Chris Zimmerman

I’m very excited to share that I will join the University of Utah Department of Neurobiology as an Assistant Professor in Jan 2026!! 🎉🏔️🏜️ My lab will focus on body–brain interactions in learning & memory — how do signals from our internal organs remodel the brain & behavior?

We are thrilled to share a new study from the lab on the neural mechanism of helping behavior. Humans and animals exhibit helping behavior toward others in need. In this study, we report an intriguing form of helping behavior that an individual exhibits toward others experiencing…

I'm happy to share the final version of our paper in @Nature this week, with a lot of new data! 📄: nature.com/articles/s4158… This would have been impossible without support from the NIH (especially BRAIN Initiative), as well as @HHMINEWS, @SimonsFdn, @PrincetonNeuro, HHWF, BRF.

🌟 Cai Lab @Nature paper alert! In new work led by @mysteriousjoe_, we find that rest periods after learning not only stabilize new memories BUT ALSO integrate new memories with older ones from days past! (1/9) Read it here: nature.com/articles/s4158…

I am thrilled to share the published version of our study on how neuropeptide signals regulate feeding in the hypothalamus! We imaged endogenous peptide signals in subcellular compartments during behavior. Below is an updated summary: rdcu.be/dZlI3

I am and have been fascinated with how memories are formed and stored. A big challenge, not unique to memory, is synthesizing concepts across scales of anaylsis - from molecules to computation. Here I try to distill how we can move forward in understanding memories. Thanks /1

My PhD work is finally out in @NeuroCellPress! "Heightened lateral habenula activity during stress produces brainwide and behavioral substrates of susceptibility" w/ amazing team @IlanaWitten @ZimmermanNeuro @lindsaywillmore @Neurrriot @alexpan_neuro cell.com/neuron/fulltex…

Looking forward to visiting the SWC and sharing our work!

My PhD work is out! How do mothers balance tending to their own needs, such as eating, and taking care of their offspring? We examined the link between feeding and parenting neural circuits and how they are modulated postpartum in mice 🧵 (1/9) PREPRINT: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Drugs like Ozempic are great for weight loss, but they make some people feel sick. We discovered that the brain circuits mediating the appetite suppression are distinct from those that mediate nausea – a finding that may be leveraged to develop more selective GLP1-based drugs.

Hear ye!🔔 🔔 Applications are open to postdocs for Princeton's postdoc symposium TigerBrain! Come to PNI to talk about your work and meet our awesome faculty! @yelzebub and I would love to meet you! Apps due 8/15 forms.gle/8zEyzfJwZcDzPH… Plz RT🙌

There's a delay between eating a food and finding out that it made us sick. So how do we learn to avoid such foods? A study from @IlanaWitten @ZimmermanNeuro and colleagues identifies a brain circuit that links feelings of malaise to new flavors. My latest for @_TheTransmitter:

Feeling sick reactivates “novel flavor” neurons, according to a new study in mice, and points to a dedicated circuit for learning to avoid unsafe food. By @avaskham thetransmitter.org/learning/it-mu…

Excited to see Ethan Richman's tour de force study of homeostatic drive competition come out! Brain-wide Neuropixels + exciting new approaches for modeling internal states. With Liqun Luo and @KarlDeisseroth nature.com/articles/s4158…

Where do new animal traits come from? We studied walking fish with “legs” to understand the evolution of novel organs and behavior. @CoreyAHAllard, Amy Herbert, David Kingsley, @MCB_Harvard, @StanfordMed, @HHMINews, @MBLScience - biorxiv.org/content/10.110… - biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

What system does the brain use to make decisions? What are the dynamics of this system? In a new preprint, @timkimd and I tested systems-level theories of perceptual decision-making. 1/4 biorxiv.org/content/10.110…