Epilepsy researcher and educator. When I’m not in the lab or classroom, I’m out on the trails with my golden sidekick, Beto, researching new adventures.
Joined October 2012
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Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
My lab is currently recruiting a MSc or PhD student with experience in slice electrophysiology to study hippocampal circuit dysfunction in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder (field potentials, whole cell patch, optogenetics). Please reach out if interested! #neurojobs
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
A startling study suggests that at least one in four NFL players develops CTE, but doctors still can’t identify it in living athletes.
Learn more: scim.ag/4gUdStk
ALT How does football cause brain disease—and why is it so hard to diagnose?
New publication: Our study shows that GFAP protein cleavage and complement C3 activation within astrocytes occur during epileptogenesis, highlighting potential markers of astrocyte stress and disease progression.
link.springer.com/article/10…
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
We are hiring a research assistant for the lab! Are you interested in stress biology and the search for better cellular protectants? Want to be a part of an energetic, collegial group? Apply here and spread the word! smu.taleo.net/careersection/…
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
So proud of this paper led by Conor Dorian, in collaboration with Jiannis Taxidis and Ahmet Arac where we used 2P opto and calcium imaging to show BTSP creating non-spatial representations in hippocampus during working memory task performance. nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
Closing out the academic year 2025-26 with our lab group photo. Grateful for the progress, collaboration, the occasional cooperative dataset, and these amazing students.
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Females are still commonly left out of animal studies—and studies that include them often fail to analyze results by sex, according to a new study. scim.ag/4ucDLZ0
Our new publication finds that the severity of status epilepticus maps onto distinct hippocampal proteomic changes. Severe seizures caused broad molecular disruptions, while even mild seizures triggered changes that may be linked to epileptogenesis.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4197…
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Epilepsy is most common in older adults and has a bidirectional relationship with dementia. Sen et al. explore tau pathology as a potential underlying mechanism, drawing on biochemical findings, animal models and human epileptic syndromes. shorturl.at/PaW2E
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
We have 2 Research Tech positions to support research related to mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders: careers.chop.edu/us/en/job/1… Please share the link. This would be great for a few years prior to applying to MD, PhD, or MD/PhD programs, or transitioning to industry.
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Woah. This is a bleak outlook.
Excellent analysis by @Jori_health shows the NIH grants being hit hardest are the very ones designed to bring new scientists into the system - small R, R21s, and K awards.
Dismantling the system one generation at a time.
The cuts aren’t random. They’re targeting on-ramps.
When we zoom into 2026 funding decline by mechanism, the deepest cuts land on new ideas entering the system:
▪️Small R (R03 / R15) ↓81%
▪️R21 exploratory grants ↓73%
▪️Other high-variance mechanisms ↓70%+
If you want to stall science, this is exactly how.
Meanwhile, among other news:
▪️R01s ↓47%
▪️R37 MERIT ↓40%
In other words, the earliest-stage bets are being starved first.
When the on-ramps close, the damage shows up later:
↓ pilot data
↓ resubmissions that mature into R01s
↓ new labs surviving their early years
↓ shared cores that support entire departments
↓ discoveries that ever reach trials
So much remains unanswered.
This week we’re digging deeper:
-which disease areas rely most on these mechanisms
-which institutions are most exposed
-where the first downstream breaks appear (trials, screening, imaging, prevention, survivorship)
If you run a lab, grants office, or cancer center, tell us what cut you want.
Source: NIH RePORTER via @Jori_health
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Federal funding for US biomedical research is moribund.
Since October 1 2025, NIH is -80% in new grants and -70% in values (total dollars).
Labs are closing down and researchers are leaving science.
To what end?
Our lab is officially astrocyte curious, starting with complement C3 after status epilepticus, a simple but very intriguing finding! Check out our new preprint. researchsquare.com/article/r…
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Researchers: have you seen the NIH Highlighted Topics resource yet? Plan your next application by exploring areas of science of interest to NIH. Learn more 🔎 grants.nih.gov/funding/find-…
ALT Your next NIH grant application starts here - find a fit for your research with Highlighted Topics
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Microglia (👇green) are the brain's immune cells
#URochesterResearch finds these cells may drive more damage in females than males with #Alzheimers
📰link.springer.com/article/10…
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Severity-dependent proteomic alterations in the rat hippocampus following pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus biorxiv.org/content/10.64898… #biorxiv_neursci
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Sample Size Calculation in Scientific Studies
🏎️ frontiersin.org/journals/med…
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
New Alzheimer’s Mutation Weakens Brain’s Immune Defense
Researchers have discovered that a mutation in the TREM2 gene, known as T96K, paradoxically increases Alzheimer’s disease risk by overactivating microglia—the brain’s immune cells.
Instead of enhancing protection, the overactive TREM2 mutation disrupts the microglia’s ability to clear toxic amyloid plaques that accumulate in the brain.
The effect was particularly pronounced in female mice, whose microglia became less responsive to amyloid buildup.
These findings reveal that too much TREM2 activity can be just as harmful as too little, reshaping how scientists approach Alzheimer’s therapies.
ALT This shows neurons.
Dr. Amy L. Brewster, PhD retweeted
Check out new work from our lab! We developed a new way to directly control the precise timing of interneurons during behavior and found that theta phase locking is a causal mediator of seizure susceptibility in both healthy and epileptic mice.
