Kurt Fraser @Kurt_Fraser Twitter profile

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Kurt Fraser

3 months

So excited to announce I’ll be joining the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota @UMNPsych as an Assistant Professor this Fall! The Fraser Lab opens in August - check us out !! A dream come true!

Fraser Lab

www.fraserlab.net

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

we need more psychologists in neuroscience (specifically in behavioral/systems)

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

Thank you everyone for the support I am so overwhelmed! Happy to be Dr. Fraser! Impossible to thank everyone in a tweet for getting me here, I had never imagined this would be possible when I was growing up.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

*the longest yeah boy ever heard* So excited to share the NoA for my F32 and that I’m a BRAIN Initiative F32 fellow! I am absolutely over the moon and also still in shock at this news.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

TFW you just learned what cheese was

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

I patched my first cell!! It lived for all of 30 seconds but does this officially make me a neuroscientist? Almost all credit to @HongbinYang568 for training me!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

Good morning from my first nucleus accumbens neurons! 🎉🎉

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

navigating academia as a first-gen student

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

@jpbrammer this one killed me

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

Beautiful peace on my dear friend Professor (!!) Chaudhri @DrNadiaChaudhri

In facing death, Concordia neuroscientist Nadia Chaudhri built a lasting legacy and inspired...

Dr. Nadia Chaudhri has died, according to a close friend and colleague. From her palliative care bed, the Concordia neuroscientist shared pockets of joy and wisdom that resonated around the world,...

www.cbc.ca

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

We (myself, @djottenheimer , & @rodriguez_lion ) are so excited to announce the official unoffical #SfN19 LGBTQ+ Social! Join us Monday October 21 at 9PM at Emporium Bar Logan Square! Thanks to @HopkinsNeuro @HopkinsKavli @SinaiBrain @PlexonNeurosci for sponsoring this event!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

So happy to see the NOA for my F31! Thank you to everyone who helped along the way with examples especially @BenSaunders @jocelynmrichard @josh_haight and to @triciajanak for being the greatest mentor!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

Hello beautiful big BLA units!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

by the way i am gay. it has been very challenging and complicated at times, and likely will continue to be, but i am so happy to live confidently in my identity. #NationalComingOutDay

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 years

Love the opportunity to share my story as a gay man as a part of @500QueerSci to help promote and increase awareness of LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM #Pride2018 check it out and share your story!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

Paper accepted! TGIF

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 months

ACNP must publicly condemn the ideas shared that space for women eliminates space for men and that diversity initiatives are not aligned with scientific excellence. ACNP should also recognize that transphobia has no place here. I recall a code of conduct agreement. Enforce it.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 months

Elated to share a long-brewing project that takes a novel approach to understanding how our behavior can be flexible and what neural systems can support flexibility Contexts facilitate dynamic value encoding in the mesolimbic dopamine system

Contexts facilitate dynamic value encoding in the mesolimbic dopamine system

Adaptive behavior in a dynamic environment often requires rapid revaluation of stimuli that deviates from well-learned associations. The divergence between stable value-encoding and appropriate...

www.biorxiv.org

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

In the midst of the constant bad news, I am elated to be selected as a finalist for the Enoch Gordis Award from @RSAposts . Excited for the opportunity to give a virtual talk in lieu of the meeting being cancelled! “See” y’all in June!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

well for today's TGIF we are celebrating emailing away my dissertation! with that said if you'd like to attend my defense on feb 15 @ 2pm eastern please let me know! ill talk about fun things including dopamine, accumbens, amygdala, uncertainty, and context.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

We are so happy with the turnout thank you all for coming!!! #sfn19 #lgbtqsocial

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

repeat after me: you will not write a 7000 word review then add references later you will not write a 7000 word review then add references later you will not write a 7000 word review then add references later i am full of regret

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

Rest in Peace @DrNadiaChaudhri ❤️ I’m reminded of what you said was your karaoke song and seeing you as a glorious Phoenix someday Rare to have someone share their light and make such an impact. What a blessing to have known and learned from you ❤️

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 years

Just got the great news that I’ll receive a Trainee Professional Development Award to attend @Neurosci2018 ! Thanks @SfNtweets !

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 months

Excited to share this long-brewing project led by Han de Jong in the Lammel lab where reconcile some disagreements in the field as to what dopamine encodes (RPE? Value?), and whether DA release in the accumbens can arise independently from cell spiking.

State and rate-of-change encoding in parallel mesoaccumbal dopamine pathways

Nature Neuroscience - de Jong et al. identify two dopamine cell subtypes with sustained or transient activity patterns in both cell bodies and axon terminals. They propose that these subtypes...

www.nature.com

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

no one warned me the most stressful and anxiety-stricken aspect of doing a phd is scheduling your own defense

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

11 months

Happy to share this long-brewing project on central amygdala control of motivation and my first foray into alcohol research. A fun and exciting project with Tabitha Kim and a great crew from @JanakLab . Hopefully you find it interesting too!

Encoding and context-dependent control of reward consumption within the central nucleus of the...

The ability to evaluate and select a preferred option among a variety of available offers is an essential aspect of goal-directed behavior. Dysregulation of this valuation process is characteristic...

www.biorxiv.org

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

I'm very excited to announce the LGBTQ+ Neuroscientists Social at the upcoming SfN Global Connectome! The social will be held 9-10AM and 330-430PM EST on Tuesday January 12. The goal is to provide a platform for networking and building peer support networks #SfNConnectome21

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

My Aunt, Kathy Lowry, passed away this morning after a very intense and brief fight with lung cancer. I don’t know how to process this and the denial of being with family during this. Please tell your loved ones how important they are.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

It’s graduation day for @JohnsHopkins grad students which means it acceptable to wear my fancy PhD hood(cape??) and today the last day to celebrate finishing! I think I’m wearing it right? Congrats to everyone who defended during the last year!!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

my grant got a score so i am taking a whole day off thank you

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

i have no words for how damaging it is to see this paper that apparently legitimizes in the authors words the existence of a sexual orientation...

Michael Bailey

@profjmb

4 years

I’m very pleased to share our brand-new paper on male bisexuality, just published in PNAS: Thread

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

always love heading into a weekend with some nice recordings (no luck for the last 9 months and finally some success)! 🎉🎉🎇🎆

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

getting back into the lab post #SfN19

siân (cartchy tuns)

@sharnacious

5 years

me trying my hardest

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

Hi folks the first of many papers to come from my time with @triciajanak is here! We investigate context control of behavior by exploiting occasion setting. Not so surprising BLA and OFC are important. Surprisingly we didn’t see any contribution of the hippocampus!

bioRxiv Neuroscience

@biorxiv_neursci

2 years

Basolateral amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, but not dorsal hippocampus, are necessary for the control of reward-seeking by ... #biorxiv_neursci

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

Paper accepted! TGIF

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

Non typical post but I started lifting for the first time in my life back in February and couldn’t deadlift 125. Today I joined the 300 club! Happy to be a part of a great queer, inclusive gym that’s been a good out of work focus for me.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

Bye Baltimore! Thanks for being a great place to spend the last 6 years and everyone who made living here so fun!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

@chazfirestone Chaz i strongly dislike this illusion it makes me feel bad

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

Excited to lead Amygdala GRS with co chair @ayesha_sengupta in 2021!!!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 years

TODAY IS A GOOD DAY

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

postdoc day 3 training involved making an americano on the lab espresso machine

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

So glad to have this one out! Peter Holland and I review and revisit the issues surrounding occasion setting in an effort to renew a focus on the hierarchical control of behavior

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

Final single units of 2019! 🎉🎉

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

I’ve been working everyday in person on campus since Late June why am I not qualified for this @JohnsHopkins ?

Sarah Hadyniak, PhD

@hadyniaks

3 years

@JohnsHopkins is giving $500 bonuses to everyone making under $200k EXCEPT grad students. I was an essential worker the whole pandemic - worked through Homewood campus not requiring masks, not providing testing when we were exposed by construction workers...treat us better!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

Are you an advanced graduate student or early-stage postdoc? We want you for our colloquium series! We are hoping to foster collaborations and mentorship opportunities for invited speakers. Please share widely and reach out if you have questions!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

Hi folks, new review from Han, Stephan, and me. We review evidence for heterogeneity in the dopamine system at many levels and come to the conclusion that we shouldn't put the cart before the horse in saying what dopamine generally does (or doesn't do!).

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

Hot off the press! Occasion setters attain motivational value: implications for contextual influences on reward-seeking w/ @triciajanak @janaklab ($$$) (free for a little bit)

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

Screaming! in the Berkeley MCB Storeroom

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

One year of postdoc means professional headshots right??? #NewProfilePic

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

it’s my birthday and it’s #LGBTQSTEMDay and I happen to be gay 🏳️‍🌈 so take some time to think today how you can step up for your queer in STEM colleagues as a gift!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

how do we get @PhDeez in charge of NIH? #BLMandNeuro

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

@TimothyKassis how about we just take this one day at a time and not tweet out unreasonable and absurd expectations for graduate students? Maybe just trying to keep up with research issues and university closures and associated stress is enough? this tweet is delusional

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

10 months

OMG! did not expect this. stoked to see everyone at @ACNPorg meeting!!!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 years

If you see me at #sfn18 say hi! I’m perhaps the tallest person here and have resting serious face so I may seem offputting but please stop me and chat especially if we are just Twitter friends!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

BREAKING : local grad student cuts own hair after 67 days of isolation

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 years

I love this idea! @SfNtweets any way to see something similar at @Neurosci2018 to facilitate these networking conversations? Especially during poster presenting it can help convey to PIs at your poster what you are hoping to get out of the meeting!

Chemjobber

@Chemjobber

6 years

I really like these little "seeking #chemjobs " tags

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 years

Excited to have this one out in the open! @triciajanak and I have been working with new models of reward-seeking and in the process discovered a new and fundamental property of cues and contexts that disambiguate the meaning of conditioned stimuli

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

11 months

Happy to share this interview with @NINDSnews #BRAINInitiative ! Thanks for spotlighting me during pride and happy to see NIH making moves to step up.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

7 years

Big day - passed candidacy exam, received internal grant, and paper with @triciajanak out in @EJNeuroscience !!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

Chatty friends at brunch today

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

if you organize a conference with a panel that is devoted to issues LGBTQ+ people face in STEM face maybe don’t equate these identities to any possible issues someone with a chosen political affiliation may face. just a tip for all you conference organizers out there

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 years

Internal grant funded to continue work with human sign- and goal-trackers! Woohoo!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

1 year

Excited to share this followup to our work @JanakLab using optogenetic activation of VTA and SNc dopamine neurons ; now in press at Jneuro!). Here we focus on action sequences and functional dissociations in the striatum.

From Prediction to Action: Dissociable Roles of Ventral Tegmental Area and Substantia Nigra...

Reward-seeking requires the coordination of motor programs to achieve goals. Midbrain dopamine neurons are critical for reinforcement and their activation is sufficient for learning about cues,...

www.biorxiv.org

bioRxiv Neuroscience

@biorxiv_neursci

1 year

Nucleus accumbens and dorsal medial striatal dopamine and neural activity are essential for action sequence performance #biorxiv_neursci

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

Happy to share this project led by @RonKeiflin @JanakLab where we parse the precise contributions of VTA and SNc dopamine neurons to instrumental reinforcement. We do so with some clever behavioral tricks in combination with 20Hz optogenetic ICSS

From Prediction to Action: Dissociable Roles of Ventral Tegmental Area and Substantia Nigra...

Reward-seeking requires the coordination of motor programs to achieve goals. Midbrain dopamine neurons are critical for reinforcement and their activation is sufficient for learning about cues,...

www.biorxiv.org

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

well I’m awake

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

7 years

@christineliuart okay here is odie

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

Somehow it’s fitting my time in Baltimore is bookended with a Beyoncé concert in my first year and getting vaccinated just before I leave - both at M&T Bank Stadium. Incredibly thankful to all that made this possible! Brighter days ahead.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

reminder that Morocco is unsafe for LGBTQ+ people and that it's important to consider these issues in conference planning #IDARS2019 while im sure the science is fantastic this is a huge barrier

LGBT rights in Morocco - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

Didn’t see today including catching a stray dog with @renknee , realizing he has no owner or microchip, navigate closed responsible shelters, and end up finding him a loving home all within a quarantine Sunday! Happy our friend has new loving owners and is off the streets!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 months

30! Today!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

Unfortunately I am drawing rodents in Illustrator again

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

Trainees who work on anything amygdala or amygdala-related!!! Apply to attend the GRS+GRC on Amygdala in Barcelona, July 2023. Our GRS program is built from abstracts submitted We will also have a professional development session for non academic careers.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

Having coffee again after none for two months

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

had to switch into appropriate apparel for the #ACNP2020 LGBTQ+ networking session

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

would like to see societies move beyond just passing out buttons for #LGBTQstem folx and acting like that is solving the problem, when it is really the bare minimum effort. We need you to actually step up to the plate with advocacy and inclusion efforts at the government level.

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

day 1 of postdoc: done

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 months

Second year not traveling home for Christmas and my family has escalated to constructing a shrine to me? There is currently a candle burning in my name??

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

1 month

Our paper ( @JanakLab ) on central amygdala encoding and regulation of alcohol and reward consumption is out in early access at @iScience_CP ! Lick entrainment, preference, choice, and more!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

If you are attending #SfN19 and identify as LGBTQ+, would you attend a LGBTQ+ Social? We (myself @rodriguez_lion @djottenheimer ) are trying to gauge interest as we start planning. Tentative name: C. Elegans-a Extravaganza: An SfN LGBTQ+ Meet-up. Please RT!

Yes!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

don’t ever work for people like this. unbelievable.

Jonathan Kipnis 💔

@jonykipnis

4 years

Social distancing is crucial. But do we really need to shut down research labs? For some postdocs/young PIs this could be catastrophic. Biomedical research isn’t ‘dispensable’ and there are alternative measures. Wearing protective gear? Dividing lab into non-overlapping ‘shifts’?

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

shocked that rupaul would dare steal my fall/winter 2020 look of wearing thorlabs laser safety glasses at all times just in case #trendsetter

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

This was phenomenal and I urge everyone to watch the webcast if you missed. Excellent points made continuously and good ideas of what we can do to effect change. Please @SfNtweets we want more of this! #SfNDiversity #BLMandNeuro

Society for Neuroscience (SfN)

@SfNtweets

4 years

👋 Hey don’t miss today’s panel discussion, “Black Lives Matter and Neuroscience: Why This Moment Matters.” From noon – 1 p.m. EDT. Neuroscience is stronger with diverse perspectives and we want to hear yours. Join us! #BLMandNeuro #SfNDiversity

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

😊😊😊

RSoA

@RSAposts

4 years

Congratulations! 2020 Gordis Research Recognition Award Student Finalist: KURT FRASER, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore: ENCODING AND ENHANCEMENT OF THE MOTIVATION TO CONSUME ALCOHOL BY THE CENTRAL NUCLEUS OF THE AMYGDALA

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

6 years

Really honored! Thanks everyone!

The Janak Lab

@JanakLab

6 years

The @JanakLab is so happy for @Kurt_Fraser , winner of our department's graduate research prize, the Robert S. Waldrop Jr. Investigator Award, for excellence in research along the way to the thesis. Congratulations!!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 months

Finally published - our ( @bridgetjchen @JanakLab ) paper exploring striatal dopamine and neural activity to action sequence performance

Nucleus accumbens and dorsal medial striatal dopamine and neural activity are essential for action...

Separable striatal circuits have unique functions in Pavlovian and instrumental behaviors but how these roles relate to performance of sequences of actions with and without associated cues are less...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

7 years

Paper accepted! Happy Fourth of July!

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

Worldwide Neuroscience Seminars on Addiction ( @worldwideneuro ) returns with a great lineup taking us through winter. Join us Sep 23 for Brigitte Kieffer "The mu opioid receptor and addiction" @ 9AM PST, 12noon EST, 6pm CET. Lineup and more info at

Neurobiology of Addiction

Discover and attend scientific events organized by Neurobiology of Addiction on World Wide Neuro 🔆

www.world-wide.org

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

3 years

finally secured a berkeley apartment....lets go girls

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

first conference in person in 2 years and I opened my poster tube to find it's someone's organic chemistry poster! sorry yall #basalgangliaGRC hopefully I can get it reprinted by the actual conference 😂

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

8 months

👀 #FluorescenceFriday

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

2 years

It’s the weekend innit?

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

4 years

Just made up the table of contents and abstract for my dissertation 😳

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Kurt Fraser

@Kurt_Fraser

5 years

I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired but had the most incredible time at #grccatecholamines and #amygdalagrc and preliminary data suggests the combo is great for your skin as seen in this selfie on the way to lobster. Formal analysis to follow on impact of 14 days of Gordon