Delighted to share our discoveries about one of the brain's neurotransmitter systems:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Together with colleagues at the @alleninstitute.org, we have learned a lot about a tiny cluster of neurons in the brainstem locus coeruleus (LC) that releases norepinephrine (NE). 1
@macshine.bsky.social talks with Mario Senden about his new project using AI-driven bibliometrics to map the structural organization of neuroscience across 25 years. The field it reveals is at once thriving and theoretically adrift. #neuroskyencewww.thetransmitter.org/methods/what...
Now in press one of my last PhD projects! We traced the neurobiological profile of fMRI BOLD signal variability, a measure that has been related to age, behaviour, disease status, but had not yet been fully contextualised within the brain's multiscale architecture. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thank you so much to my supervisor and collaborators on this project, to the reviewers who really helped shape this paper, and to our sources of funding! Happy reading :)
Now in press one of my last PhD projects! We traced the neurobiological profile of fMRI BOLD signal variability, a measure that has been related to age, behaviour, disease status, but had not yet been fully contextualised within the brain's multiscale architecture. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
These results are exciting because they show how fMRI BOLD, despite being a noisy signal, encapsulates spatially heterogeneous, multifactorial and multimodal properties of brain organisation through its temporal variability.
Together, this work shows that BOLD signal variability preserves neurobiological precision, enabling more targeted questions across age, behaviour, disease, and supporting its use in computational modelling and multimodal, systems-level neuroscience!
Now in press one of my last PhD projects! We traced the neurobiological profile of fMRI BOLD signal variability, a measure that has been related to age, behaviour, disease status, but had not yet been fully contextualised within the brain's multiscale architecture. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We looked at both local (i.e., regional) and global (i.e., inter-regional) BOLD signal variability measures in different fMRI datasets that differed in their acquisition protocol (given the impact this has on many fMRI parameters, mostly spatial and temporal resolutions).
There's a lot in there but the crux of the paper lies in how, in both datasets, BOLD signal variability traced histology, microstructure, transcriptomics, neurotransmitter receptors, metabolism, fMRI static connectivity, and empirical and simulated MEG data.
New preprint: "Identifying statistical indicators of temporal asymmetry using a data-driven approach"
arxiv.org/abs/2511.15991
_Can we statistically distinguish the forward- versus reverse-time dynamics of a system from a finite time series?_
I once saw a (very interesting) talk about sleep in which the speaker started by saying that we don't really know how to define sleep, and then proceeded to operationalize sleep in flies as basically periods when they are still for a long time. This got me thinking...
Thrilled to share that our work is now published in Science! โจ
We found a preference for visual objects in the mouse spatial navigation system where they dynamically refine head-direction coding. In short, objects boost our inner compass! ๐งญ
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
๐งต1/
๐จThe first paper of my postdoc is out now in @elife.bsky.social! ๐จ We explored the role of attention in planning. Thank you ๐ to the reviewers for their helpful comments & suggestions. Keep your ๐ peeled for additional analyses and our response. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
๐ฅATTENTION!๐ฅ
Registration for the 2026 Noosa Brain Workshop is now open!
Join us for some amazing science, sun, and surf in one of Australia's most beautiful beach towns.
Details:
tinyurl.com/arbc5pp6
Check out or incredible list of confirmed speakers. More to come...
Adaptive learning is coordinated across behaviour, time and neurobiology (from synapses and dendrites, to astrocytes and the systems level).
If youโve ever wondered how noradrenaline helps shape these multiscale learning processes, you might like this: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Interested in Network hubs, cortical hierarchies, and gradients? Ever wonder where they come from? Check our latest review, where we cover different approaches to mapping hubs, models for their evolution, and mechanisms for how they develop:
osf.io/preprints/os...
1
To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, youโll be surprised!
๐งตThread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Biologist folk (especially in evolutionary biology and/or ecology, but it donโt matter):
Can you give me your favorite examples of trade offs in biology? Organism or system donโt matter. Primary literature or reviews preferred.
New preprint!
Why are long-range connectomic interactions in the cortex dominant in shaping dynamics in some experiments but apparently negligible in others?
We (w/ R Maran, @elimuller.bsky.social) address this question by studying a new hybrid model of cortical dynamics.
arxiv.org/abs/2506.19800
The diversity of methods we use to probe the brain (epistemologies) naturally leads to clashes in our theories of how the brain works (ontologies). So how do we reconcile this divide and grow into a more unified neuroscience? Here is our take:
apertureneuro.org/article/1388...
1/ I'm excited to share recent results from my first collaboration with the amazing @anayebi.bsky.social
and @leokoz8.bsky.social !
We show how autonomous behavior and whole-brain dynamics emerge in embodied agents with intrinsic motivation driven by world models.
We are seeking a scientific coordinator for my research group at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig ๐๐ง ๐
Could be ideal for a gap year between MSc and PhD or PhD and postdoc!
Please out more here: recruitingapp-5218.de.umantis.com/Vacancies/43...?
When I first started working with resting state fMRI as a postdoc, there was a lot of skepticism about what we could learn from it. 20 years later, it's hard to imagine where the field of neuroscience would be without it. Here's a summary ๐ง www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Have recent changes led to uncertainty in your future scientific career?
Wonder it's like in Australia?
Good news!
Monash's is seeking to hire talented EMCRs from other countries.
Come join a wonderful community of brain mappers & modellers!
www.monash.edu/research/eme...
Info theory offers powerful measures for capturing complexity & interaction among elements of a complex system, like the brain! ๐ง Here's our new unified reference for key info-theoretic time series measures ft. ๐ visuals, โequations, & ๐ฌdescriptions:
arxiv.org/abs/2505.13080
Preprint ๐ฅณ
"A unified imaging-histology framework for superficial white matter architecture studies in the human brain"
๐ง SMW key for brain structure-function links
๐ค understudied because of its complexity
๐ก SMW mapping for histology & MRI
๐ OA
๐ lnkd.in/ef8bGGrF
by Youngeun Hwang et al
I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing Michael Bruchas about an absolutely banger recent paper from his group that tracked down cells in the brainstem that subtlety and precisely control the output of the locus coeruleus. Check out my interview here. I hope you like it as much as I did!
๐จ๐งโ๐จ Looking for a tool to visualize subcortical/thalamic data in 2D? Check out this python-based package I put together (subcortex-visualization on PyPI), plus a guide for creating your own custom atlas meshes and vector graphics! All feedback/tips welcome ๐
anniegbryant.github.io/subcortex_vi...
๐จWebinar alert!๐จ
Please join us at the end of the month as we tune in to Finn Creeggan for his talk: AI Meets Biology: Unraveling Biological Mysteries with Artificial Intelligence
๐ Date: Wednesday, April 30th
๐Time: 4PM ET
Register here for free:๐
forms.gle/M764qEB46TtZ...
Completely agree w/ everything @avramholmes.bsky.social lays out here. fMRI has a big role to play in helping link across scales of measurement, neural organisation and species. But for that to work, we need to incentivise the growth and development of scientists that can translate across domains.
The scientific community needs to develop processes to support, hire and retain researchers whose work sits between traditional fields of study, writes @avramholmes.bsky.social#neuroskyencewww.thetransmitter.org/future-of-fm...
An opportunity to *join our group* as a postdoc researcher analyzing complex physical systems, and the time-varying data they produce (with applications to sleep)!
Join us @sydneyphysics.bsky.social on a great campus in a beautiful city!
Please share ๐
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA...
@christopherjwhyte.bsky.social and I introduce a novel data-driven framework to evaluate >200 connectivity-based neural correlates of consciousness! Results are used to quantitatively compare predictions from neurodynamical models tailored to theoretic predictions.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We are hiring! We're looking for a Research Office to help out with recruitment & assessment on a large-scale study looking at the relationship between brain imaging measures and psychopathology. Please forward this link to anyone who might be interested:
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/ci/en/jo...
๐ฃ๐ Excited to share work co-led with @aditijh.bsky.social, developing a data-driven selection technique for overlapping community detection algorithms, applied to the human structural connectome! ๐ฃ๐
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
(1/18) Now out on BioRxivโผ๏ธ Reproducible Brain Charts: An open data resource for mapping brain development and its associations with mental health | doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Important work on the caveats of working with surface MRI data: a step closer to disentangling artificial vs biological sources of spatial autocorrelation. To add, these considerations are also essential for those working on MRI dynamics: space <โ> time are intertwined concepts. Way to go Jayson! ๐
Do you work on surface MRI such as HCP data? Our paper is finally out in Imaging Neuroscience, showing biases in surface fMRI. The revised ms has many new insights!
TLDR: Vertices are much closer to each other in sulci, resulting in (fake) high spatial autocorrelation. (1/5)
Full PhD scholarship + stipend (for an Australian or international student) to join our group and study the nonlinear dynamics of sleep (or related topics in time-series analysis of complex dynamical systems).
Apply here (via Project 7): www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...
Out in @natureneuro.bsky.social today ๐ฅ
Cytoarchitecture, wiring and signal flow of the human default mode network
Combining 3D histology, 7T MRI, and connectomics to explore DMN structure-function associations
Led by Casey Paquola, @themindwanders.bsky.social & a terrific team of colleagues ๐
Dr. Seiji Ogawa discovered and coined "Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent" BOLD contrast - used in almost all fMRI today. It was my great honor to interview him over two days on the very beginnings of fMRI, and so much more. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gBK...
*How* does the hippocampus encode the world around us? Leo Waschke and Fabian Kamp bring the ๐ฅ, showing that single-neuron spiking variability in hippocampus dynamically tracks sensory content during memory formation in humans. Our latest in Nature Communications: www.nature.com/articles/s41...