Tobias Ackels

Decoding olfactory bulb output: A behavioral assessment of rate, synchrony, and respiratory phase coding Neurogenetics; Behavioral neuroscience; Sensory neuroscience

Animals’ sniffing drives rhythmic input to the olfactory system.

How does this timing contribute to perception, especially beyond first steps of olfactory processing?

We tested this using simple closed-loop optogenetics in our new paper: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Fun collaborative work together with the amazing lab of @sophiesteculorum.bsky.social now published!

Mice discriminate odour source distance via sub-sniff temporal features of odour plumes Rodents rely on olfaction to navigate complex environments, particularly where visual cues are limited. Yet how they estimate the distance to an odour source remains unclear. The spatiotemporal dynami...

6/6 🧪 A fantastic collaboration with @juliajadeharris.bsky.social, Debanjan Dasgupta, Andrew Erskine & Tom Warner. Many thanks to all involved!
📄 Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
💻 Code: github.com/ackels-lab/Odour_distance_paper

5/6 Neural responses were better predicted by rapid temporal fluctuations in the plume than by average concentration. This suggests that the dynamic plume structure serves as a core sensory cue for distance.

4/6 We further used in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging to record mitral and tufted cell activity in the olfactory bulb and found that a subset of neurons showed distance-dependent responses, and that population activity reliably encoded odour source distance.

3/6 These findings show that mammals can extract spatial information from fast, complex odour dynamics, highlighting the role of rapid temporal processing in olfaction.

2/6 Using a wind tunnel and olfactory virtual reality, we presented dynamic plumes with complex airflow structure. Through automated, high-throughput behavioural experiments, mice learned to distinguish near vs. far odour sources.

1/6 Rodents use olfaction to navigate, especially when vision is limited. But how do they estimate the distance to an odour source?
Our new study shows that mice can estimate the distance to an odour source using sub-sniff temporal features in naturalistic odour plumes.

🚨 Preprint alert! 🚨
Can mice estimate the distance to an odour source?
New work led by Cristina Marin and colleagues, jointly supervised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social at the @crick.ac.uk and myself.

Spoiler alert: Yes, they can!

Read the paper here: bit.ly/43A9tF9
Short 🧵 below

A spatial code governs olfactory receptor choice and aligns sensory maps in the nose and brain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.02.651738v1

My PhD project is out as a preprint!
We combined 2P and synchrotron X-ray to understand mouse olfactory bulb circuits, linking physiology to structure in 3 animals!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🙌 @carlesbosch.bsky.social, @apacureanu.bsky.social, @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social, @esrf.fr, @crick.ac.uk

Amplification of Olfactory Transduction Currents Implements Sparse Stimulus Encoding Sensory systems must perform the dual and opposing tasks of being sensitive to weak stimuli while also maintaining information content in dense and variable sensory landscapes. This occurs in the olfa...

Now in its final form, our recent work on how olfactory transduction currents help ensure sparse sensory coding. Led by a post-bac Kai Clane Belonio and a graduate student, Eyerusalem Haile, this was a group effort by the entire laboratory.

www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...

Smell studies often use unnaturally high odor concentrations, analysis reveals It’s time to fashion olfactory neuroscience stimuli based on odor concentrations in the wild, say study investigators Elizabeth Hong and Matt Wachowiak.

Olfactory neuroscientists have known for a while that their stimuli stink. A new analysis illuminates the extent of the problem.

By @callimcflurry.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/olfaction/sm...

Stereo olfaction underlies stable coding of head direction in blind mice - Nature Communications Stereo olfaction involves comparing odor differences between the two nostrils. Here, using neuronal recordings and a behavioral test, the authors demonstrate that blind mice use stereo olfaction to fo...

Excited to share the sequel to our 2022 paper! In this follow-up, we show that the stable head direction (HD) signals we reported in blind mice rely on stereo olfaction—that is, the comparison of odor info. between the two nostrils.

Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧵highlights below

Tomorrow morning, March 29th at 11:30 am, check out Symposium 31 at #NWG2025 @neurowissg.bsky.social organized by MODOLFOR member Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social

Our Symposium takes place tomorrow at the Sternwarte in Göttingen. We are looking forward to exciting talks from @nawrot.bsky.social, @xenofrog.bsky.social, Lisa Scheunemann, Andre Fiala and Celine Riera. What a great start of the #NWG meeting @neurowissg.bsky.social

Wed 26th March 12:00 - 13:00: Plenary Lecture, Hall 11 Frank Bradke | Bonn Mechanisms of axon growth and regeneration Wed 26th March Satellite Symposium (Sat2), Historische Sternwarte/Observatorium, Georg-August-University Göttingen International Symposium Research Unit 5424 (DFG) „Modulation of olfaction“ Chairs: Veronica Egger, Ilona Grunwald Kadow and Silke Sachse | Regensburg, Bonn and Jena Thursday 27th March Symposium 14 - Hall 10 Circuits for behavior: cross-species strategies for adaptation and plasticity Chairs: Graziana Gatto and Jan Gründemann | Köln and Bonn Friday 28th March Symposium 24 - Hall 9 Evolution of behavior: from genes to circuits Chairs: James Lightfoot and Monika Scholz | Bonn Saturday 29th March Symposium 31 - Hall 9 From olfaction to emotions Chairs: Tobias Ackels and Sabine Krabbe | Bonn

Meet our IMPRS faculty members at the German Neuroscience Society Meeting in Göttingen this week!

Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

Recalibrating Olfactory Neuroscience to the Range of Naturally Occurring Odor Concentrations Sensory systems enable organisms to detect and respond to environmental signals relevant for their survival and reproduction. A crucial aspect of any sensory signal is its intensity; understanding how...

Check out our review comparing typical experimental to naturally-occurring odor concentrations. You might be surprised.
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Thanks to Matt and Betty for asking me to take part!

Thanks Gaia 😊

I am deeply grateful for this award, which not only recognizes my work but also reflects the invaluable contributions of my team, mentors, and supporters!

It inspires me to continue working with my lab to deepen our understanding of how we perceive and interpret our environment.

Really cool. Congratulations!

Join us for the MODOLFOR Satellite Symposium on Modulation of Olfaction at the 16th Göttingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society in spring 2025 🐭🐝👃
@neurowissg.bsky.social

Have you ever wondered how memories are processed downstream of the #hippocampus and how this is affected by #Alzheimer's? We believe we may find some answers by riding all the way down the fornix to the mammillary body. Apply here for a fully-funded #PhD with us: ovgu.b-ite.careers/56yvk

Sniffing helps animals identify smells and connect them to places and events, but noses can’t sense time or place.

How do brains connect odors with internal models of the world?

Our preprint suggests that the olfactory bulb participates in this connection.

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

How do mammals convert dynamic odor information into neural maps for landscape navigation? Odors contain complex spatiotemporal information that guide animal behavior, but how this information is processed is not fully understood. This Essay discusses recent advances in mammalian olfactory ...

Check out our new review in PLoS Biology on how dynamic odour information can help mammals to navigate through their environment.
Led by the fantastic Anantu Sunil & Olivia Pedroncini, this also marks my first last author publication from the University of Bonn!
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...