Fanny Cazettes

Marseille folks: I’m organizing a one-day workshop on Distributed Computations for Flexible Behavior (Apr 16, Timone Campus) with a great line-up of speakers bridging theory, circuits & whole-brain dynamics! 🧠

Free registration (mandatory, incl. lunch): fannycazettes.limesurvey.net/172448?lang=...

Facial expressions less reflexive than previously thought A countenance such as a grimace activates many of the same cortical pathways as voluntary facial movements.

Facial expressions may involve an “everything, everywhere, all at once” type of coding in the brain, a new study suggests.

By @natmesanash.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/emotion-proc...

A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions Flexible behaviour requires transforming abstract cognitive representations, such as value preferences, into concrete motor actions. During economic decision-making, individuals evaluate options to gu...

New preprint from the lab!
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.

Last night Adam Kampff, the glue, the light, the catalyst, the builder, the smile, left us. He and his work transformed the lives of many labs, scientists, students. He inspired and was generous to his last transformation, working tirelessly to set up a foundation to continue the work.Thank you!

Putting the 'Spotlight' on a recent article by @fannycazettes.bsky.social et al. by discussing how “brain leakage” can expose cognitive computations in bodily movements – in turn opening new ways to track cognition. Now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social. authors.elsevier.com/a/1mDCZ4sIRv...

I remember when we used to think that all neurons were specialized.
Mixed selectivity: when neurons stopped looking like specialists
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience

Mixed selectivity: when neurons stopped looking like specialists — a Journal Club article by Fanny Cazettes

@fannycazettes.bsky.social

#neuroscience #neuroskyence

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

When @natrevneuro.nature.com asked me to highlight a paper that influenced both my field and my own research, I immediately thought of the work on mixed selectivity by @matrig.net, @stefanofusi.bsky.social, and colleagues.

More on this journal club: rdcu.be/eRKLk

In @thetransmitter.bsky.social’s Rising Stars of Neuroscience 2025, we recognize 25 early-career researchers who have made outstanding scientific contributions and demonstrated a commitment to mentoring and community-building in neuroscience.

#neuroskyence #StateOfNeuroscience

bit.ly/4rnFnyQ

@thetransmitter.bsky.social presents a portrait of the state of neuroscience in 2025 through four lenses: its focus, its output, its people and its funding. Each view features analyses of major trends and more. Explore the end of year report: bit.ly/4oNeTVC

#neuroskyence #StateofNeuro

Big congrats Anne! 🎉

The Transmitter’s Rising Stars of Neuroscience 2025 We recognize the outstanding achievements of 25 neuroscientists who stand to shape the field for years to come.

Thank you The Transmitter (@thetransmitter.bsky.social) for naming me a Rising Star of Neuroscience!

www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...

I wish I were at SfN to celebrate tonight with all the other awardees at the Simons Foundation's social.

Powerful new AI-driven approach to understanding neural population structure! A preview of where scientific methods may be headed?

We got the cover 🎉🎉 🎉 ! Beautiful artwork from the talented Carole Marchese, PhD student in my lab.

Pourra-t-on un jour lire dans les pensées ? Une étude sur les expressions faciales fascine la science - Edition du soir Ouest-France - 04/11/2025 Les conclusions de l’étude de l’Université d’Aix-Marseille peuvent surprendre. En se basant notamment sur la vidéo, associée à des techniques d’apprentissage automatique...

Pourra-t-on un jour lire dans les pensées ? Une étude de l’Université d’Aix-Marseille sur les expressions faciales des souris ouvre une fenêtre aussi fascinante qu’inquiétante. Explications avec la neuroscientifique @fannycazettes.bsky.social de @univ-amu.fr
www.ouest-france.fr/leditionduso...

Jane Goodall, chimpanzee expert and animal rights campaigner, dies age 91 - follow live The campaigner, a

RIP Jane Goodall… ethology will always remember you

YouTube video by Champalimaud Foundation Science Snapshot: Reflections of Thought / Reflexos do Pensamento

Can you read a mouse’s mind just by looking at its face?
A new study shows that subtle facial movements reveal hidden thoughts 👇
📺 Video explainer: youtu.be/eNjkmeJ-lvE
👀 Summary: www.fchampalimaud.org/news/scienti...
📄 Original paper 🔗: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our new study featured in The Transmitter by @lauren-schneider.com! 🎉 Big thanks to @zeronoiselab.bsky.social and @computingnature.bsky.social for their comments on the work.

Facial expressions in mice reveal latent cognitive variables and their neural correlates Nature Neuroscience - The face reveals more than just emotion. Cazettes, Reato and colleagues show that subtle facial movements reveal hidden cognitive states, reflecting the brain’s ongoing...

Did you know that facial expressions reveal more than meets the eye? 🤯

Our new study shows that even a mouse's face 🐭 can reflect hidden neural computations🧠. Turns out, facial expressions are more than just emotions!

We're so excited to see this paper out @natneuro.nature.com 🎉
🔗: rdcu.be/eIQzO

Reproducibility is a team sport Building reproducible systems across labs is possible, even in large-scale neuroscience—with rigor and collaboration.

Building reproducible systems across labs is possible, even in large-scale neuroscience. You just need rigor, collaboration and the willingness to look your own practices in the eye, writes Anne Churchland.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/reproducibil...

Interested in doing a Ph.D. to work on building models of the brain/behavior? Consider applying to graduate schools at CU Anschutz:
1. Neuroscience www.cuanschutz.edu/graduate-pro...
2. Bioengineering engineering.ucdenver.edu/bioengineeri...

You could work with several comp neuro PIs, including me.

Nice fundamental and translational neuroscience today in Saint Charles campus for @neuromarseille.bsky.social day.
@inp-marseille.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr @maudgratuze.bsky.social @blibep.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @aphm-chu-marseille.bsky.social @ibdm.bsky.social

Simons Foundation Announces Recipients of 2025 Fellows-to-Faculty Awards The Simons Foundation is pleased to announce the 2025 class of Fellows-to-Faculty Fellows.

Announcing our 9 new Fellows-to-Faculty Fellows! These awards help senior postdoctoral researchers with fresh perspectives on autism & neuroscience transition to tenure-track faculty positions: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/simons-foundation-announces-recipients-of-2025-fellows-to-faculty-awards/

Great to host SCGB fellow Caroline (@carolinehaimerl.bsky.social) in Marseille! She shared fascinating results from her work on abstraction from action prediction. Keep an eye on all her cool work coming out soon! 🧠👩‍🔬 #neuroscience

Two flagship papers from the International Brain Laboratory, now out in ‪@Nature.com‬:
🧠 Brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09235-0
🧠 Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09226-1 +

These meetings are made possible by the International Network for Bio-Inspired Computing (IN-BIC). Now more than ever, we need to build bridges through international scientific collaboration.

That's a wrap on Seattle! It was wonderful to join the #NeuroAI community at the @alleninstitute.org. The discussions are always incredibly inspiring! A huge thank you to Karel Svoboda, Adrienne Fairhall, and the whole organizing team for bringing us together!

Jobs We are working to solve the biggest mysteries in bioscience.

We have an open position for a Scientist I at the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics. Come join our exciting research environment @alleninstitute.org. Please share!

alleninstitute.org/careers/jobs...

Discovering cognitive strategies with tiny recurrent neural networks - Nature Modelling biological decision-making with tiny recurrent neural networks enables more accurate predictions of animal choices than classical cognitive models and offers insights into the underlying cog...

Thrilled to see our TinyRNN paper in @nature! We show how tiny RNNs predict choices of individual subjects accurately while staying fully interpretable. This approach can transform how we model cognitive processes in both healthy and disordered decisions. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

2025 PhD contracts for international students | NeuroMarseille NeuroSchool offers 3 fully-funded PhD contracts to students who have validated a Master's degree outside of France.

The NeuroSchool at Aix-Marseille University (neuro-marseille.org/en/). Some programs are especially designed to attract international students: neuro-marseille.org/en/Calls/202...