Michael R. Bruchas

This study shows that acute stress reorganizes neural coupling in rMDD patients during decision-making, predicting future depressive symptoms.

This study identifies parabrachial oxytocin receptor neurons as critical for linking social observation of distress to defensive behaviors in mice.

This study identifies the physiological and behavioral conditions that trigger dopamine release from locus coeruleus axons, showing modality-dependent release constraints.

This study shows that enkephalin released in the amygdala during fear learning suppresses dopamine release, thereby constraining fear memory formation.

The paper maps whole-brain neural activity during emergence from isoflurane anesthesia in mice and finds selective subcortical activation rather than global cortical reactivation.

The paper identifies a stress-sensitive N/OFQ-containing neuronal population in the pnVTA and characterizes its functional inputs from the lateral hypothalamus.

The paper investigates how THC impairs mouse behavior by altering mPFC excitatory/inhibitory balance through endocannabinoid release.

The paper identifies diverse GABAergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) dendritic field that modulate arousal and behaviors through transcriptional, spatial, and functional diversity.

This study shows that chronic stress alters Pnoc expression in reward-related brain regions and that NOPR antagonism improves reward learning and motivation in animals and humans.

This study identifies a brain-wide neural ensemble involved in anesthesia-induced unconsciousness, with the lateral parabrachial nucleus as a central hub.

This study shows that prolonged norepinephrine release in the dentate gyrus during stress aids in contextual disambiguation without a salient aversive stimulus.

This study investigates the role of endocannabinoids in reward-seeking behavior through thalamo-striatal circuits using in vivo and machine learning methods.

The paper identifies striosomal populations in the dorsal striatum expressing Pnoc mRNA, which are dopamine receptor D1-expressing medium spiny neurons with direct projections to midbrain dopamine neurons.

This study shows dynorphin modulates motivation via a pallido-amygdala cholinergic circuit by both disinhibiting and autoinhibiting cholinergic transmission in mice.

This paper develops a genetically encoded sensor, NOPLight, to detect endogenous N/OFQ release with high spatial and temporal resolution in vitro and in vivo.

This study shows that locus coeruleus norepinephrine (LCNE) activity is coupled to movement initiation and arrest during waking and anesthesia, revealing its role in coordinating arousal and motor activity.

This study identifies an insular-claustral opioid circuit that stress modulates to influence hedonic feeding through KOR signaling and prodynorphin-expressing neurons.

This paper identifies a unique population of glutamatergic supramammillary nucleus neurons that are recruited by threatening stressors and promote active coping behaviors.

This paper identifies PdCO as a bistable GPCR with high temporal precision for optogenetic control of neural circuits in vivo.

This study identifies the role of endogenous dynorphin release in the dorsal striatum in regulating goal-directed behavior through retrograde GPCR inhibition.

This paper introduces a microfluidic and fluorescence platform for in vivo neuropharmacology, enabling drug delivery and neural activity monitoring in rodent brains.

This study shows that specific BLA neuronal ensembles control valence-specific behavior, with their activity shifting behavioral responses toward appetitive or aversive actions.

The paper investigates how catecholamine signaling is affected by activity levels, showing that high tonic activity reduces phasic transmission and desensitizes responses.

The paper introduces OHRBETS, an open-source platform for head-fixed behavioral experiments in mice, demonstrating operant conditioning and dopamine signaling during reward tasks.

The paper identifies how specific neurons in the medial accumbens shell encode reward preference and show distinct roles in driving reward behavior.

This study identifies itch-activated neurons in the central amygdala (CeA) and their role in itch sensation, avoidance, and comorbidities like anxiety, using RNA-sequencing and viral tracing.

This paper introduces parapinopsin (PPO), a photoswitchable GPCR-based opsin that enables rapid and reversible presynaptic inhibition, and demonstrates its utility in vivo.

This paper demonstrates that TRPV1 can be used for noninvasive, cell-type specific, and spatiotemporally controlled modulation of mammalian brain activity using focused ultrasound.

The paper identifies PBN neurons expressing Dyn, Enk, and VGLUT2 that project to the POA and are critical for heat defense behaviors and physiology.

The paper identifies BNST-PBN neural circuits that modulate feeding by integrating threat assessment and feeding drive.