Tobias Ackels
@tobiasackels.bsky.social
Asst. Prof. at the University of Bonn, Germany. Interested in sensory neurophysiology and behaviour with a focus on olfaction
📢Apply now! Join our IMPRS for Brain&Behavior to pursue a #PhD in #neuroethology. Learn how brain circuits are linked to interesting animal behaviors! 📅 Deadline: October 15, 2026 🔗 imprs-brain-behavior.mpg.de #neuroscience #Neuroskyence #neurojobs #sciencejobs #PhDsky #PhDOffers #FundedPhD
Very happy to share that I've been awarded tenure at the Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn. Thank you to all my mentors, collaborators, colleagues, and friends for your support along the way. A special thank you to the outstanding team in my lab. Here's to the next chapter!
We're hiring! 🚀 Postdoctoral Fellow — Context-Dependent Learning in the Olfactory Bulb 🧠🧪 BBSRC-funded project at Leeds using 2-photon imaging🔬 to uncover how learning reshapes odour coding. Neuroscience PhD + in vivo recording experience? Apply: jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... #Postdoc #Olfaction
Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Research Fellow in Neuroscience
Overview of the RoleAre you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have an established background in Neuroscience? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leadin...
jobs.leeds.ac.uk
🐸 Postdoc Position (m/f/d) in Neurobiology! The project focuses on how smell shapes feeding behavior in poison frogs and is conducted in collaboration with Prof. Jennifer Stynoski (Costa Rica). 🌎🌿 . For more information and to apply, please use the link below. www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns...
Research Associate / Postdoctoral Researcher (m/f/d) “Olfactory Control of Behavior in Amphibians”
uni-giessen.de
Check out the newest Neuroforum issue of the German Neuroscience Society and learn more about the members of the MODOLFOR research unit 5424 "Modulation in Olfaction" and their scientific interests (in German): nwg-info.de/sites/nwg-in...
🚨 Preprint alert! 🚨 How does the olfactory bulb transform overlapping sensory inputs into representations that are easier to distinguish? New study by Sina Tootoonian, Yikai Yang, @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk and myself. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... A short 🧵 below
biorxiv.org
Our work on the perception of intermittent odor stimuli out in @natcomms.nature.com! Led by @luxorboero.bsky.social & former grad student Hao Wu; key contributions from @btolooshams.bsky.social, @siddjakes.bsky.social, @paulmasset.bsky.social, @josephdzak.bsky.social, Farhad Pashakhanloo, Demba Ba.
Perception and neural representation of intermittent odor stimuli in mice - Nature Communications
Animals navigate odor plumes by exploiting dynamic and intermittent cues. Here, the authors show that mice can discriminate among different fluctuating odor signals, and characterize their neural enco...
nature.com
Excited to see our paper describing a stereotyped receptor map for smell (led by @davidhbrann.bsky.social ) out in the world! See below for short thread with open access link to paper www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/s...
Scientists Unveil ‘Long Lost’ Map for Smell
nytimes.com
When it comes to sensory processing, cortex should not get all the credit... In olfaction, a key challenge is identifying odors regardless of concentration. Our new paper in @natneuro.nature.com shows how the olfactory bulb performs this crucial computation before signals even reach the cortex.
Academic friends, It's beyond heartbreaking to watch what's unfolding in Iran & the region. A few of us drafted an open letter calling for protection of civilians & of educational, research, medical & cultural institutions. Please read & sign if you agree: sites.google.com/view/protect... #IranWar
Protect Academic Life in Iran
We, the undersigned academics and researchers from around the world, express our profound concern over recent military strikes on Iran, the retaliatory responses, and the reported impact on civilian l...
sites.google.com
Registration and abstract submission for our symposium Naturalistic Neuroscience – from perception to action and back (University of Bonn 28-29 May 2026) is no open! www.nn2026.uni-bonn.de/en/registrat... #NN2026 @unibonn.bsky.social #naturalisticneuroscience #neuroscience #symposium #cfa
Registration
nn2026.uni-bonn.de
Postdoc position in systems neuroscience! Excited to recruit a postdoc for my lab at the University of Bonn. 🔬 In vivo physiology (Neuropixels, 2P/miniscope) 🐭 Head-fixed & freely moving behaviour 💡 Optogenetics/chemogenetics ⏳ Start: ASAP | Application deadline: 28.02.2026 More info below ⬇️
Projection-specific Routing of Odor Information in the Olfactory Cortex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694045v1
PhD position in systems neuroscience! Excited to start a new DFG-funded project together with @obarnstedt.bsky.social to study olfactory–spatial coding in CA1. 🔬 Dual-colour miniscope Ca2+ imaging 🐭 Freely moving behaviour & optogenetics ⏳ Start: April 2026 | Deadline: 31.01.2026 More info below ⬇️
Looking for a postdoc to understand dynamic vision in action in freely moving mice? Get in touch! This is a @erc.europa.eu postdoc in a project between us and @sinzlab.bsky.social: miniature 2-photon, rich behavior tracking, and deep learning models linking natural behavior to cortical activity|RT
Fabian Sinz@sinzlab.bsky.social · 10mo ago🔬 Exciting PostDoc Opportunity! 🐁🧠 We - the @sinzlab.bsky.social (sinzlab.org) and @trose-neuro.bsky.social (troselab.de) Labs - are seeking an experimental postdoc to work at @unibonn.bsky.social with cutting-edge miniature 2-photon microscopy and gaze tracking in freely behaving mice.
Out today in Nature: We uncover a neural mechanism for the integration of two internal states - hunger and estrous state - and how this integration shapes pup-directed behaviors in mice. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Integration of hunger and hormonal state gates infant-directed aggression - Nature
Combined behavioural, circuit-level and cellular approaches are used to demonstrate how hypothalamic neurons integrate hunger and oestrous state to drive a switch in how female mice interact with pups...
nature.com
📢Apply now! Join our IMPRS for Brain&Behavior to pursue a #PhD in #neuroethology. Learn how brain circuits are linked to interesting animal behaviors! 📅 Deadline: October 31, 2025 🔗 imprs-brain-behavior.mpg.de #neuroscience #Neuroskyence #neurojobs #sciencejobs #PhDsky #PhDOffers #FundedPhD
Thrilled to share this work, long time in the making! Carried through creatively by @siddjakes.bsky.social after initial design & piloting by @trackingskills.bsky.social, with help from @trackingactions.bsky.social. Modeling in collaboration with Massimo Vergassola & Nicola Rigolli.
Mice navigate scent trails using predictive policies
Animals actively sense their environment to extract features of interest to guide behaviors. For mammals, odors are prominent environmental features which are sampled by active modulation of sniffing ...
biorxiv.org
Animals’ sniffing drives rhythmic input to the olfactory system. How does this timing contribute to perception, especially beyond first steps of olfactory processing? We tested this using simple closed-loop optogenetics in our new paper: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Decoding olfactory bulb output: A behavioral assessment of rate, synchrony, and respiratory phase coding
Neurogenetics; Behavioral neuroscience; Sensory neuroscience
cell.com
Fun collaborative work together with the amazing lab of @sophiesteculorum.bsky.social now published!
Sophie Steculorum@sophiesteculorum.bsky.social · last yr.📢 🤩Excited to share our latest paper👃🧠! Huge thanks to the amazing first author @janice-bulk.bsky.social and all co-authors, especially @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social and @tobiasackels.bsky.social 🙌! www.nature.com/articles/s42...
🚨 Preprint alert! 🚨 Can mice estimate the distance to an odour source? New work led by Cristina Marin and colleagues, jointly supervised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social at the @crick.ac.uk and myself. Spoiler alert: Yes, they can! Read the paper here: bit.ly/43A9tF9 Short 🧵 below
A spatial code governs olfactory receptor choice and aligns sensory maps in the nose and brain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.02.651738v1
My PhD project is out as a preprint! We combined 2P and synchrotron X-ray to understand mouse olfactory bulb circuits, linking physiology to structure in 3 animals! doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🙌 @carlesbosch.bsky.social, @apacureanu.bsky.social, @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social, @esrf.fr, @crick.ac.uk
Now in its final form, our recent work on how olfactory transduction currents help ensure sparse sensory coding. Led by a post-bac Kai Clane Belonio and a graduate student, Eyerusalem Haile, this was a group effort by the entire laboratory. www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Amplification of Olfactory Transduction Currents Implements Sparse Stimulus Encoding
Sensory systems must perform the dual and opposing tasks of being sensitive to weak stimuli while also maintaining information content in dense and variable sensory landscapes. This occurs in the olfa...
jneurosci.org
Olfactory neuroscientists have known for a while that their stimuli stink. A new analysis illuminates the extent of the problem. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/olfaction/sm...
Smell studies often use unnaturally high odor concentrations, analysis reveals
It’s time to fashion olfactory neuroscience stimuli based on odor concentrations in the wild, say study investigators Elizabeth Hong and Matt Wachowiak.
thetransmitter.org
Excited to share the sequel to our 2022 paper! In this follow-up, we show that the stable head direction (HD) signals we reported in blind mice rely on stereo olfaction—that is, the comparison of odor info. between the two nostrils. Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵highlights below
Stereo olfaction underlies stable coding of head direction in blind mice - Nature Communications
Stereo olfaction involves comparing odor differences between the two nostrils. Here, using neuronal recordings and a behavioral test, the authors demonstrate that blind mice use stereo olfaction to fo...
nature.com
Tomorrow morning, March 29th at 11:30 am, check out Symposium 31 at #NWG2025 @neurowissg.bsky.social organized by MODOLFOR member Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social
Our Symposium takes place tomorrow at the Sternwarte in Göttingen. We are looking forward to exciting talks from @nawrot.bsky.social, @xenofrog.bsky.social, Lisa Scheunemann, Andre Fiala and Celine Riera. What a great start of the #NWG meeting @neurowissg.bsky.social
MODOLFOR@modolfor.bsky.social · 2y agoJoin us for the MODOLFOR Satellite Symposium on Modulation of Olfaction at the 16th Göttingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society in spring 2025 🐭🐝👃 @neurowissg.bsky.social
Meet our IMPRS faculty members at the German Neuroscience Society Meeting in Göttingen this week!
