Nicole C Rust, PhD
@NicoleCRust
Professor @Penn. Mood and memory scientist. Book: Elusive Cures (Spring 2025). https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures
It's publication day for 📘Elusive Cures. What a moment! 1st book, 1st time on Mindscape. Here, @seanmcarroll and I have a wide-ranging conversation about the brain, including: Why are brain and mental disorders so hard to understand and treat?
We can be optimistic about research on brain and mental disorders. Here are a few key insights from "Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders―and How We Can Change That," by @NicoleCRust. nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/neuro…
I saw it firsthand at the #Lindau2025 Nobel Laureates meeting--international young scientists welcomed and recruited in Germany and elsewhere. Some of the very best are leaving, and many of the best will no longer come. wsj.com/politics/polic…
While I’m a big fan of new technologies that help us study human biology…there’s still no replacement for animal research! I wrote an article outlining this in @GENbio genengnews.com/topics/transla…
The new Disney Pixar movie Elio has the main character sporting an eye patch. This seems like a good time to spread the word about amblyopia, the treatment for it, and #NIHfunded research on brain-based causes of vision loss. brnw.ch/21wU0DC
Robust & reliable federal funding is crucial for America's scientific leadership and the health of all Americans. SfN calls on federal agencies to halt these destabilizing actions. Read the full statement from SfN president, John H. Morrison, PhD 🔗 vist.ly/3n8cqdi
What's the strongest current thesis for a problem that can only be solved by bidirectionally interfacing with *millions* of neurons in the human brain?
Just finished this excellent new book from @NicoleCRust . Although we have collected lots of facts about the brain, we still don't know how it functions, or how to fix it when it breaks. Nicole provides a Grand Plan, which views the brain as a complex dynamical system. Inspiring!
In this episode of “Brain Inspired,” @pgmid and @NicoleCRust discuss how understanding the brain as a complex dynamical system will help us accelerate treatments for brain disorders. Listen now: thetransmitter.org/brain-inspired…
Exactly! This is the ethos I was channeling in Elusive Cures. When we look back in 30 years, this is what we will point to as the genius of this era. It’s bubbling up more and more 👏👏👏
To truly understand Alzheimer’s disease, we may need to take a systems approach, in which inflammation, vascular injury, impaired glucose metabolism and other factors interact in complex ways, writes Michael A. Yassa. thetransmitter.org/alzheimers-dis…
Of course, time will tell. You can be frustrated with some things about scientific funding in the past and still stand against the 40% budget cut pending this fall. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of funding the next generation of scientists.
In this excerpt, I fast forward to the end of Elusive Cures to explain why I am so unequivocally optimistic about the next steps for brain research. For those of you who like to listen, I've narrated this clip (~10 min). Text is there too. Thank you, @_TheTransmitter!
In her new book, published today, neuroscientist @NicoleCRust takes a bird's-eye view of where the neuroscience community is currently and where it needs to go to solve some of the field’s biggest questions. thetransmitter.org/community/elus…
Federal funding of science has been cut, and trainee scientists in the US face an unstable and uncertain future. Nicole Rust explains how and why we should act to support junior US researchers at this time. nature.com/articles/s4156…