Taufik A. Valiante
@tvaliante.bsky.social
Neuroscientist, Neurosurgeon, Krembil Brain Institute, CRANIA, MPUTC, BME & ECE University of Toronto. https://neurontobrainlaboratory.ca https://kite-uhn.com/crania https://mpc.utoronto.ca
Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa, who pioneered cell-type-specific transgenic mice and the study of engrams, has passed away at the age of 86. By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/memory/susum...
In memoriam: Susumu Tonegawa, ‘intellectual giant’
He won the Nobel Prize for his work on immunology and then went on to define the field of learning and memory.
thetransmitter.org
Slightly surprised that @kordinglab.bsky.social are still printing their simulations out on paper to be honest.
Protocol Labs@protocollabs.bsky.social · last mo.“Our simulations are barely worth the papers we print them on.” @kordinglab.bsky.social on the tiny worm with just 300 neurons that scientists still can't simulate — even with every connection mapped. Full conversation on the @juanbenet.bsky.social Podcast >>> youtu.be/FHQfmJEpRmU
1/11 Happy to share our TICS paper on using the flexibility of one of the most basic cognitive functions, perception, to understand one of the most complex cognitive dysfunctions, psychiatric conditions (also my first formal work in computational psychiatry 🎉) 📄: www.cell.com/trends/cogni... 🧵 : 👇
Perceptual multistability: a multifaceted window into brain dysfunctions
Perceptual multistability, observed across species and sensory modalities, offers valuable insights into numerous cognitive functions and dysfunctions. For instance, differences in temporal dynamics a...
cell.com
Trends in Cognitive Sciences@cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social · 4mo agoOnline Now: Perceptual multistability: a multifaceted window into brain dysfunctions
What does a multimodal electrode look like to you? This is what it looks like to us - it’s electrical⚡️, optical 💡 and fluidic💧. Amazing work by Xin Mu, Wesley Sacher and Homeira Moradi Chameh. We also made the cover 🥳! 🔗 to 📄 : www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nanophotonic neural probes for in vivo photostimulation, electrophysiology, and microfluidic delivery - Microsystems & Nanoengineering
Microsystems & Nanoengineering - Nanophotonic neural probes for in vivo photostimulation, electrophysiology, and microfluidic delivery
nature.com
Nature research paper: A mosaic of whole-body representations on the human precentral gyrus go.nature.com/44k08Ru
A mosaic of whole-body representations on the human precentral gyrus - Nature
A comprehensive map of the human motor cortex at single-neuron resolution is described.
go.nature.com
How are the fluctuations in electric field organized across the whole brain? We analyzed the 3.4 M samples from the international brain lab using a combination of deep learning and graph theory. We found a surprising structure made of communities and landmarks. doi.org/10.1101/2025...
I am excited to share my first paper, showing that episodic memory formation is theta rhythmic, is now published in Nature Human Behavior! Check it out here: rdcu.be/e6pzS. Thanks to my PI, Katherine Duncan, and to my collaborators for their support on this journey! Stay tuned for iEEG follow up 🧠
Episodic memory encoding fluctuates at a theta rhythm of 3–10 Hz
Nature Human Behaviour - Biba et al. show that episodic memory encoding fluctuates at a theta rhythm of 3–10 Hz.
rdcu.be
New paper out from the Duncan Lab in Nature Human Behaviour! Congratulations to lead author Thomas Biba @tbiba.bsky.social for all his hard work through the peaks and troughs, seeing this through to publication! Big thanks to our collaborators! @lexidecker.bsky.social @tvaliante.bsky.social
tbiba.bsky.social@tbiba.bsky.social · 5mo agoI am excited to share my first paper, showing that episodic memory formation is theta rhythmic, is now published in Nature Human Behavior! Check it out here: rdcu.be/e6pzS. Thanks to my PI, Katherine Duncan, and to my collaborators for their support on this journey! Stay tuned for iEEG follow up 🧠
New paper alert! 🚨 We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales 1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks 2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps. Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
🚨 new work from the lab on how eye movements 👀 versus orofacial movements influence 🐭 visual cortex activity 🧠 #neuroscience #behavior #neuroAI
Atika Syeda@atika-syeda.bsky.social · 6mo agoExcited to share “Orofacial behaviors, not eye movements, govern neural activity in mouse visual cortex” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Summary below...
Intelligence and consciousness. @anilseth.bsky.social, brief, clear and to the point: "intelligence is about doing and consciousness is about being" www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
The Mythology Of Conscious AI | NOEMA
Why consciousness is more likely a property of life than of computation and why creating conscious, or even conscious-seeming AI, is a bad idea.
noemamag.com
New eLife paper is out! We explore the link btw 2-phase perception/generation learning methods like wake-sleep, and what may happen in the brain under on psychedelics. Turns out hallucinations are consistent with hijacking phasic learning, essentially running both wake and sleep phases at once.
Blake Richards@tyrellturing.bsky.social · 7mo agoOur paper on the "Oneirogen hypothesis" is now up in its revised form on eLife! This is the hypothesis that psychedelics induce a dream-like state, which we show via modelling could explain a variety of perceptual and learning effects from such drugs. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre... 🧠📈 🧪
Are you thinking about doing neuroscience outreach but want to make it more exciting or hands on? Check out RetINaBox! (A collab led by the Trenholm lab) We tried to bring the experience of experimental neuroscience to a classroom setting: www.eneuro.org/content/13/1... #neuroscience 🧪
RetINaBox: A Hands-On Learning Tool for Experimental Neuroscience
An exciting aspect of neuroscience is developing and testing hypotheses via experimentation. However, due to logistical and financial hurdles, the experiment and discovery component of neuroscience is...
eneuro.org
Wonderful article about our recent paper in @pnasnexus.org! Thanks, @sachapfeiffer.bsky.social and @mickbonner.bsky.social! @yikai-tang.bsky.social @uoftpsychology.bsky.social @artsci.utoronto.ca @utoronto.ca
Sachin Rawat@sachinxr.bsky.social · 7mo agoWhy do we find some scenes more aesthetic than others? For my first in @sciencenews.bsky.social, I wrote about a new study that suggests that our aesthetic preferences could have evolved as cognitive shortcuts. 🧠🧪 www.sciencenews.org/article/brai...
Wonderful and inspiring opening session at the CIFAR/TWCF Winter School for the Neuroscience of Consciousness, here in beautiful wintery Montebello, in Quebec. All of the participants gave 60 second intros to themselves and their interests. What a great group of people.
In this piece for @thetransmitter.bsky.social, I argue that ecological neuroscience should leverage generative video and interactive models to simulate the world from animals' perspectives. The technological building blocks are almost here - we just need to align them for this application. 🧠🤖
The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 8mo agoGenerative AI will offer a new way to see, simulate and hypothesize about how animals experience their worlds. In doing so, it could help bridge the long-standing gap between neural function and behavior, writes @shahabbakht.bsky.social. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/artificial-i...
🧠📢 New preprint alert Large-scale ephys is exploding but spike sorting remains the computational bottleneck. A 2-hr, 6-probe Neuropixels 2.0 Quad Base session can take over a week to sort on a single machine. Here's a better solution. 🧵 #neuroskyence #compneurosky
Lossy WavPack compression (up to 7× reduction) has minimal impact on sorting accuracy. This offers major storage savings without sacrificing quality.
Energy efficiency drives evolution, and humans may have evolved pleasure-based signals to optimize actions. Does this extend to aesthetic pleasure? Yes! Strong evidence in silico and humans, out in PNAS Nexus: tinyurl.com/3kbu8xw4 With Yikai Tang and Wil Cunningham. @uoftpsychology.bsky.social
Finally got the job ad—looking for 2 PhD students to start spring next year: www.gao-unit.com/join-us/ If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply! I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
We are opening a FACULTY POSITION (tenure track, permanent) in the University of Cambridge at the interface of control and biology, interpreted broadly. Theorists and wet lab quantitative biologists with backgrounds in control, EE, applied math, ... apply by Jan 28! www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/univers...
University Assistant/Associate Professor in Control Theory and Systems Biology
Applications are invited for a University Assistant/Associate Professorship in the broad area of Control Theory and Systems Biology. The successful candidate will join the Control Group
cam.ac.uk
hey I'm reposting this for no reason at all today... www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Processes and measurements: a framework for understanding neural oscillations in field potentials
Various neuroscientific theories maintain that brain oscillations are important for neuronal computation, but opposing views claim that these macroscale dynamics are ‘exhaust fumes’ of more relevant p...
cell.com
A study in Nature Communications identifies BNST theta and prefrontal BNST coherence as intracranial biomarkers predicting depression outcomes after deep brain stimulation. Lower activity predicted better long-term benefit, linking brain circuits to emotional bias and anxiety. 🧪
Prefrontal–bed nucleus of the stria terminalis physiological and neuropsychological biomarkers predict therapeutic outcomes in depression - Nature Communications
This study identifies BNST theta and prefrontal BNST coherence as intracranial biomarkers predicting depression outcomes after DBS. Lower activity predicted better long-term benefit, linking brain circuits to emotional bias and anxiety.
go.nature.com
It was incredible to be part of #purpleday yesterday! 💜 Each year, this important day continues to grow bigger and stronger, bringing more awareness and support for the 1-in-100 people living with epilepsy. @kbi-uhn.bsky.social @uhnresearch.bsky.social @tvaliante.bsky.social
Happy to share this work putting forth the first #computational model of #developing #embrionic cortical circuits. Phenomenal team coordination by Fernando Garcia Moreno @achucarro.bsky.social. @kbi-uhn.bsky.social @kcnhub.bsky.social
Evolutionary convergence of sensory circuits in the pallium of amniotes
The amniote pallium contains sensory circuits that are structurally and functionally equivalent, yet their evolutionary relationship remains unresolved. We used birthdating analysis, single-cell RNA a...
science.org
