Caroline Runyan

Excited to share my PhD paper! In it, we use targeted 2-photon optogenetic stimulation to determine how V1 activity is read-out in a detection task. We found that network influence, not visual coding properties, predicted the impact of ensembles on behavior - contradicting our expectations (1/5).

Speak up! Important to register widespread opposition to transitioning NIH to funding ideologically-motivated science. If you want advancements in knowledge and eventual cures, it is critical that research is steered by knowledgeable scientists, not political appointees

🗣️AMPLIFY AMPLIFY AMPLIFY!!! Please comment!

Distinct synaptic plasticity rules operate across dendritic compartments in vivo during learning Synaptic plasticity underlies learning by modifying specific synaptic inputs to reshape neural activity and behavior. However, the rules governing which synapses will undergo different forms of plasti...

Our new paper is out in Science.

What is the synaptic plasticity rule in the brain, we asked. It turns out there are multiple, even within individual neurons.

Congrats Jake!

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

🚨iGluSnFR4 is finally out!🚨🧪

We present iGluSnFR4f and 4s, a novel pair of genetically-encoded glutamate indicators designed for high-fidelity imaging of synaptic activity in the living brain. ⬇️

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

🎥 Below: iGluSnFR4s detecting minis in cultures w/ TTX

#Neuroscience

Thrilled to share the latest paper from the lab! Huge congrats to first author Dr. Celine Drieu and the amazing team of Ziyi Zhu, Sarah Elnozahy, Joy Wang, Aaron Wang, and Kylie Fuller! Lots of fun stuff in the paper so check it out - and let us know what you think :)

Individual variability of neural computations underlying flexible decisions - Nature Behavioural experiments to study decision-making in response to context-dependent accumulation of evidence provide testable models that are consistent with the heterogeneity in neural signatures among...

1/7 Our paper on individual variability in decision-making is finally out in @nature.com! Inspired by the classic work by Mante and Sussillo, we trained many rats to solve context-dependent decision-making, and we found that different brains use different neural mechanisms to solve the same task!

Carl R. Olson (1944–2024) Carl Olson, Professor of the Neuroscience Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, passed away on November 23, 2024. Carl was an internationally renowned neuroscientist who provided important insights...

Carl R. Olson (1944–2024)
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
#neuroscience

Join us for SAND in June - Abstracts due this Friday!

The focus is on joining experimental and computational neuroscientists to drive progress in analyzing neural data

10/n We are extremely grateful to the funding from NIH that allowed this work to happen, and for the continuing support: we are now using these methods to understand local computations performed by inhibitory interneurons and their state dependence.

9/n We think that this differing balance of local excitation and inhibition allows for A1 to maintain its sparse representation of sensory stimuli, and for PPC to integrate information across more neurons and trigger attractor states.

8/n In PPC, the central zone was wider, and the surround was weaker

7/n In A1, the central zone was narrow, and the surround was strong and wide.

6/n BUT the relative sizes of the network center and surround were different in auditory and parietal cortex:

5/n We replicated the stereotyped influence pattern seen previously by others (heavily inspired by @selmaan.bsky.social's work in V1): positive influence is restricted to a tight spatial zone closely neighboring the stimulated neuron, while activity in the surrounding region tends to be suppressed.

4/n We stimulated single excitatory neurons in A1 and PPC, and mapped the influence of each neuron on the surrounding population in layer 2/3 by imaging GCaMP.

3/n Previously, we compared population activity dynamics in auditory (A1) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC): In A1 population activity is sparse and decorrelated, while in PPC activity is more highly correlated, and wondered if these differences are driven by intrinsic network structure.

2/n We were motivated to do the study to try to explain differences in the spatial and temporal dynamics of population activity that have been described across the cortical processing hierarchy by many groups.

Local Differences in Network Organization in the Auditory and Parietal Cortex, Revealed with Single Neuron Activation The structure of local circuits is highly conserved across the cortex, yet the spatial and temporal properties of population activity differ fundamentally in sensory-level and association-level areas....

Check out our new paper, that reveals both the striking generality of cortical circuit organization, but also what we think are key differences in the scales of local excitatory and inhibitory networks across cortical areas. www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...

U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Sends Letters to 60 Universities Under Investigation for Antisemitic Discrimination and Harassment The Office for Civil Rights today sent letters to 60 institutions of higher education warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil...

I'm trying to make something- if your university is on the list, could you post here with your school's most famous public-facing discovery?

e.g. for University of Pittsburgh: Salk polio vaccine

Please repost!

www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

Three images with figure excerpts from the paper, highlighting 1) single-spike detection analysis, 2) autocalibration analysis, and 3) non-linearity of calcium-to-fluorescence transfer functions and their effect on the reporting of complex spiking events.

Are you using GCaMP8 or are planning to switch from GCaMP6? Then check out this new preprint from our lab! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

- Calcium imaging
- GCaMP8 vs. GCaMP6
- Spike inference
- Imaging + ephys ground truth

With F. Helmchen, K. Svoboda, M. Rozsa & X. Fang.

Happened to be at that one too, would have been nice to run into you!

Brain-wide presynaptic networks of functionally distinct cortical neurons - Nature Behavioural-state-dependent pyramidal neurons have a distinct pattern of long-range glutamatergic inputs, with a larger proportion of thalamic versus motor cortex inputs compared with non-behavio...

www.nature.com/articles/s41... awesome new work out today! From the Lee lab in the intramural research program at NIMH!

A rotating 3D-rendered volume showing ocular dominance columns as vertically extending structures (red) in the mouse visual cortex

Can the mouse visual cortex harbor a functional organization for stimulus features? TLDR: Yes, we found ocular dominance columns in this tiny cortical region! Check our paper, open access in @naturecomms.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... and/or read the 🧵 below. @mpiforbi.bsky.social (1/7)

Does anyone know if zoom study sections also have to be posted to the federal register?

Join us for the Stand Up for Science local rally in Pittsburgh on March 7, 2025, from 11 AM to 1:30 PM at Schenley Plaza

#StandUpforScience local rally in Pittsburgh is confirmed!

📅 March 7, 2025
⏰ 11 AM-1:30 PM
📍Schenley Plaza, Pittsburgh

Follow the local rally’s Instagram @savesciencepgh for updates

Spread the word 🔥

@standupforscience.bsky.social
#StandUpForScience2025
#ScienceForAll
#ScienceNotSilence
#STEM

📣 The 11th Statistical Analysis of Neuronal Data (SAND11) workshop will be held June 11-13, 2025 in New York at the @flatironinstitute.org with generous support from @simonsfoundation.org

Submissions for talks+posters are due March 21. See our website for details 👇

sandworkshop.github.io