Our brain is constantly looking for patterns. When something unexpected happens, we notice it more in a predictable context, than in an unpredictable environment. Our study identifies how the auditory cortex amplifies responses to unexpected sounds in predictable contexts. doi.org/10.1523/jneu...

Wonderful end-of-the-year neuroscience training grants retreat. So proud of our own Omer Zeliger presenting on her research on hearing mechanisms in changing acoustic environments and @laurenkreeger.bsky.social presenting exciting new data. The keynote by Jess Cardin was inspiring.

This is what the future of computational neuroscience looks like.

Maria Geffen@geffenlab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Really enjoyed a fantastic lineup of talks at our annual Graduate Certificate in Computational Neuroscience Symposium. From studying monkey behavior to identifying biomarkers of food-related preoccupied thoughts to optimal color transformation in color blindness. Love the energy!

Really enjoyed a fantastic lineup of talks at our annual Graduate Certificate in Computational Neuroscience Symposium. From studying monkey behavior to identifying biomarkers of food-related preoccupied thoughts to optimal color transformation in color blindness. Love the energy!

Love this artwork!

Rebecca Horne@rebeccasky.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Intricate illo by Yihui Chang This paper changed my life by @geffenlab.bsky.social: In a 1982 paper, the Nobel laureate created his namesake neural network—work that taught how to ground research questions in biology. www.thetransmitter.org/this-paper-c... #sciart @thetransmitter.bsky.social

Loved sharing my thoughts about Hopfield’s seminal paper with @thetransmitter.bsky.social @franciscorr25.bsky.social . It’s so important to be reminded of the beauty and impact of free scientific investigation in these uncertain times.

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In the latest “This paper changed my life,” Maria Geffen shares how John Hopfield’s neural networks taught her to always ground research questions in biology. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/this-paper-c...

What a fun conversation @franciscorr25.bsky.social @thetransmitter.bsky.social

Francisco Rivera Rosario@franciscorr25.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In this piece, @geffenlab.bsky.social beautifully describes how John Hopfield's artificial neural networks influenced her scientific journey and sneaks in a mention about Bad Bunny in there too. Give it a read!

This changes everything! 😮👂🏼

Matthijs Dorst@mattneuro.dorst-lab.org · 3mo ago

Biblically accurate cochlea

Really enjoying my visit to Seattle — today giving a lecture and meeting with the faculty and trainees at the department of Psychology, tomorrow joining the auditory training grant retreat, and visiting the @alleninstitute.org on Friday.

Join us for the next installment of EARS on Tuesday May 12 at 1 pm ET! Jennifer Bizley @bizleylab.bsky.social "Mapping sounds into space" Brice Bathellier @bathellierlab.bsky.social "A deep encoder for sensory restoration by neuromimetic cortical stimulation" pennmedicine.zoom.us/j/96672201477

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

pennmedicine.zoom.us

Looking forward to the inaugural Lurie Autism Institute Symposium: www.lurieautisminstitute.org/2026-lurie-a... today.

PSA: don’t self-censor your grants. Don’t use the AI tools or word/phrase alternative sheets you see out there. Here’s why: 1) These tools are almost certainly wrong bc the list keeps changing. There’s no way they can be up to date, POs can’t even stay up to date. 🧵1/2

Congratulations to the Geffen lab undergrads Margot and Kehinde who are graduating from Penn later this month! We had a little Cinco de Mayo party as their send-off.

1/ New preprint! 🧪With @talmo.bsky.social and team, we used deep learning on archival NASA video of mice on the ISS. Turns out mice in microgravity become tiny acrobats: huddling to sleep, doing backflips, even briefly generating their own ~1g. #SpaceBiology #OpenScience #NASA #SLEAP

The Daedalus Quartet came back for another magical lecture/experimental demo for our systems neuroscience students. This time, we focused on predictable and unexpected components in music. The musicians had lots of fun messing up Pachelbel Canon! @zabj.bsky.social @audreydrotos.bsky.social

Tune it at 1 pm EDT to EARS early career panel! pennmedicine.zoom.us/j/96672201477

Deadline to submit your abstract to E.A.R.S. Early Career session is fast approaching!

Maria Geffen@geffenlab.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Applications to present in the Early Career Session for the E.A.R.S. seminar series now open! www.med.upenn.edu/pennhearing/... The Early Career Seminar will feature four presentations, selected by the EARS organizing committee from submissions. Deadline: March 31: forms.gle/ScNp8exjEQ3A... .

My NIH update Let me start by saying again how glad I am that NIH is now posting these curves on the Reporter front page. It is satisfying that leading by example from outside has led to this change and (I hope) reflects a commitment for NIH_leadership™ to hold itself accountable for this. 1/6

I defended my PhD 10 years ago today. That was the least remarkable thing that happened that day. Sharing something I wrote about it last year. Since then "the horrors persist but so do we." And with dignity.

Applications to present in the Early Career Session for the E.A.R.S. seminar series now open! www.med.upenn.edu/pennhearing/... The Early Career Seminar will feature four presentations, selected by the EARS organizing committee from submissions. Deadline: March 31: forms.gle/ScNp8exjEQ3A... .

EARS Early Career seminar application

Thanks for your interest in participating in the EARS early career seminar on April 14, 2026 at 1 PM ET. Please complete this form to apply by March 31, 2026. Presentations will be 10 minutes long wit...

forms.gle

New paper from the Geffen and @labhaas.bsky.social Laboratories just published! We find that the enigmatic thalamic reticular nucleus exerts bi-directional cell-specific control over sound processing. The super-thin sheet of inhibitory neurons is rather mighty and highly computationally relevant!

PLOS Biology@plosbiology.org · 5mo ago

The medial geniculate body #MGB in the #auditory #thalamus is a key early node in sound processing. @geffenlab.bsky.social &co show in mice that two inhibitory neuron types have distinct connectivity & effects on sound processing. @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/47twOtM

Which is why we are rallying NATIONWIDE TODAY!!! Visit standupforscience.net/march7 to attend your local National Day of Action Rally or host a pop-up rally if there is no rally near you! LET'S GET OUT THERE!!! #March7 #standupforscience #science #savescience #rally

Stand Up for Science: March 7th, 2026 — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

standupforscience.net

Scientific American@sciam.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Public health chaos and research funding cuts are inspiring nationwide pro-science protests against the Trump administration

Coolest class demo ever. What were the results?

Really enjoyed hosting the Daedalus Quartet for our systems neuroscience class and doing a mini experiment with them. We tested whether the musicians’ brains synchronized differently while playing music under different conditions (e.g. playing with metronome, while marching or just playing).

The deadline to apply for the Brain Prize Cajal summer course in Computational Neuroscience has been extended to March 9! We’re excited for you to join us in sunny Lisbon! Please do not hesitate to send in an application and learn about computational neuroscience! @gjorjulijana.bsky.social

Maria Geffen@geffenlab.bsky.social · 6mo ago

A special year for the Cajal Course in Computational Neuroscience: the BRAIN Prize winners Haim Sompolinsky and Larry Abbott will join us as keynote speakers. And we will bring you the same great roster of instructors as every year. Applications are now open! cajal-training.org/on-site/comp...

Our protocol for a multi-laboratory adversarial collaboration to test multiple theories of consciousness is published! journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... with @alleninstitute.org @fanispa.bsky.social

Protocol for testing global neuronal workspace and integrated information theories of consciousness in non-human primates and mice

Identifying the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) is widely regarded as imperative to our understanding of consciousness. Although several scientific theories of consciousness make predictions ...

journals.plos.org

@zabj.bsky.social and I had a lot of fun testing whether our brains are synchronized. We’re practicing for my lecture next week on auditory neuroscience featuring the Daedalus Quartet.

In Cambridge in the 1970s, my dad, Colin Blakemore, worked and lectured on sensitive periods of sensory development. In my Cambridge undergrad lectures on this topic, I show a clip from one of his TV shows, which describes sensitive periods for sound categorisation, and features Prof Janet Werker:

A special year for the Cajal Course in Computational Neuroscience: the BRAIN Prize winners Haim Sompolinsky and Larry Abbott will join us as keynote speakers. And we will bring you the same great roster of instructors as every year. Applications are now open! cajal-training.org/on-site/comp...

The Brain Prize Course - Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience - CAJAL

[…]

cajal-training.org

Question re new biosketch format on sciEnv: under the previous nih biosketch format, we could list 5 references under personal statement and then additional 4 references per contribution to science (up to 25 references total). It seems that now it’s down to 10 references total. Is that right?