Neuroendocrinology

Investigate extracellular vesicles, inter-tissue communication and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes within the integrative physiology environment. Combine cellular and molecular experiments with omics approaches to understand mechanisms of metabolic regulation. This full-time research specialist position covers an approximately one-year leave period. Apply through the university recruitment portal by 15 October 2026.

Emily Jacobs will examine how endocrine transitions such as the circadian cycle, menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause reshape the human brain. The talk combines precision brain imaging with a review of research, policy, and funding efforts intended to close persistent gaps in women's brain-health evidence.

Join Zhichao Zhou’s research at BioClinicum to investigate red-blood-cell signalling and vascular complications of type 2 diabetes. The project studies noncoding RNA and related mechanisms using clinical material, rodent models, cell culture, extracellular vesicles and vascular functional assays. Methods include myography, immunohistochemistry, immunoblotting and quantitative PCR. The position is full time and temporary. Apply online by 14 October 2026 with the documents specified in the employer’s advert.

This FAPESP-funded position connects animal and comparative physiology with science education. The fellow will identify concepts suitable for young audiences, develop children’s or youth narratives about animals with extreme physiological capabilities, pilot the material in schools, and evaluate understanding and reception. Expected outputs include an educational work and an original science-education publication. Apply by 30 October 2026 using the instructions on the official advertisement, with a curriculum summary, recommendation, cover letter and research proposal of up to two pages.

This invited full-application stage funds mechanistic human research into why biomedical prevention interventions work differently across people. Projects must test an experimental intervention or challenge in pre-disease or early-disease states, focus on a mechanistic hypothesis and use validated biological readouts to improve the targeting and effectiveness of precision-prevention strategies. Applicants must already have submitted the mandatory expression of interest and been invited to apply. Projects may request up to £5 million in full economic cost over five years; MRC normally funds 80%. Invited applications close on 5 November 2026 at 16:00 UK time.

In the quest for survival, animals constantly adapt their behaviours to environmental cues, internal states, and experiences. This process involves allocating cognitive resources in the brain to promote relevant behaviours while inhibiting others. Despite recent progress in understanding biological mechanisms behind behavioural prioritization, there is still a gap in comprehending neuronal and molecular mechanisms governing the capacity to rank and prioritize competing needs. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT), produced in the paraventricular nucleus(PVN) and supraoptic nucleus(SON) of the hypothalamus, is a potential mediator of behavioural prioritization. OXT modulates social, emotional, and reward processing behaviours and has appetite-suppressing effects, suggesting its involvement in shifting attention and prioritizing behaviour.We investigated the influence of physiological conditions, particularly social and food requirements, on need preference in adult CD1 male mice. We used the Social versus Food Preference test and manipulated social needs through housing conditions and physiological needs via food deprivation. We observed that both groups of mice initially preferred social rewards, but as caloric needs increased,group-housed mice shifted toward food rewards during deprivation, while single-housed mice maintained an equal preference for both social and food rewards. Using immunofluorescence, we examined patterns of neuronal activity in brain regions implicated in reward processing and stress regulation. Our data suggest a correlation between PVN-OXT activity and preferred reward type. The SON-OXT neurons also showed elevated activity but was independent of preferred reward. Although further characterization is required, our data suggests OXT system involvement in mediating the preference between competing social and food needs in mice.

The hypothalamus controls diverse homeostatic functions including fertility. Neural episode generators are required to drive the intermittent pulsatile and surge profiles of reproductive hormone secretion that control gonadal function. Studies in genetic mouse models have been fundamental in defining the neural circuits forming these central pattern generators and the full range of in vitro and in vivo optogenetic and chemogenetic methodologies have enabled investigation into their mechanism of action. The seminar will outline studies defining the hypothalamic “GnRH pulse generator network” and current understanding of its operation to drive pulsatile hormone secretion.

Join Frederick Wasinski’s research at EPM-Unifesp in São Paulo on obesity-related metabolic changes, neuroinflammation and brain function. Training covers experimental models, metabolic and behavioural assessment, molecular assays and data analysis. Send the documents specified on the source page by 30 September 2026; shortlisted applicants are interviewed.

Cardiac vagal motor drive originates in the brainstem's cardiac vagal motor neurons (CVNs). Despite well-established cardioinhibitory functions in health, our understanding of CVNs in disease is limited. There is a clear connection of cardiovascular regulation with metabolic and energy expenditure systems. Using high fat diet as a model, this talk will explore how metabolic dysfunction impacts the regulation of cardiac tissue through robust inhibition of CVNs. Specifically, it will present an often overlooked modality of inhibition, tonic gamma-aminobuytric acid (GABA) A-type neurotransmission using an array of techniques from single cell patch clamp electrophysiology to transgenic in vivo whole animal physiology. It also will highlight a unique interaction with the delta isoform of protein kinase C to facilitate GABA A-type receptor expression.