Writing Together Online offers structured time to help you spring into writing and stay focused this semester. We offer writing sessions every workday, Monday through Friday. Join our daily 90-minute writing sessions and become part of a community of scholars who connect online, set realistic goals, and write together in the spirit of accountability and camaraderie. The program is open to all MIT students, postdocs, faculty, staff, and affiliates who are working on papers, proposals, thesis/dissertation chapters, application materials, and other writing projects. For more information and to register, go to this link or check the WCC website. Please spread the word and join with colleagues and friends.Register for Spring 2025 Writing Challenge 1Choose those sessions that you want to attend during Challenge 1: February 10th through March 21stMondays 9:00–10:30amTuesdays 8–9:30am and 9:30–11amWednesdays 9:00–10:30amThursdays 8–9:30am and 9:30–11amFridays 8–9:30am and 9:30–11amMIT Students and postdocs who attend at least 5 sessions per challenge will be entered into a raffle of three $25 Amazon gift cards. The raffle will take place on Friday, March 21st. The more you participate, the more times you will be entered into the raffle of prizes.For more information and to register, check the WCC website. Please spread the word and join with peers and friends.The funding support for this program comes from the Office of Graduate Education

The February sessions will be held on Zoom.Meet other expecting and first time parents of infants under one year to connect, share information, and support each other. Bring your concerns, questions, and experiences to the group. And of course, your babies are welcome! This peer led group is organized by MS&PC members Kathrin and Maria.Contact Kathrin hauserkathrin1994@gmail.com or Maria maria.korompili24@gmail.com for more information.

Title: Amygdala projections to the pons promote motor programs of ingestionSpeaker Andrew Lutas, PhD Stadtman Investigator Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health,Abstract Overconsumption of energy-dense, palatable food leads to obesity. We investigated neural circuit mechanisms that allow for the overconsumption of food despite visceral satiety signals. Hypothalamic and amygdala inhibitory circuits targeting the hindbrain can drive motor programs of ingestion. Here we focused on a projection from the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) to the pons region of the hindbrain, where CeA targets the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) that relays visceral sensory signals as well as the nearby premotor circuits that control orofacial behaviors. Using fiber photometry and two-photon microscopy, we recorded the activity of CeA GABAergic axons within the pons. These axons were highly active during bouts of ingestion, with activity levels correlated to the duration of each bout and did not dependent on physiological state or palatability, suggesting that this pathway modulates consummatory behaviors. Optogenetic activation of CeA to pons axons in head-fixed animals triggered distinct orofacial motor behaviors, including licking and biting, as well as excessive drinking of any available liquid, regardless of palatability. In freely moving, ad libitum-fed mice, photostimulation induced biting, chewing, and swallowing which led to overconsumption of food when the stimulation occurred nearby, but not away from, food. Recordings of dopaminergic input to the CeA suggest a role for dopamine in modulating these consumption-correlated neural activity. Together, these findings support a model that CeAàPons photostimulation enables a state of orofacial behavioral disinhibition that remains controlled by external and internal contextual cues.Bio Dr. Lutas is a Stadtman tenure-track investigator at NIH since 2022 where he is a member of the Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch and the acting chief of the Neuromodulation and Motivation Section. He received his PhD in Neurobiology from Harvard University, conducting his research with Dr. Gary Yellen. There he investigated the regulation of ion channels and neuronal excitability by cellular metabolism and found that the sodium leak channel NaLCN is regulated by glycolysis to control intrinsic spontaneous firing rates. For his postdoc research, he joined Dr. Mark Anderman at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he focused on amygdala cellular and circuit mechanisms for associative learning finding a role for unsigned dopamine signaling in learning salience. In the process, he helped develop new optical and behavioral approaches to study G Protein-Coupled Receptor signaling via the cAMP pathway. His lab at NIH now uses these molecular and system neuroscience tools to study amygdala and hindbrain circuits controlling ingestion.

Speakers: Deb Hughes Hallet (Harvard Kennedy School and University of Arizona)Title: Fostering engagement through interdisciplinary projects, collaborative teams, and scaffolded autonomy: Making math for everyone (and especially for engineers)Abstract: How do we approach students who do not see mathematics as useful? Who are afraid of it? This talk will describe how to we can engage them in quantitative thinking by “teaching backward”. Using examples, I will show how starting with stories, we can often get students to grab onto the mathematics. Then they may surprise themselves by how far they get.For more information on OLSUME: https://olsume.org/ Zoom link: https://cornell.zoom.us/j/92415199317, passcode olsume

Want to get exercise mid-day but don’t want to go outside? Join the tunnel walk for a 30-minute walk led by a volunteer through MIT’s famous tunnel system. This walk may include stairs/inclines. Wear comfortable shoes. Free.Location details: Meet in the lobby with the big mirror, right inside the Collier Memorial entrance to Stata. Location photo below.Tunnel Walk Leaders will have a white flag they will raise at the meeting spot for you to find them.Prize Drawing: Attend a walk and scan a QR code from the walk leaders to be entered into a drawing for a getfit tote bag at the end of the getfit challenge. The more walks you attend, the more entries you get. Winner will be drawn and notified at the end of April. Winner does not need to be a getfit participant.Disclaimer: Tunnel walks are led by volunteers. In the rare occasion when a volunteer isn’t able to make it, we will do our best to notify participants. In the event we are unable to notify participants and a walk leader does not show up, we encourage you to walk as much as you feel comfortable doing so. We recommend checking this calendar just before you head out! [As of Feb 12, this calendar is defaulting to the year 1899. Click "today" to be brought to the current month.]Getfit is a 12-week fitness challenge for the entire MIT community. These tunnel walks are open to the entire MIT community and you do not need to be a current getfit participant to join.