Now accepted and published --- with many thanks to the referees for helping sharpen the manuscript. Long time since the first notes. Good to see it officially out. www.cell.com/current-biol...

A vector navigation and inference architecture can construct universal cognitive maps for abstract reasoning

Bicanski proposes an algorithm and neural mechanisms for the iterative construction of abstract cognitive maps via non-local inference. Map positions are triangulated and memorized by a set of extant ...

cell.com

Andrej Bicanski@andrejbicanski.bsky.social · 7mo ago

1/N: Dear cognitive map fans, I’d like to share a model I’ve been working on for a while (clearing backlog :). I show how a vector navigation architecture (VNA) and a “positional inference network” (PIN) can build Universal Cognitive Maps (UCMs) for abstract spaces. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The heatwave is finally over - just in time for our “Frosty Foci” to finally come online! ❄️🦠 We found that E. coli builds a transient nucleolus-like ribosome biogenesis compartment during cold adaptation, when RNA (mis)folding makes ribosome biogenesis challenging.

We’re hiring two postdocs! Join our Lab @unibirmingham.bsky.social to uncover how the brain resolves behavioural conflicts. Deadline: 22 September 2026 @wellcometrust.bsky.social Please share! www.rezavallab.org

Home

​ ​Animals must make crucial behavioural choices on a minute by minute basis to survive in a changing environment. A long-standing enigma is, how are alternative options evaluated in the brain...

rezavallab.org

The first Danionella paper from the lab. Danionella cerebrum is transparent, so you can see all of the internal organs. But what sensory information are the organs sending to the brain? In our new preprint, Emily Bayer wanted to find out. 1/4 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Imaging of activity in the telencephalon of adult zebrafish moving through a virtual reality revealed amazingly precise, structured internal representations of spatial environments. And they get better over time! Great work by Kim! Thanks also to Sriram and Jan. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Dynamic cognitive representations in the dorsal pallium of adult zebrafish

Brains rely on internal models of the world to interpret sensory input and to simulate the future. In the mammalian hippocampal-entorhinal network, environments are represented by cognitive maps that ...

biorxiv.org

I’m very excited to share our new paper, led by the very talented Jack Bowler, a postdoc in the lab! www.nature.com/articles/s41... We all know that the way we learn something matters. But how does a training curriculum actually shape how the brain learns to solve a problem? a 🧵 1/N

Structured experience shapes strategy learning and neural dynamics in the medial entorhinal cortex - Nature Neuroscience

The authors use recurrent neural networks to predict how structured prior experience shapes neural dynamics as mice learn flexible timing strategies during complex context-dependent behavior.

nature.com

Supper happy to see this published. In short, we show how dendrites and inhibition allow neural circuits to learn new representations while protecting representations that are already stored in the network. See below for a detailed post by @cmiehl.bsky.social: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This is a fantastic opportunity to work with a visionary and kind mentor!

Carolina Rezaval@crezaval.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We’re recruiting postdocs! Join our @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded programme 'Decoding competition in the brain'. How does the brain resolve competing needs and prioritise behaviour? 📅 Deadline: 1 September Apply: rezavallab.org Please share! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSM781/r...

I am proud of this paper. Since it came out in 2022 it has received 0 citations (yes that's a zero). But multiple young scientists have found it useful! (from other labs, so they were not coerced...). Perhaps you will find it useful too? SOME TIPS FOR WRITING SCIENCE doi.org/10.1523/ENEU...

Some Tips for Writing Science

When preparing a scientific paper, we typically write with coauthors who have different backgrounds and styles, and we target readers who have little time and patience. To help both readers and writer...

doi.org

Excited to share our discovery of a convergent mechanism for cognitive restoration and seizure suppression in neurodevelopment disorders in Nature (Open Access www.nature.com/articles/s41...). Led by two amazing neuroscientists, @yutzushih.bsky.social and @jasonalipio.bsky.social + a great team 1/2

Out now in @science.org : How does the brain rapidly scan space to guide navigation? We found that the brain’s internal map is continuously retuned from moment to moment, focusing neural activity on what matters most. 🧵1/8 👉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Adaptive modulation of theta sweeps in the brain’s navigation circuit

Efficient navigation requires prioritizing information from behaviorally relevant locations. In rats, such selective sampling may arise from theta-paced sweeps in grid and place cell populations, whic...

science.org

Announcing #engramsensembles '27, to be held at @tcddublin next May. Registration and abstract submission will open in autumn 2026.

Tomás Ryan@tjryan.bsky.social · last yr.

Slán go fóill - we look forward to welcoming you all back to Dublin for the 3rd installment in May 2027 #engramsandensembles

🚀 New preprint 🥳 Fantastic work by our recent PhD graduate Daan ! How are mRNPs remodeled as they exit the nucleus? We identify PAIP1 as a factor that promotes exchange of the nuclear poly(A)-binding protein PABPN1 for cytoplasmic PABPC1, coupling mRNA export to cytoplasmic mRNP maturation.

bioRxiv Molecular Biology@biorxiv-molbio.bsky.social · 2mo ago

PAIP1 couples mRNA export to cytoplasmic mRNP remodeling and poly(A) homeostasis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.31.742013v1

The apical dendrite looks great, and does wonders in a slice. What does it do in the living cortex? It depends on the cell. A causal spatial role for apical dendrites in the cortex www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... by @anyiliu.bsky.social with @kenneth-harris.bsky.social and @fedrossi.bsky.social

Finally out in @natneuro.nature.com! A forgotten memory isn't always gone. We show that forgotten memories persist as silent memory traces, can be recovered by reminders, and can even be reconstructed into false memories. Excited to finally share this work! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧠 A new paper from our lab is out! In this study, we explore how dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) circuits modulate forebrain activity and behavior. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Topographically organized dorsal raphe activity modulates forebrain sensory-motor representations and contributes to defensive behaviors - Nature Communications

Functional heterogeneity of dorsal raphe nucleus is not fully understood. Here authors show topographically organized sensory and locomotor responses from the zebrafish dorsal raphe and its forebrain ...

nature.com

I’m excited to share our latest preprint, and the main work from my PhD, on the role of the direct entorhinal input in hippocampus CA1 spatial coding. 1/9

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The emergence of a novel CA1 spatial map requires direct entorhinal input https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.02.736055v1

Welcome to the 15 newly selected #FENSKavliScholars! Representing 12 European countries, they join a network of 30 Scholars across 21 countries and 25 nationalities. 🧠✨With thanks to @fens.org, @kavlifoundation.org, @alleninstitute.org and our partners for supporting FKNE. h1.nu/1t8Lw

📍 @fens.org Tuesday, 14:00 *Poster: PS02-07PM-070 📍 @infantstudies.bsky.social Thursday, 16:45 *Symposium 8.6: Development of memory encoding, consolidation and retrieval in infants 📍 @fitngin.bsky.social I am hiring at the PhD/postdoc level, if you might be interested please come say hey

Better late than never... an update on the recent work from the lab. First of all, the Foundation: @astridd93.bsky.social phenomenal paper on the evolution of layering in the cerebral cortex 🧵1/7 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Really excited about this work with the awesome Will de Cothi & @shipleysj.bsky.social, out in Nature Reviews Neuroscience. We propose acetylcholine is an analogue of dopamine — tracking not reward prediction errors but state-transition prediction errors. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-026-01058-w

Please RP! Excited to share our new preprint: “Single-cell chromatin tracing reveals multimodal molecular programs during memory formation” We built a single-cell multiomic atlas of aversive learning and used it to trace memory-linked molecular programs. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Might cerebellar disinhibition underlie Restless Legs Syndrome symptoms? Will Joo found that loss of the RLS-associated gene meis1b perturbs locomotion in zebrafish by disinhibiting cerebellar output. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Save the date: the 3rd biennial #engramsandensembles conference will be held from May 12 - 14, 2027 at @tcddublin.bsky.social 🪉🧠🌐📈

Tomás Ryan@tjryan.bsky.social · last yr.

Slán go fóill - we look forward to welcoming you all back to Dublin for the 3rd installment in May 2027 #engramsandensembles

Last weeks to register to the superb FENS Satellite about decision making organized by the @barccsyn.bsky.social community in Barcelona. The meeting will be on Sun July 5th, just before the FENS Annual Forum. Check the speakers line up! It is veery nice 😁 barccsyn.org/meetings/sat...

BARCCSYN FENS Satellite — BARCCSYN – Barcelona Computational, Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Community

barccsyn.org

Two brain circuits. Same learning problem. Shared learning outcomes. Different dynamical implementations. Our work shows that learning is not a single canonical solution but can emerge through distinct population dynamics shaped by circuit architecture. Excited to share our latest preprint! 🧵1/12

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Equivalent volitional learning emerges through circuit-specific population dynamics in motor cortex and hippocampus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.04.730137v1

Two brain circuits. Same learning problem. Shared learning outcomes. Different dynamical implementations. Our work shows that learning is not a single canonical solution but can emerge through distinct population dynamics shaped by circuit architecture. Excited to share our latest preprint! 🧵1/12

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Equivalent volitional learning emerges through circuit-specific population dynamics in motor cortex and hippocampus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.04.730137v1

Excited to share that our study on how cell-type-specific synaptic scaling mechanisms regulate memory representations in associative learning is now published! www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...

Cell-type-specific synaptic scaling mechanisms differentially contribute to associative learning

Excitatory synaptic scaling regulates network dynamics by proportionally adjusting excitatory synaptic strengths after sensory perturbations. During associative learning, blocking excitatory scaling i...

jneurosci.org

🚨 New paper in @nature.com We asked why two hippocampal areas with very different anatomy, CA3 and CA1, often seem to code space so similarly? By recording bats flying up to 200m, we found that the difference was hidden by scale! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵 1/11

Sparse-to-dense coding transformation between hippocampal areas CA3 and CA1 - Nature

The hippocampus exhibits a CA3-to-CA1 coding transformation that combines fast learning with an efficient, compressed neural code.

nature.com