This month’s featured researcher in Benjamin Marlin. Ben is an Associate Professor in the Manning College of Information and Computer Science, where he directs the Robust and Efficient Machine Learning (REML) group. Their work is s research is informed by real-world applications including clinical and mobile health. He was an author on paper that was published in January in the Journal Translational Behavioral Medicine, which describes some of the efforts of the Intensive Longitudinal Health Behaviors Network (ILHBN) to harmonize data collection across many different studies and data streams. Ben is also and Associate Director of the Massachusetts AI & Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging & Alzheimer’s Disease (MassAITC), which fosters the development of artificial intelligence for technology that support healthy aging at home for older adults and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.

Here’s what else is new for ‘ ”University of Massachusetts” AND Amherst AND neuroscience’ in PubMed. These publications appeared online in January and February. They are just a fraction of the neuroscience research that occurs on campus. You can click on the PubMed ID to find the publication.

1: Hanron O, Mason GM, Holmes JF, Spencer RMC. Early childhood naps initiate emotional memory processing in preparation for enhanced overnight consolidation. Child Dev. 2023 Jan 2. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13890. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36593656.

2: Freire-Cobo C, Rothwell ES, Varghese M, Edwards M, Janssen WGM, Lacreuse A, Hof PR. Neuronal vulnerability to brain aging and neurodegeneration in cognitively impaired marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Neurobiol Aging. 2023 Mar;123:49-62. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.12.001. Epub 2022 Dec 20. PMID: 36638681.

3: Katz PS, Lyons DC. Cephalopod vision: How to build a better eye. Curr Biol. 2023 Jan 9;33(1):R27-R30. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.054. PMID: 36626860.

4: Edwards M, Lam S, Ranjan R, Pereira M, Babbitt C, Lacreuse A. Letrozole treatment alters hippocampal gene expression in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). Horm Behav. 2023 Jan;147:105281. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105281. Epub 2022 Nov 23. PMID: 36434852; PMCID: PMC9839488.

5: Ehrenberg AJ, ..Vazey EM, .., Grinberg LT. Priorities for research on neuromodulatory subcortical systems in Alzheimer’s disease: Position paper from the NSS PIA of ISTAART. Alzheimers Dement. 2023 Jan 15. doi: 10.1002/alz.12937. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36642985.

6: Phillips DJ, Blaine S, Wallace NK, Karatsoreos IN. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism modulates the effects of circadian desynchronization on activity and sleep in male mice. Front Neurosci. 2023 Jan 9;16:1013673. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1013673. PMID: 36699530; PMCID: PMC9868941.

7: Hong E, Glynn C, Wang Q, Rao S. Non-Invasive Electroretinogram Recording with Simultaneous Optogenetics to Dissect Retinal Ganglion Cells Electrophysiological Dynamics. Biosensors (Basel). 2022 Dec 28;13(1):42. doi: 10.3390/bios13010042. PMID: 36671879; PMCID: PMC9855613.

8: Chow SM, .. Marlin B, …, Wolff-Hughes DL; Intensive Longitudinal Health Behavior Network (ILHBN). The ILHBN: challenges, opportunities, and solutions from harmonizing data under heterogeneous study designs, target populations, and measurement protocols. Transl Behav Med. 2023 Jan 20;13(1):7-16. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibac069. PMID: 36416389; PMCID: PMC9853092.

9: Psarellis YM, Kavousanakis M, Henson MA, Kevrekidis IG. Limits of entrainment of circadian neuronal networks. Chaos. 2023 Jan;33(1):013137. doi: 10.1063/5.0122744. PMID: 36725649; PMCID: PMC9883082.

10: Freire-Cobo C, Rothwell ES, Varghese M, Edwards M, Janssen WGM, Lacreuse A, Hof PR. Neuronal vulnerability to brain aging and neurodegeneration in cognitively impaired marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Neurobiol Aging. 2023 Mar;123:49-62. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.12.001. Epub 2022 Dec 20. PMID: 36638681; PMCID: PMC9892246.

11: Pletzer B, Comasco E, Hidalgo-Lopez E, Lacreuse A, Derntl B. Editorial: Effects of hormonal contraceptives on the brain. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Jan 31;14:1129203. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1129203. PMID: 36798667; PMCID: PMC9927394.

12: Lee NS, Kim CY, Beery AK. Peer social environment impacts behavior and dopamine D1 receptor density in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Neuroscience. 2023 Feb 14:S0306-4522(23)00066-0. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.02.002. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36796749.

13: Moorman DE, Aston-Jones G. Prelimbic and infralimbic medial prefrontal cortex neuron activity signals cocaine seeking variables across multiple timescales. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2023 Mar;240(3):575-594. doi: 10.1007/s00213-022-06287-2. Epub 2022 Dec 5. PMID: 36464693.