Where does learning through imitation happen in the brain?
In juvenile zebra finches, we pinpoint a synaptic locus of song learning in a cortico-basal ganglia circuit and leverage this localization to measure the timescale of consolidation and make birds learn faster! #neuroskyence (1/14)
What a pleasure to have Prof Sten Grillner form @ki.se visiting us at Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience for 2 full days and inspiring us about vertebrate forebrain evolution
24.10.2025 19:44 — 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
📊 Data:
🧠 36 brains imaged by whole-brain LSFM (shoutout @LifeCanvasTech)
🔬 40 brains imaged with confocal
📍 Anterograde tracing from 8 isocortical areas
📍 Retrograde labeling from 4 brainstem/spinal targets
🧵 More to come—read the preprint
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We demonstrate how these two neurogenic programs—with distinct evolutionary histories—differentially shape isocortical output architecture, establishing it as the apex of hierarchical sensorimotor integration.
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This expansion is area-specific—reflecting the functional specialization of each region across motor, sensory, and associative areas.
It’s shaped by pruning of a pan-isocortex corticospinal axonal scaffold in indirect, but not direct, ET neurons.
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Using novel genetic access to directly- and indirectly-generated extratelencephalic (ET) neurons in the same mouse, we find:
🧠 Direct ET neurons: Project primarily to forebrain & midbrain
🧠 Indirect ET neurons: Amplify these projections and massively expand to hindbrain & spinal cord
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Will start my posts here with a preprint!
First preprint from my postdoctoral work—where we redefine and remap the isocortical efferent projectome through two foundational neurogenic mechanisms.
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