Michi Forsthofer's Avatar

Michi Forsthofer

@mforst.bsky.social

Postdoc in the Baden lab. Looking into plasticity of vision in frogs 🐸

351 Followers  |  183 Following  |  14 Posts  |  Joined: 16.11.2024  |  1.6986

Latest posts by mforst.bsky.social on Bluesky


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The registration for the NeuroDoWo 2026 will open on February 15th🧠

While you wait, you can check out our program on the websiteπŸ”
πŸ‘‰πŸΌLink in bio

We hope to see you soon!

Stay tuned for more detailsπŸ‘€

Suported by @biologists.bsky.social, @neurowissg.bsky.social and @dzg-neurobiology.bsky.social

11.02.2026 18:52 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
Nanodiamonds for spatial resolution benchmarking in two-photon microscopy Reliable and reproducible measurement of spatial resolution is essential for validating and comparing the performance of two-photon microscopy systems. We present fluorescent nanodiamonds as robust, photostable, reusable, and biocompatible probes for benchmarking spatial resolution. Owing to their nanoscale dimensions and stable fluorescence, nanodiamonds act as near-ideal point-like emitters, enabling accurate characterisation of the point spread function across varying imaging conditions. We demonstrate that nanodiamond-based phantoms serve as a reliable alternative to conventional fluorescent beads embedded in agarose, while at the same time offering advantages in stability and optical properties. Our results position nanodiamond phantoms as a next-generation calibration material that bridges ease of use and reproducibility, advancing quantitative imaging and cross-platform comparability in modern fluorescence microscopy. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Wellcome Trust, https://ror.org/029chgv08, Investigator Award in Science 220277/Z20/Z European Research Council, https://ror.org/0472cxd90, ERC-StG Β“NeuroVisEcoΒ” 677687, ERC AdG Β“Cones4ActionΒ” covered under the UKΒ’s EPSRC guarantee scheme EP/Z533981/1 UK Research and Innovation, https://ror.org/001aqnf71, BBSRC, BB/R014817/1, BBSRC, BB/W013509/1 International Human Frontier Science Program Organization, https://ror.org/02ebx7v45, RGP001/2025 Leverhulme Trust, https://ror.org/012mzw131, PLP-2017-005, RPG-2021-026, RPG-2-23-042 Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine Gdańsk University of Technology, https://ror.org/006x4sc24, Nobelium DEC-4/1/2024/IDUB/I.1a/No, Platinum 1/1/2025/IDUB/I.1B/Pt

1/10 New preprint on bioRxiv
Nanodiamonds for spatial resolution benchmarking in two-photon microscopy

We introduce nanodiamond-based phantoms as a robust, reusable alternative to bead–agarose samples for PSF calibration.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

14.01.2026 15:28 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Ammissione ai corsi di PhD della SISSA per l'Anno Accademico 2026/27 - Admission to SISSA PhD courses for the Academic Year 2026/27 Extra EU candidates are welcome to applyCheck the Information Sheets below for additional information on the examsCLICK HERE FOR ONLINE APPLICATIONSMATHEMATICS AREAGeometry and Mathematical PhysicsInf...

up to 5 fully funded PhD positions in Neurobiology at SISSA! Application through the portal until March 25th, start in November. www.sissa.it/bandi/ammiss... Join 1 of our 6 labs studying sensory and motor systems of the peripheral and central nervous system and/or get involved in tool development.

30.12.2025 14:02 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Donate to In Memory of Adam: His Legacy of Education for Everyone, organized by Elena Dreosti Adam’s greatest loves were his ideas, his work, and our two chil… Elena Dreosti needs your support for In Memory of Adam: His Legacy of Education for Everyone

A Go Fund Me link has been shared to support Adam Kampff's educational organization @noblackboxes.bsky.social - for those who wish to support you can find a link here gofund.me/245cb96ff

15.12.2025 16:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

I only met Adam for a couple days during a summer school, but that was enough to be truly inspired by him. You can, and should, understand things at their core. I hope his legacy will live on.

09.12.2025 22:47 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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!

09.12.2025 15:37 β€” πŸ‘ 42    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 6

Anyone off to #sfn2025?

I'll be helping out the folks of the Bonsai Foundation in sharing info about their amazing #OpenScience #opensoftware #openhardware tools for research!
Come find us on Booth 3726, in Hall B2, in the Institute & Non-Profit Area #cienciabr @open-neuroscience.com

12.11.2025 20:24 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Jay’s Adapt~O~Matic – BrainRight

How did I not know about this super-useful site for customized 3D-printable thread adapters? HT to @leon-kremers.bsky.social : brainright.com/adapt-o-matic/

05.11.2025 11:02 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Zebrafish use spectral information to suppress the visual background Vertebrate eyes first evolved in water, where spectral content rapidly fades with distance. Zebrafish exploit this loss by antagonizing cone signals to suppress the background, pointing to distance es...

Excited to share our paper now published in Cell!
'Zebrafish use spectral information to suppress the visual background'

Huge thanks to @neurofishh.bsky.social & @teuler.bsky.social

@cellpress.bsky.social @cp-cell.bsky.social

πŸ‘‡πŸ»
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

04.11.2025 09:16 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
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World Wide Neuro | Sussex Vision Series - 31/10/2025 - Dr. Cristian Gutierrez-Ibanez YouTube video by BadenLab

Friday, 31st of October we are excited to host Cristian Gutierrez-Ibanez on the Sussex Vision talk series! Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

4 pm UK
9 am US west coast

Tune in here:
youtube.com/live/gLwBRWe...

23.10.2025 13:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
snowy mountains

snowy mountains

Join the symposium for senior trainees & junior group leaders (organised by SWC's Sara Mederos and @sandra-neuro.bsky.social) at the International Winter Neuroscience Conference, Austria, April 2026.

Abstract submission to present your work at the Early Career Symposium closes on 15 Oct

16.09.2025 12:43 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
An array of 9 purple discs on a blue background. Figure from Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt.

An array of 9 purple discs on a blue background. Figure from Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt.

A nice shift in perceived colour between central and peripheral vision. The fixated disc looks purple while the others look blue.

The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.

From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...

24.09.2025 10:16 β€” πŸ‘ 703    πŸ” 263    πŸ’¬ 31    πŸ“Œ 40
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Had a great time at the #ERM in PΓ©cs. Got to meet lots of great people from the retina field, and even won the audience vote for best poster!

25.09.2025 08:25 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Video is calcium activity in one hemisphere of the optic tectum of a 2-week old tadpole, in response to the stimuli shown in the inset. Both played at 5x speed.

19.09.2025 13:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Excited for the European Retina Meeting next week, and to show some of my work on how 🐸 see the world as peacefully filter feeding tadpoles or predatory frogs. Here's a sneak peek at the imaging part, for more info talk to me or see my poster on the baden lab website: badenlab.org/posters/

19.09.2025 13:54 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out . ALT: a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out .

πŸ‘οΈThe retina β€” strikingly conserved across vertebrates, but an oddity among bilaterians!

So how did it evolve?

With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may π‘π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘‘π‘Žπ‘‘π‘’ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑖𝑑𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n

12.09.2025 12:58 β€” πŸ‘ 51    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 3
World Wide Neuro | Sussex Vision Series - 12/09/2025 - Prof. Eugenia Chiappe
YouTube video by BadenLab World Wide Neuro | Sussex Vision Series - 12/09/2025 - Prof. Eugenia Chiappe

Today, 12th September 5pm GMT+1 (9am US west coast) we’re excited to host Eugenia Chiappe! Tune in at m.youtube.com/watch?v=KBtT...

12.09.2025 09:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
World Wide Neuro | Sussex Vision Series - 22/08/2025 - Prof. Julie Semmelhack
YouTube video by BadenLab World Wide Neuro | Sussex Vision Series - 22/08/2025 - Prof. Julie Semmelhack

This Friday we are excited to host Julie Semmelhack on the Sussex Vision talk series! Looking forward to seeing many of you there!
Tune in here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsqh...

20.08.2025 09:06 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

We're aware that these times are difficult to make in some time zones, but we are also limited by speaker time zones/talks bein in-person. Will adjust for the next set of talks wherever possible.

18.07.2025 13:27 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Next Wednesday, 15:00 GMT+1 (3pm UK, 4pm Europe) we have another Sussex Vision talk! Tune in at www.youtube.com/@badenlab615... for Michael Herzog (hosted by Jenny M Bosten). See you there!

18.07.2025 13:24 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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This Thursday, 13:00 GMT+1 (1pm UK, 2pm Europe) we have the Sussex Vision series coming back. Tune in at m.youtube.com/playlist?lis... to hear Fabio Cortesi talk about vision in coral reef fishes. See you there!

23.06.2025 10:06 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Sussex Vision Talk series is back! Join us to hear about all things vision, from retina to brain, from invertebrates to human.
www.youtube.com/@badenlab615...
Talks will be live-streamed (and stored) on YouTube, hope to see many of you there. Details on each talk coming soon.

04.06.2025 12:57 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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The SAFE Labs Handbook: community-driven commitments for group leaders to improve lab culture Creating positive and equitable lab environments has become a growing priority for the scientific community and funders of scientific research. Research institutions typically respond to this need by ...

Now with correct link: Preprint on how to create an equitable and healthy lab environment www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... ! During the SAFE Labs workshop 2024 we came up with concrete action points, summarised in these guidelines for Lab Handbooks github.com/SAFE-Labs-Do...

30.05.2025 17:30 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Ambient Light Impacts Innate Behaviors of New-World and Old-World Mice Animals encounter predators and prey under diverse lighting conditions that signal different risks and opportunities, yet how ambient illumination shapes innate approach and avoidance behaviors remain...

New paper on bioRxiv: "Ambient Light Impacts Innate Behaviors of New-World and Old-World Mice" - together with @farrowlab.bsky.social, with data from NERF master students and two of my lab members! A study across 3 species: Mus musculus, Peromyscus maniculatus & P. polionotus doi.org/10.1101/2025...

19.05.2025 06:55 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Our proposal for a β€˜universal’ nomenclature for rod and cone types based on their evolutionary lineages that will equally apply to all vertebrate species is now out! Have a look and please consider adopting the system :)

08.05.2025 18:31 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Looking for a quick way to map the brain of your favourite small animal model?
See our new paper. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 1/10

28.02.2025 08:36 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 4
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We had an excellent week at the EMBO Subcortical Circuits Meeting in Assisi. First posters with lab-own data only, presented by the amazing Po-yu Liao and Lucia Zanetti! Great organising by @santiagorompani.bsky.social, Hiroki Asari, Tomomi Shimogori and Judith Hirsch

14.02.2025 19:23 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Seeking input: A standardized nomenclature
for the rods and cones of the vertebrate retina

A number of us have been working on a proposal to bring various disconnected naming systems for the vertebrate rods and cones across species into alignment. The basic proposal looks like this:

05.02.2025 15:34 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3
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The beauty of viral transfection in #avianretina πŸ”

Here is a transfected #amacrinecell and some #photoreceptors in a cross-section of a #chick #retina.

Great image for #FluorescenceFriday

Sample from
@neurofishh.bsky.social

Green: Viral transfected retina; Red: DAPI for stratification

17.01.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@mforst is following 20 prominent accounts