The hippocampus is a brain region which is involved in building cognitive maps of our environment. But how stable is the brain's internal map of space? In our new paper, we tested what happens when we stimulate key inputs to the hippocampus's place cells in CA1 doi.org/10.1016/j.pn... 1/5

Universität Heidelberg: Hörsaal- und Lernzentrum audiMAX wird feierlich eröffnet – Neuer zentraler Ort für Lehre, Lernen und Austausch auf dem Campus Im Neuenheimer Feld www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/newsroom/... #universität #heidelberg #uniheidelberg #studium #lehren #lernen #campus #architektur

www.nature.com/articles/s41... Two-author papers are always special. Using optogenetic stimulation of hippocampal synapses in awake mice and tracking them over approx. 2 weeks, we link synaptic strength, spine volume and their stability. It's confirmed: bigger spines are stronger and more stable 😅

Functional synaptic connectivity shapes spine stability in the hippocampus - Nature Communications

In this study, the authors find that synaptic strength predicts spine size and long-term stability via in vivo imaging together with optogenetic stimulation in awake mice. While individual synapses sh...

nature.com

Happy to have contributed to this beast of a paper with some optogenetics and fiber photometry.

@zebacurreli.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Kudos to everyone involved for pushing the boundaries of what we can see in the brain🚀 Check out the full paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s415... Christopher Ford Andrew Yee @anitaluthi.bsky.social @labluthi.bsky.social @simwieg.bsky.social @FellinLab @ruemcclammyhand.bsky.social digersarah.bsky.social

Kudos to everyone involved for pushing the boundaries of what we can see in the brain🚀 Check out the full paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s415... Christopher Ford Andrew Yee @anitaluthi.bsky.social @labluthi.bsky.social @simwieg.bsky.social @FellinLab @ruemcclammyhand.bsky.social digersarah.bsky.social

Next-generation multicolor indicators for in vivo imaging of norepinephrine - Nature Methods

Improved red and green indicators for norepinephrine and their characterization are reported. These indicators allow detection of norepinephrine release in awake behaving mice in dual-color fiber phot...

doi.org

Cortical glutamatergic and GABAergic inputs support learning-driven hippocampal stability | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cortical glutamatergic and GABAergic inputs support learning-driven hippocampal stability

Flexibility and stability of neuronal ensembles are crucial features of brain function. Little is known about how these properties of local circuits are influenced by long-range inputs. We show, in mi...

science.org

Inaugural lecture to the faculty of Yasin Dagdas (@plantophagy.bsky.social) and Simon Wiegert (@simwieg.bsky.social) - bridging green and red biology.

Dopamine ≠ reward but turns out, also not the learning molecule we thought. If DA RPE is the emperor, this work SCREAMS it was running naked all the time. This paper got quite some attention recently. Let's simplify it a bit. A🧵with my toy model and notes: #neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI

...been doing this already a lot ;) Very easy

Michael Eisen@mbeisen.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Finally, someone has solved a real problem with AI! No more having to take a paper in the format for a journal that rejected you, and reformat it for a new journal. Well done!! formatmypaper.com

Excited to share our latest paper - now out in @science.org - we showed how oxytocin modulates maternally-directed behavior in young mice (P15).

🚨 8 PhD positions in GPCR signaling! The research group “DynOrg"(‪@dfg.de‬, @simwieg.bsky.social) is hiring doctoral researchers to study how GPCRs shape brain, heart & behavior – combining optogenetics & physiology. 🌍 7 labs across Germany 🗓️ Apply by Aug 31, 2025 👉 www.for5807.de/en/open-posi...

New Research Unit in Basic Biomedical Research: German Research Foundation provides approx. five million euros in funding www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsroom/...

🚀 Big news from our @monikakscholz.bsky.social lab! We’re part of DynOrg, a new @dfg.de-funded Research Unit exploring how #GPCR signaling coordinates organ function & animal behavior — from heartbeat to foraging. 🧠💓 #FOR #neurotransmitters

Led by @simwieg.bsky.social from @uniheidelberg.bsky.social, DynOrg is one of 7 new DFG Research Units, supported for up to 8 years. We're thrilled to be on board! 🔬🇩🇪 #GPCR #Neuroscience #DynOrg #DFG #WormLab

A must-read (in my humble opinion :)) if you plan to target the locus coeruleus in the rodent system. Selectivity and specificity strongly vary between strategies and mouse lines. But no need to worry: we provide tools and strategies to overcome those limitations.

PLOS Biology@plosbiology.org · last yr.

This study reveals substantial heterogeneity in #transgene expression patterns when using different strategies to virally transduce #NoradrenergicNeurons of the #LocusCoeruleus, highlighting the need for caution to avoid misinterpretations when studying LC function @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3IehTKb

Förderentscheidungen zu #Forschungsgruppen durch den Hauptausschuss der DFG im Rahmen der Jahresversammlung: 7 Neueinrichtungen, 3 Verlängerungen. Die neuen Forschungsgruppen erhalten insges. rund 33 Mio. € für die erste Förderperiode. Mehr zu den Themen / Institutionen: www.dfg.de/de/service/p...

Lab outing 2025. Beautiful weather, beautiful wine, beautiful people

🎉Congratulations Heidelberg University!👏 📣With three successful Clusters of Excellence applications, Heidelberg can compete again for the status as a University of Excellence‼️ The existing cluster 3DMM2O will receive further funding, plus the new initiatives SynthImmune & GreenRobust. #Excellence

Every lab should have a Bell of Glory. Here is ours and it sounds great

🚨We have an open position in the lab for the engineering of new #optogenetic tools for light control of #subcellular biology!💡🧠🔬 Interested? Get in touch or apply 👍 karriere.charite.de/en/job-vacan...

Researcher Subcellular Optogenetics at the Neurosciences Research Center DM.65.25

part-time | 28.03.2025 | Campus Charité Mitte

karriere.charite.de

Functional Connectivity Shapes Spine Stability in the Hippocampus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.07.637112v1

Cool experimental design by @simwieg.bsky.social's lab with optogenetics + calcium imaging: how place cells in CA1 are affected by stimulation of contralateral CA3. They observe less an induction of place fields but somewhat random shifts of existing place fields: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Schaffer commissural inputs regulate the stability of CA1 spatial representation

Neuronal representations of the world are dynamic. A striking example is the rapid remapping of the hippocampal spatial code, which occurs even when the environment and behavior remain unchanged. Here...

biorxiv.org

A major step forward in elucidating the relationship between synaptic plasticity at individual hippocampal synapses and neuronal encoding of external information in the living brain.

Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social · 2y ago

Every moment we remember is encoded by changes in the strength of connections between brain cells, links called synapses. In a new @natureportfolio.bsky.social study, the Polleux and Losonczy labs have imaged these changes as an animal forms memories! zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/new-peek-neu...

Bioart, courtesy of the NIH. All images are in the public domain and available for download as high-quality SVGs. bioart.niaid.nih.gov

On the way to Berlin to celebrate Peter Hegemann's 70th birthday with a surprise symposium (he's not yet on bsky - no risk of spoiling it). Looking forward to seeing many friends from all over the world. Peter has been a central figure in building this community. #optogenetics

(please amplify) 4% of scientists face an important barrier to an the ENTIRE FIELD of single-cell genomics and here is why

Are you building a patch-clamp setup, and would like a cheap heating system? Have you ever wondered how temperature changes the membrane properties of MSNs? Then you might like our latest paper, out now! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A low-cost perfusion heating system for slice electrophysiology - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - A low-cost perfusion heating system for slice electrophysiology

nature.com

We’re seeking a postdoc/student excited about animal communication, brain-wide circuits, microscopy, singing fish (Danionella), wacky ideas and who likes to: get things done, experiment, analyze, ask, learn, help and cooperate. jlab.berlin