALT Three smiling students behind a table that says Georgetown University.

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Our lab has 2 great posters at #SfN25 this year! Plus a collaborative poster. Come see us Wednesday afternoon to learn how brainstem connections process sensory stimuli.
Board V4: Nov. 19, 2025, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM PSTR453.16 - Cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus receive local glutamatergic input *L. A. RUSS1, R. C. EVANS2; Board V2: Nov. 19, 2025, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM PSTR453.14 - The superior colliculus strongly excites cholinergic and glutamatergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus *B. J. BERNSTEIN1, P. A. FORCELLI2, R. C. EVANS1; Board U5: Nov. 19, 2025, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM PSTR453.01 - Calcium currents shape PPN response to stimulation: A computational perspective *A. K. THOMAS1,2, J. E. RUBIN1,2, M. FALLAH3, R. C. EVANS3, A. H. GITTIS4,5;

ALT Board V4: Nov. 19, 2025, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM PSTR453.16 - Cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus receive local glutamatergic input *L. A. RUSS1, R. C. EVANS2; Board V2: Nov. 19, 2025, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM PSTR453.14 - The superior colliculus strongly excites cholinergic and glutamatergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus *B. J. BERNSTEIN1, P. A. FORCELLI2, R. C. EVANS1; Board U5: Nov. 19, 2025, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM PSTR453.01 - Calcium currents shape PPN response to stimulation: A computational perspective *A. K. THOMAS1,2, J. E. RUBIN1,2, M. FALLAH3, R. C. EVANS3, A. H. GITTIS4,5;

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#nokings in Prince William County, VA yesterday. Peaceful, positive. People chanting "we love america".
Crowd by the street lots of American flags. A sign says defend the constitution.

ALT Crowd by the street lots of American flags. A sign says defend the constitution.

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Excited to share our version of record in eLife! We find that two ways of inhibiting a brainstem structure (PPN) actually result in completely different and even opposite behaviors. One inhibitory connection is rewarding and one is aversive. doi.org/10.7554/eLife.102308…

Inhibitory basal ganglia nuclei differentially innervate pedunculopontine nucleus subpopulations...

The substantia nigra inhibits all PPN neurons and causes place aversion, while the globus pallidus selectively inhibits caudal non-cholinergic PPN neurons and causes place preference.

elifesciences.org
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Rebekah Evans retweeted
Zayd Khaliq@KhaliqLab5 Nov 2024
Exciting work from the lab on unique DA subpopulation! SN pars lateralis DAN firing differs from SNc in super interesting ways. We find robust auditory CTX input and test in threat behavior. Congrats to Lorenzo Sansalone (@newrochemist), @cellularscale @e_twedell, Sherry Zhang!
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"Female academics also have disproportionately fewer Twitter followers, likes and retweets than their male counterparts, regardless of their Twitter activity levels or professional rank." ihenow.com/2OVuRPz It's time to change this. Let's make today #FollowWomen day!
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Rebekah Evans retweeted
Dave Root@NeuronRoot12 Oct 2024
Reminder that CU Boulder is hiring three tenure track neuroscientists, broadly defined. Info/application here jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDe…
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Michel Fallah, from the lab of 2023 Stanley Fahn Awardee @cellularscale, presented her meticulous physiology work on the differential inhibitory inputs to PPN neuron populations. Great work!
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The lab is presenting 4 exciting projects at #SfN24 #SfN2024 this year! See you all Saturday afternoon and Monday morning. @SfNtweets
PSTR016.12 Board: C89 Saturday 10/5/24 1-5pm Dr. Kenea Udobi – Detailing the time course of Parkinson’s disease cholinopathy: insights from a novel mouse model PSTR173.04 Board: H40 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm Dr. Valerie Lewitus – Sex-specific effects of aerobic exercise on motor performance and basal ganglia neural properties PSTR173.23 Board: I19 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm Michel Fallah – SNr and GPe inhibition of anatomically and genetically defined PPN subpopulations. LBA005.010 Board: LBA91 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm Briana Bernstein– The superior colliculus sends divergent excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the rostral and caudal PPN

ALT PSTR016.12 Board: C89 Saturday 10/5/24 1-5pm Dr. Kenea Udobi – Detailing the time course of Parkinson’s disease cholinopathy: insights from a novel mouse model PSTR173.04 Board: H40 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm Dr. Valerie Lewitus – Sex-specific effects of aerobic exercise on motor performance and basal ganglia neural properties PSTR173.23 Board: I19 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm Michel Fallah – SNr and GPe inhibition of anatomically and genetically defined PPN subpopulations. LBA005.010 Board: LBA91 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm Briana Bernstein– The superior colliculus sends divergent excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the rostral and caudal PPN

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Thanks to @BenSaunders for posting his lab's sfn posters yesterday. I am 100% copying him here.
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Rebekah Evans retweeted
Zoe Donaldson@DrZoePhD1 Oct 2024
We are hiring 3+ Neuroscience faculty at CU Boulder! Seeking applicants with outstanding research programs in cell/molecular neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, and integrative physiology. #academicjobs @FuturePI_Slack @NeuroRumblr jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDe…
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Excited to have Michel Fallah's preprint out! Here we find surprising effects on locomotion and valence when stimulating basal ganglia inputs to the PPN in vivo. And we comprehensively map the SNr and GPe synaptic connections to all the cell types in the PPN.
bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv_neursci7 Aug 2024
Inhibitory basal ganglia nuclei differentially innervate pedunculopontine nucleus subpopulations and evoke opposite motor and ... biorxiv.org/cgi/content/shor… #biorxiv_neursci
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The SNr has a super strong connection to a "hotspot" of caudal glutamatergic PPN neurons, but has a medium-level connection sto almost all other PPN neurons.
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Michel led this project, but huge congratulations to Dr. Kenea Udobi, a post doc in the lab, and @OlaSwia an undergrad funded by @PFResearchTeam who conducted the in vivo optogenetics for this project. And to Chelsea Scott who did mouse surgeries for the project!
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