Pyramidal cells in the cortex send a long apical dendrite to layer 1. What is its role? What happens when it's gone? ✂️ A causal spatial role for apical dendrites in the cortex Out today with @kenneth-harris.bsky.social, @carandinilab.net and @fedrossi.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A causal spatial role for apical dendrites in the cortex

Cortical pyramidal neurons project a long apical dendrite to layer 1 (L1), to receive synaptic inputs that are thought to provide contextual and possibly suppressive modulation. In visual cortex, thes...

biorxiv.org

What does synapse position buy a neuron? We trained a dendritic network to place its own synapses on a covariance task. It clustered correlated inputs onto shared branches, and shuffling that placement destroyed performance while every weight stayed intact. Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2607.24503 🧵-->

Synaptic clustering emerges from learning and supports covariance discrimination

Functional synapse clusters (FSCs) are synapses with correlated presynaptic activity that are colocalized on the same neuronal dendritic branch. FSCs have been observed after learning in cortical and ...

arxiv.org

**Please repost** If you're enjoying Paper Skygest -- our personalized feed of academic content on Bluesky -- we'd appreciate you reposting this! We’ve found that the most effective way for us to reach new users and communities is through users sharing it with their network

🧠 Das Gehirn lernt flexibler als gedacht: Forschende der #HumboldtUni haben einen Mechanismus entdeckt, der hilft, erlernte Regeln an neue Situationen anzupassen. Die Erkenntnisse könnten neue Ansätze für die Behandlung kognitiver Störungen und für KI liefern. www.hu-berlin.de/nachrichten/...

I am *thrilled* to share this review in @currentbiology.bsky.social out today, by yours truly, @myoo.bsky.social, @michalk.bsky.social, Taro Toyoizumi, @tyrellturing.bsky.social, @taylorwwebb.bsky.social, & @hakwan.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🧵👇

Looking to the brain to improve energy efficiency of AI

Modern artificial intelligence (AI) systems have achieved remarkable capabilities, but at an extraordinary energy cost. Training and running large-sca…

sciencedirect.com

Just imagine that fair wages inspire excellent performance.

Harmit Singh Malik@harmitmalik.bsky.social · last mo.

😮 @danielgorelick.bsky.social @biologyopen.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Representational drift as a Rorschach test in analytical thinking... www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The brain’s code seems to be in constant flux. Neuroscientists are baffled

Neurons fire much more erratically than researchers thought. What does that mean for how the brain works?

nature.com

New voltage indicators from St-Pierre lab and collaborators: - FORCE1s: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... - JEDI3sub and JEDI3hyp: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Blog post about voltage imaging: spikesandbursts.wordpress.com/2018/11/06/v...

Designer indicators for two-photon recording of subthreshold voltage dynamics - Nature Methods

The genetically encoded voltage indicators JEDI3sub and JEDI3hyp enhance monitoring of subthreshold neuronal activity in the awake mouse brain using a variety of two-photon microscopy techniques.

nature.com

1/10 When the going gets tough, the dendrites get going. Here is a summary on our new paper just published in @science.org on flexible learning in frontal motor cortex. With @mattlark.bsky.social 🔬. #neuroskyence #neuroscience 🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Tuft dendrites in frontal motor cortex enable flexible learning

Flexible learning relies on integrating sensory and contextual information to adjust behavioral output in different environments. The anterolateral motor cortex (ALM) is a frontal area critical for ac...

doi.org

Extremely cool. We haven’t known very much about how localized neuromodulator signaling is. This data — made possible by new molecular sensor tools — is revealing that it’s quite local, just a few cell-widths in extent. #neuroscience 🧪

Tommaso Patriarchi@tpatriarchi.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Wait… localized norepinephrine transients in the awake visual cortex?! Who would have guessed this neuromodulatory signal is that spatially precise, right where visual processing is happening. Brain state control just got a lot more local. @ruedigersarah.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Great read by @alexkwan.bsky.social on how fundamental neuroscience research has paved the way for new drug development. I’d also highlight orexin’s role in sleep–wake regulation and the upcoming wave of dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORAs) for sleep disorders (& soon agonists for narcolepsy).

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 8mo ago

A growing list of medications—such as zuranolone for postpartum depression, suzetrigine for pain, and the gepants class of migraine medicines—exist because of insights from basic research, writes @alexkwan.bsky.social. www.thetransmitter.org/drug-develop... #neuroskyence

That's all! More bangers from Judge Young in the thread below. And check out my story for the full low-down on what happened yesterday — and what led up to this moment. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Judge rules against NIH grant cuts — and calls them discriminatory

The decision means that the US biomedical agency has to restore funding to hundreds of research projects, but the government will likely appeal.

nature.com

Max Kozlov@maxkozlov.bsky.social · last yr.

Oh man, what a self-own. A govt lawyer brought up DEI in passing, Judge Young was Not Happy: "If putting these words together, DEI, is somehow offensive... does that mean our policy is homogeneity, inequity, and exclusion? Are you going to stand there and tell me that's now the policy of the NIH?"

Does neural computation feel like something? In our new paper, we explore a paradox: if you replay all the neural activity of a brain—every spike, every synapse—does it recreate conscious experience? 🧠 doi.org/10.3389/fnin...

Frontiers | Does neural computation feel like something?

Artificial neural networks are becoming more advanced and human-like in detail and behavior. The notion that machines mimicking human brain computations migh...

doi.org

New #NeuroAI #compneurosky preprint! To better understand how target-directed learning works in the brain, we sought to engineer an artificial neural network capable of solving complex image classification tasks that comprises only experimentally-supported biological building blocks. (1/15)

Aaron Milstein@neurosutras.bsky.social · last yr.

Cellular and subcellular specialization enables biology-constrained deep learning www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Our new paper is out in Science. What is the synaptic plasticity rule in the brain, we asked. It turns out there are multiple, even within individual neurons. Congrats Jake! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Distinct synaptic plasticity rules operate across dendritic compartments in vivo during learning

Synaptic plasticity underlies learning by modifying specific synaptic inputs to reshape neural activity and behavior. However, the rules governing which synapses will undergo different forms of plasti...

science.org

Baclofen, a GABAB receptor agonist, impairs motor learning in healthy people and changes inhibitory dynamics in motor areas https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.27.645701v1

🥰 updated my perspective on building more adaptive AI with neuroscience inspired brain-like agentic systems. If of interest, I hope it’s a nice review of adaptive behavior in neuro, cutting edge AI, and my proposal for an updated merger: arxiv.org/abs/2411.15234

Adaptive Intelligence: leveraging insights from adaptive behavior in animals to build flexible AI systems

Biological intelligence is inherently adaptive -- animals continually adjust their actions based on environmental feedback. However, creating adaptive artificial intelligence (AI) remains a major chal...

arxiv.org

New glutamate indicators designed for high-fidelity imaging of synaptic activity in the living brain! www.addgene.org/browse/artic...

Abhi Aggarwal@abhiaggarwal.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨iGluSnFR4 is finally out!🚨🧪 We present iGluSnFR4f and 4s, a novel pair of genetically-encoded glutamate indicators designed for high-fidelity imaging of synaptic activity in the living brain. ⬇️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🎥 Below: iGluSnFR4s detecting minis in cultures w/ TTX #Neuroscience

*Please repost* @sjgreenwood.bsky.social and I just launched a new personalized feed (*please pin*) that we hope will become a "must use" for #academicsky. The feed shows posts about papers filtered by *your* follower network. It's become my default Bluesky experience bsky.app/profile/pape...

Tuft dendrites in frontal motor cortex enable flexible learning https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.13.642781v1

Was just going to advertise another awesome summer course for people starting their labs: safelabs.info -- related to the one we are organizing compneurosci.com/Neuro4Pros/i... - if you have a new lab this is a good year.

Home - SAFE Labs

SAFE Labs Starting Aware Fair & Equitable Labs SAFE Labs – a workshop on starting fair, equitable, and successful labs “Starting Aware Fair & Equitable Labs” is a meeting for principal investigators a...

safelabs.info