Navneet Vasistha

Copenhagen peeps, you (or your organisation) can book a researcher to speak about their work as part of the Forskningens Døgn (Research Day).

I will happily travel across the Greater Copenhagen and South Zealand (for some coffee and drømmekage). So go ahead and book me!

forsk.dk/indbakke/unc...

New to using Jupyter notebooks for the Allen Brain Cell Atlas?

Join us on Feb. 11 for a beginner-friendly webinar focusing on installation, set-up, and common questions.

Register for the meeting link and recording: https://alleninstitute-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_q0sJzndpRbSZWjrSGblu6A#/

More than five years later, Cronutt is still seizure-free and living his best life at Six Flags after receiving an experimental therapy with transplanted interneuron progenitor cells that was developed by the Baraban Lab at @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social: youtu.be/hZpFH5J5lbo
🧪 🧠🟦

How basic neuroscience has paved the path to new drugs 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.

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

Thanks Alex for writing this (& acknowledging AI help) but if I may be a contrarian for a change😂 rumors that many think basic science has not advanced treatment are highly exaggerated and are advanced to increase podcast listeners or sell books

And to this list I'd add Xanomeline-Trospium for SZ

I get it that science needs to be popularized and at times one resorts to hyperbole. This might even be a press release put out by the authors' department.

But does no one fact check these things anymore? Why should one give false hope to patients and families without explaining the nuance?

But GRIN2A variations are rare and occur at close to 1/100,000 individuals while mental illnesses like schizophrenia occur in nearly 1/100 individuals. In fact all known gene variants only explain around 30% of schizophrenia cases which forces us to consider the cumulative effect of several genes.

Another line that is out of place "For a long time, the general consensus was that mental disorders arise from a combination of factors, including genetic ones. However, the study shows that mutation in a single can determine how fast a mental disorder develops."

Rare coding variants in ten genes confer substantial risk for schizophrenia - Nature Whole-exome sequencing identifies ten risk genes for schizophrenia implicated by rare protein-coding variants, a subset of which overlap with risk genes in other neurodevelopmental disorders.

However, several sentences in the Science Desk piece seem misleading. For instance "...GRIN2A is the first known gene that, on its own, can cause a mental illness". This is clearly not true as many other gene variants are linked to mental illnesses doi.org/10.1038/s415...

For clarification, the original article by Lemke et al. is insightful for pointing to an early-onset of neurodev and psych. disorders due to variations in the GRIN2A gene.

Could one gene be responsible for mental illness? New study says yes A new study challenges long-held beliefs about the genetic roots of mental illness, suggesting that a mutation in the GRIN2A gene may be capable of causing psychiatric disorders on its own.

Opened @indianexpress.com today and found this interesting Science Desk piece that didn't sit well with me.

indianexpress.com/article/tech...

..and unfortunately this rigour will be interpreted by someone as "it is only a link".

The work was carried out by Andrea Asenjo-Martinez and Katarina Dragicevic, as well as the experienced Wen-Hsien Hou (Aarhus) who carried out the in vivo recordings and sleep analysis.
Thanks must also go to Prof. Jean-Francois Perrier and Nikolaj Hansen for helping us with ex-vivo calcium imaging

The affected mice also had major sleep disturbances tied directly to these malfunctioning neurons. By targeting and temporarily “quietening” the overactive Sst_Chodl neurons, we were able to rescue normal sleep patterns.

These cells connect distant parts of the brain and help regulate brain activity.

What's more, we found the major gene expression changes appeared only after the brain matured—shadowing a crucial aspect of psychiatric disorders

We examined neurons from mice with a 15q13.3 microdeletion, a genetic change strongly linked to neuropsychiatric disorders in humans.

Deep-layer GABAergic neurons—especially somatostatin-positive (Sst_Chodl) cells—to be most severely affected.

Dysfunction of cortical GABAergic projection neurons as a major hallmark in a model of neuropsychiatric syndrome Using advanced transcriptomic and physiological profiling, the authors identified deep-layer long-range GABAergic projection neurons as the most disrupted neuronal subtype and key contributor to brain...

Better late than never, here's our two bits about a study we published recently on cell-type specific dysfunction in a CNV model of psychiatric disorders.

www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

I would grab this opportunity if I could travel several years back in time but if you're someone who matches the description, then please do not hesitate to reach out.
I work in the Khodosevich Group and am happy to answer questions if you'd like to whet us before you write to the grown ups.

Really cool work. Congratulations to all the authors 👏🏽

Gene replacement therapy normalizes some traits in SYNGAP1 model mice The first published virus-based gene therapy for SYNGAP1 deletion yields benefits despite the gene’s long length and complexity.

Boosting SYNGAP1 levels via viral delivery can normalize brain waves in mice.

By @cqchoi.com

www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/gen...

#neuroskyence

Most sources will tell you that the shinkansen is modelled after birds (kingfisher by most accounts), but tell me you don't see a giraffe from this angle (the headlight mischievously placed as a nostril)

Inspired by this post, here is: How I learned that the Charité-Berlin has its own exterminator (1/n)

Early Exposure to Anesthesia May Shift Brain Development - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology MCB researchers show GABA-based sedation in newborns speeds up brain development, confirming decades of animal research in a human cohort. A new longitudinal study led by MCB’s Takao […]

Early Exposure to Anesthesia May Shift Brain Development 🧠 🧪🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @northeasternu.bsky.social

Identification of proliferating neural progenitors in the adult human hippocampus Continuous adult hippocampal neurogenesis is involved in memory formation and mood regulation but is challenging to study in humans. Difficulties finding proliferating progenitor cells called into que...

It boggles me how journals continue to milk controversial issues and publish articles that don't even justify their own title, let alone undertake an honest scientific response to the marker previously laid down by other researchers.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The evolving neurobiology of early-life stress This review explores the effects of early-life stress on brain development and cognitive function, highlighting gaps in understanding perceived stress, vulnerable developmental stages, underlying mole...

Excellent review by @talliezee.bsky.social and Matthew T. Birnie on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the consequences of early life adversity. Highly recommended! www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

Such an incredible resource! Kudos to everyone at Allen + collaborating labs for making this available to all 👏🏽👏🏽

R.I.P. Jayant Narlikar (1938-2025) Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (1938-2025) I heard this morning of the death at the age of 86 of renowned Indian cosmologist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. I understand he died peacefully in his sleep i…

My memories of Prof Narlikar are the physics TV show for kids on doordarshan and him explaining eclipses telescoper.blog/2025/05/20/r...

A human-specific enhancer fine-tunes radial glia potency and corticogenesis - Nature HARE5, a human accelerated region enhancer, modulates cortical development by influencing neural progenitor cell behaviour, leading to an enlarged neocortex with increased functional independence betw...

Thrilled to share our latest study out in @natureportfolio.nature.com led by the fantastically talented Jing Liu. Our study provides insight into a long standing question in biology: What molecular features make us uniquely human and how do these function? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I don't think the poor quality is a result of poor journos. Rather it is top down cultivation of primetime joker editors, and the lack of fact-checkers. Of course it helps that the paying audience is happy with whatever they are fed.

What started as a master's project has finally culminated in new insights on how/when large genetic deletions and duplications impact brain development.