Inbal Shainer 🎗️

I am excited to share my PhD work on head-direction cells recorded in the wild, now published in @science.org, where we recorded neurons in bats flying outdoors on an island.

doi.org/10.1126/sci...

With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others

Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint:
“Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We describe the #connectomics reconstruction and analysis of an entire adult #maleCNS #drosophila central nervous system. 1/10

Our review is out 🎉

We discuss how neural computations in the retina shape behavior, continuing the top-down tradition of Lettvin et al.'s classic bug-detector neurons

Check it out 👀 arevie.ws/46HMEjd @annualreviews.bsky.social w/ coauthors @serenariccitelli.bsky.social @annaintegrated.bsky.social

“Blame your parents if you can’t pay enough attention." At least when you are a zebrafish! Our new study on attentional switching together with Kumaresh Krishnan, @paulapflitsch.bsky.social , @zwitscherarmin.bsky.social and Florian Engert is out in Science Advances:
doi.org/10.1126/scia...

Our latest study on the neurobiology of collective behavior is now posted as a preprint, led by UCSD PhD student Jo-Hsien Yu @anitajhyu.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social @danionella.bsky.social

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

Hierarchical processing of sensory information across topographically organized thalamocortical-like circuits in the zebrafish brain Thalamocortical projections contribute to the spatial organization and functional hierarchies of the mammalian cortex. Primary sensory cortices receive topographically segregated information from firs...

Check out this exciting study led by Anh-Tuan Trinh from our lab, where we investigated how thalamocortical-like circuits in the zebrafish pallium receive, represent, and integrate sensory information:
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Excited to share our latest paper - now out in @science.org - we showed how oxytocin modulates maternally-directed behavior in young mice (P15).

Preprint -
Excited to present WHOLISTIC, which extends the concept of whole-brain functional imaging to the entire body. Pioneering work by incredibly talented Virginia Ruetten @vmsruetten.bsky.social, this platform reveals whole-organism cellular dynamics in vivo.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

First sneak peek into SimFish! 🐟
Long in development with @isaacbianco.bsky.social and Sam Pink, our fish-on-chips now captures key aspects of larval #zebrafish sensory processing and motor control.

Now published @natecoevo.nature.com with @annika-nichols.bsky.social, our latest on the evolution of 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 across 𝟲𝟬 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 of cichlid fishes! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
with members of the @schierlab.bsky.social and Salzburger labs, as well as the burgeoning Shafer lab @uoftcellsysbiol.bsky.social

🚀 Hiring in Paris: 1 PhD + 1 Postdoc for an ANR project on gut-brain biology in zebrafish (imaging, optogenetics). Leads: P. Hernandez (Curie) & G. Sumbre (ENS-IBENS). Start flexible 2026. Also M2 internships (Jan–Feb 2026). Details in the call.
Please share! #PhDposition #Postdoc #Paris #Zebrafish

Happy to see our work, led by @ivanbassi.bsky.social, out today in @jem.org! #Zebrafish help us find new treatments for a #rare_disease affecting #lymphatic vessels! Congrats to all authors and thanks to #MDBRide4Rare, #ODC_UPenn, @erc.europa.eu for support @weizmanninstitute.bsky.social

Can't wait to read this preprint from Misha Ahrens and team. Calcium imaging in larval zebrafish, in every cell in the body! Amazing.

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

Small electric shocks to ear can boost self-compassion from meditation training Stimulating the vagus nerve with a device attached to the outer ear can help make compassion meditation training more effective at boosting people’s capacity for self-kindness and mindfulness, finds…

#ICYMI Small electric shocks to ear can help make compassion meditation training more effective at boosting people’s capacity for self-kindness and mindfulness, finds a new study led by UCL PALS researchers.

ALT text: A UMAP representation of a single cell RNAseq dataset from the Drosophila ventral nerve cord as well as images of the Drosophila nerve cord connectome and different stages of fly development.

Neuronal diversity is written in transcriptional codes 🧬. But what is the logic of these codes that define cell types and wiring patterns?
To find out we built a #scRNAseq developmental atlas of the Drosophila nerve cord and linked it to the #connectome 🪰🧠
#preprint thread ⬇️1/8

Evolution of nervous systems: Molecular divergence in a conserved body plan Comparative inter-species single-cell atlases of Caenorhabditis whole embryos and larval nervous systems reveal deep conservation of cell type identit…

highlight of two recent fantastic comparative inter-species single-cell atlases, by @live-large.bsky.social from @jisaacmurray.bsky.social, and Itai Toker from Oliver Hobert's lab
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

our new paper on pelagic #Asgard archaea that use #rhodopsins with carotenoid antennas to harvest light energy in the oceans.
Structural insights into light-harvesting by antenna-containing rhodopsins in marine Asgard archaea www.nature.com/articles/s41... @galitzlil.bsky.social

CIG- UNIL

Become our colleague! Tenure-track Assistant Professor position at The Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. unil.ch/cig/en/home....
More details for how to apply are here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...

A new study led by @timothysit.bsky.social reveals that different layers of mouse V1 integrate visual and non-visual signals differently.

Activity is dominated by vision (or spontaneous fluctuations) in L2/3 and by movement in L5. This leads to different geometries.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Braasch Lab @fishevodevogeno.bsky.social will soon post a position to replace manager of our *Ancient Fish Facility* at Michigan State. Looking for aquaculturist excited for unusual 🐟 species (gar, bowfin, paddlefish, polypterus) + zebrafish. Pls send candidates our way (DM or braasch@msu.edu)!

🔬👨‍💻📰 #SReD is out!
Automated structural detection for #ImageJ & #FIJI, from nano to macro ✨🐘. No training data, no bias - texture analysis with GPU acceleration!⚡️
Brainchild of @afonsomendes92.bsky.social and adventure w @christlet.bsky.social lab + friends.

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

Let's share @etlunsford.bsky.social's work : to survive, animals avoid drifting involuntarily in their environment. While humans rely on visual & vestibular cues, birds & fish need to sense complex flow changes of the external fluid (air/water) around them to select motor actions. How do they do?(1)

Binocular integration of prey stimuli in the zebrafish visual system Most animals with two eyes combine the inputs to achieve binocular vision, which can serve numerous functions and is particularly useful in hunting pr…

Latest from my lab: we identify and characterize the function of binocular neurons zebrafish larvae use to hunt prey; sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... Congrats to Richard Tian, Gewei Yan and Tommy Lam @tkclam.bsky.social!

We are proud to have @maxcapelle.bsky.social's paper out on bioRxiv! He found that phototactic behavior in #zebrafish switches during #ontogeny🐟🔆 Through elegant behavioral dissections, he identifies the navigational strategies related to this transition. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thread 👇

I am happy to introduce to you our new paper on pelagic #Asgard archaea that use #rhodopsins with carotenoid antennas to harvest light energy in the oceans.
Structural insights into light-harvesting by antenna-containing rhodopsins in marine Asgard archaea www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ICYMI #zebrafish folks:

Fresh from ‪@lascholz.bsky.social‬ and Conrad Lee, we offer 4 models pre-trained with diverse fps and resolutions. Leandro’s done all of the clicking. Benefit from his suffering and plug straight into automated annotation of your videos!‬

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

Intrinsically disordered regions facilitate Msn2 target search to drive promoter selectivity Transcription factors (TFs) regulate gene expression by binding specific DNA motifs, yet only a fraction of putative sites is occupied in vivo. Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) have emerged as ...

1/
New preprint!
How do transcription factors (TFs) use intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) to find their target sites?

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#TranscriptionFactors #IDPs #SingleMolecule #Biophysics

65 years after Lettvin’s bug detector neurons in the frog retina, we revisit how the retina drives behavior—from reflexes to prey capture to brain-state modulation

New review with @annaintegrated.bsky.social & @serenariccitelli.bsky.social in Annual Review of Vision Science 👇

tinyurl.com/ymp3vs4d

Introducing warpfield, an open source Python library for GPU-accelerated non-rigid 3D registration. Warps and aligns gigavoxel volumes within seconds (not hours). For 3D microscopy, region-to-region and cell-to-cell matching.
A collaboration with @mh123.bsky.social 🚀
github.com/danionella/w...

Sources of behavioral variability in C. elegans: Sex differences, individuality, and internal states Animal behavior varies across different timescales. This includes rapid shifts in behavior as animals transition between states and long-term changes …

How do different sources of variation, acting on distinct timescales, integrate to shape behavioral diversity?
It was a pleasure writing this review with Meital Oren-Suissa @meital.bsky.social and Steve Flavell.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...