UCLA's computational neuroscience community is growing! @marcustriplett.bsky.social is joining @dgsomucla.bsky.social Dept of Neurobiology, bringing expertise in statistical machine learning methods for neuroscience & computation in artificial & biological neural systems. Welcome to UCLA, Marcus!

Brain-computer interfaces are becoming reality for folks w/ paralysis. Jonathan Kao's lab at UCLA pairs AI copilots with brain signals decoded from scalp electrodes (no surgery required) to help users control cursors & robotic arms. Read more: t.co/exztsLljTn

When you see a face repeatedly, your brain gets better at recognizing it even though individual neurons respond less. Mario Dipoppa's lab used neural recordings + artificial neural networks to discover why. Read more: biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.20.643406v2.full

Welcome to UCLA Marcus! 🎉 We are thrilled Marcus is joining our neuroscience and computational community. I encourage students and postdocs to check out the exciting opportunities in his lab.

Marcus A. Triplett@marcustriplett.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I’m excited to share that I’ll be starting my computational neurosci & machine learning lab at UCLA this July! ☀️ 
We’ll be working on computational methods for high-throughput neural data analysis, optical interrogation of neural circuits, & mechanistic models of artificial+bio neural systems. ⤵️

We are recruiting PhD students and postdocs at UIUC ECE interested in learning dynamics, spiking networks, and dynamical systems. Details: rainerengelken.github.io/join/

Rainer Engelken | Join the Lab

Uncovering theoretical principles of learning and computation in neural circuits, from single neurons to brain-wide systems.

rainerengelken.github.io

We are very excited to announce that our new preprint with Saleh Esteki, @stefanofusi.bsky.social, and @roozbehkiani.bsky.social is now available on biorxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We investigated how reward context is learned, represented, and updated to bias decisions. Thread 🧵👇! 1/13

Great opportunity in NeuroAI! 👀

Alessandro Ingrosso@aingrosso.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Please RT - Open PhD position in my group at the Donders Center for Neuroscience, Radboud University. We're looking for a PhD candidate interested in developing theories of learning in neural networks. Applications are open until October 20th. For more info: www.ru.nl/en/working-a...

Dario Ringach gave a really interesting talk at the National University of Singapore today about results with Elaine Tring and @mariodipoppa.bsky.social adaptation of population responses in mouse visual cortex. Remarkably data was well described by log(r(x)/r(y) ~ log(p(y)/p(x) 😃

Our paper on the statistical mechanics of transfer learning is now published in PRL. Franz-Parisi meets Kernel Renormalization in this nice collaboration with friends in Bologna (F. Gerace) and Parma (P. Rodondo, R. Pacelli). journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...

Statistical Mechanics of Transfer Learning in Fully Connected Networks in the Proportional Limit

Tools from spin glass theory such as the replica method help explain the efficacy of transfer learning.

journals.aps.org

Very happy to see our work finally in print! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... TLDR: Tilt illusion is not a bug, but a feature of a well-designed visual system that maximizes information capacity adaptively based on spatial context. (1/6)

The tilt illusion arises from an efficient reallocation of neural coding resources at the contextual boundary | PNAS

The tilt illusion—a bias in the perceived orientation of a center stimulus induced by an oriented surround—illustrates how context shapes visual pe...

pnas.org

The Grossman Center at UChicago is hiring Center Postdocs! Great scientific environment in a great city. Competitive salaries and freedom to work with any of the center PIs. The deadline is May 1st. DM me if you have any questions. neuroscience.uchicago.edu/grossmancent...

Postdoctoral Fellows in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience

neuroscience.uchicago.edu

In previous work with Dario Ringach (Tring et al. 2023), we discovered a universal power law of visual adaptation. With @matteomariani.bsky.social, we now show with a computational model that this power law can be explained by efficient coding! We will present this at #Cosyne2025, Thu. poster 1-031.

Matteo Mariani@matteomariani.bsky.social · last yr.

📣 We investigated a puzzling empirical result: adaptation induces a universal power law linking neural population responses and stimulus statistics. We explained the power law with an efficient coding model and interpreted its exponent as balancing energy saving and representation fidelity.

I’ve been overwhelmed trying to keep up with everything that’s happening at the NIH. I wondered if others were likewise overwhelmed so I am going to start regularly posting videos with what I know. Pls feel free to leave suggestions and comments. youtu.be/MvgNHWSJtH0

Science Update With Anne And Alex Feb 25 2025

YouTube video by anne churchland

youtu.be

New preprint: "The geometry of the neural state space of decisions", work by Mauro Monsalve-Mercado, buff.ly/42wVHD5. Surprising results & predictions! (Thread) We analyze neuropixel population recordings in macaque area LIP during a reaction time, random-dot motion 1/

Please retweet! Open rank faculty search in the basic sciences at UCLA David School of Medicine. Multiple positions are available - the application deadline is 19th January. Please apply here: recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF10062

Open Rank Faculty Position in David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

University of California, Los Angeles is hiring. Apply now!

recruit.apo.ucla.edu

New job alert! My lab (saleemlab.com) has a new postdoc / senior postdoc opening. They will be part of an exciting research supported by ERC & UKRI, studying vision during navigation. Projects range from purely computational to performing new physiological recordings.

Saleem lab

saleemlab.com

Our work on how visual adaptation changes the geometry of neural representations in V1 is now on bioRxiv:

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 2y ago

Adaptation shapes the representational geometry in mouse V1 to efficiently encode the environment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.11.628035v1

Hello world, my first post in Bluesky! Adaptation to a frequent stimulus reduces neuronal activity but increases discriminability in V1. These two effects can be observed as well in the geometry of representations and they are reproduced in an ANN with metabolic constraints.

Mario Dipoppa@mariodipoppa.bsky.social · 2y ago

New results! Visual adaptation changes the geometry of V1 population activity: frequent stimuli elicit smaller responses but become more discriminable. Similar results are seen in ANNs trained with metabolic constraints, suggesting these changes emerge from efficient coding. bit.ly/3VJHXRn

The geometry of adaptation! My first excursion in the V1 territory. Great collaboration with @mariodipoppa.bsky.social @matteocarandini.bsky.social and many others

Mario Dipoppa@mariodipoppa.bsky.social · 2y ago

New results! Visual adaptation changes the geometry of V1 population activity: frequent stimuli elicit smaller responses but become more discriminable. Similar results are seen in ANNs trained with metabolic constraints, suggesting these changes emerge from efficient coding. bit.ly/3VJHXRn

New results! Visual adaptation changes the geometry of V1 population activity: frequent stimuli elicit smaller responses but become more discriminable. Similar results are seen in ANNs trained with metabolic constraints, suggesting these changes emerge from efficient coding. bit.ly/3VJHXRn

Adaptation shapes the representational geometry in mouse V1 to efficiently encode the environment

Sensory adaptation dynamically changes neural responses as a function of previous stimuli, profoundly impacting perception. The response changes induced by adaptation have been characterized in detail...

bit.ly

I’ve just joined and looking forward to connect with others from computational and systems neuroscience community and beyond!