The Betley lab at Penn is focused on understanding how signaling between the body and the brain control our needs and behaviors and ultimately our health.
Philadelphia, PA
Joined December 2024
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The most fun hour of my week!
I had the privilege to join @MarkMattson’s podcast “BRAIN PONDERINGS” this week!
youtube.com/watch?v=4e7bpAgG…
There are many insightful discussions with world leaders on this podcast – a treasure trove of information!
Excited to share a recent national geographic article on the brain and exercise that highlights our research! Super grateful to Bethany Brookshire for her enthusiastic, tireless, and thoughtful article.
nationalgeographic.com/healt…
Thanks to Nathi Magubane and the Penn Today team for the write up on our recent study!
We are excited to see where this leads!
penntoday.upenn.edu/news/no-…
Thanks for highlighting our work – we realized that the brain was central to exercise when we first observed how active it becomes after exercise.
This study is already my candidate for “coolest scientific finding of the year.”
It finds that the brain—specifically a set of neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH)—is a key intermediate for improvements in endurance capacity.
1. Exercise strengthens inputs to and increases the activity of these SF1 neurons in the VMH.
2. Activation of SF1 neurons following exercise is required to improve endurance.
3. Exogenous activation of SF1 neurons following exercise enhances endurance gains (while inhibition of them diminishes adaptations).
🧠🏃New in Neuron (open access): “Exercise-induced activation of VMH SF1 neurons mediates improvements in endurance”
Finally able to share what we learned about the brain & exercise 🧵
With repeated training, this VMH SF1 circuit strengthens (anatomically + physiologically).
This increase in post-exercise activity of SF1 neurons is required for endurance improvements.
Read the full report 📄 cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S08…
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.12.033
Congrats to first authors Morgan Kindel & Ryan Post + all collaborators!
#Neuron #Neuroscience #Exercise
The Betley Lab at UPenn retweeted
Exercise pumps up your muscles — but it might also be pumping up your neurons
go.nature.com/4qxrMmC
This is your brain.
This is your brain on exercise.
This dataset collected over 5 years ago captivated our neuroscience lab.
We found a massive upregulation of neural activity (via Fos, indicated by more red) throughout the brain! In the video, you can see the brainwide changes observed in an exercised animal compared to a sedentary control.
What’s brewing in the Betley Lab at UPenn? ☕️🧠 Thrilled to welcome Elisa Caffrey! Elisa studies fermented foods and the microbes/metabolites they produce—how do they shape our bodies and brains after we eat? Excited for this new frontier!
The gut isn’t just digestion! It is a sensory organ that reports our internal state to the brain in real time. In our new Neuron review, we dive into “intestinal interoception”: how gut signals tune physiology + behavior.
Where this gets exciting: we outline steps toward “interoceptomimetics”, aka molecular interventions designed to stimulate the right body↔brain signaling and restore organismal balance.
Always fun to collaborate with the Thaiss Lab and excited about what’s next. If you’re interested in how the gut rapidly sends health signals to the brain, read the review: authors.elsevier.com/c/1mUfe… #gutbrainaxis #interoception