Marco Capogrosso

“We take vaccines so for granted in the United States” ...“Women in the developing world know the power of [vaccines]. They will walk 10 kilometers in the heat with their child and line up to get a vaccine because they have seen death.”

Melinda Gates

Motor learning refines thalamic influence on motor cortex - Nature Imaging and optogenetics in mice provide insight into the interplay between the primary motor cortex and the motor thalamus during learning, showing that thalamic inputs have a key role in the executi...

Our paper is out in Nature.

By examining various inputs to the motor cortex during learning, we found that thalamic inputs learn to activate the cortical neurons encoding the movement being learned.

Tour de force by Assaf in collab with Felix and Marcus. Congrats!

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

So, if you are looking for a postdoc in human neurotechnology send me an email, we will be looking for one soon #postdoc #neurotech #neuroscience

Impressive and intriguing

Bioelectric medicine uses electroceutical techniques to modulate central and peripheral organ function and behavior. Don't miss the latest research at the #APS2025 game-changer session: ow.ly/4v2250VlJQk #WeArePhysiology 🧪@mcapo.bsky.social

Elon Musk’s $1 Spending Limit Is Paralyzing Federal Agencies The DOGE-mandated credit card freeze is delaying shipments of critical supplies, stalling travel, and stopping employees from doing their jobs.

DOGE's crackdown on agency spending means that federal researchers can't do vital experiments, order liquid nitrogen tanks to preserve samples, or refill basic but necessary lab equipment. My story with @zoeschiffer.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/doge-e...

Principal Investigator positions at ELLIS Institute Finland | ELLIS Institute Finland Now recruiting new PIs in artificial intelligence and machine learning

I have big news: @ellis.eu has launched its 2nd major research center, @ellisfinland.bsky.social! I have agreed to start as founding director & the first call for PI positions is open. This is a major opportunity for outstanding researchers, join us! ellisinstitute.fi/PI-recruit

Want to work in another country?

The HFSP postdoc fellowship supports proposals for frontier, potentially transformative research in the life sciences and cross-disciplinary. high-risk projects are encouraged
LOI opens March 13, 2025

#neuroskyence #academicsky 🧪🧠🪰🌱🧬
www.hfsp.org/funding/hfsp...

I know many universities are asking folks not to speak to reporters on the record.

If you have need for someone who will be effing glad to speak on the record, DM me!

🙏

Trump firings cause chaos at agency responsible for America's nuclear weapons The National Nuclear Security Administration is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy that oversees the U.S. stockpile of thousands of nuclear weapons. Officials were given hours to...

Chaotic St Valentines Massacre (mass firing across government agencies, VA, NIH, NNSA, etc) puts millions of American lives at risk. There is no vetting if these jobs are important, just blanket firing of everyone they can legally fire.
www.npr.org/2025/02/14/n...

Dear Study Section gods,
May you show mercy today.
Please amplify the voices of our sympathetic and inspired reviewers.
Please bestill the cranky reviewer who misunderstood our grant.
Grant us the chance to do our science.
Amen
🙏

Imagine if @aoc @sanders.senate.gov , every dem, SIMULTANEOUSLY held Town Halls where they allowed grant and contract recipients to explain to the country what it is they do and why it's important

Invite all media. Including RW podcasters. @spaces Flood the zone

Call it a Day Of Transparency

Judge Rules That Trump Administration Defied Order to Unfreeze Billions in Federal Grants The federal judge in Rhode Island said the Trump administration had failed to comply with his order unfreezing billions of dollars in federal grants.

This is basically saying, yes they are breaking the rules, and we could put them in jail, but because they are the federal government we probably won't. But doesn't that make it even more important that you put them in jail?? www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/u...

As a private citizen and human of the world I am quite worried by this development. What does it mean when officials defy court orders to follow a president?

Trump maintains funding freeze at NIH, defying court order The Trump administration is still prohibiting National Institutes of Health (NIH) staff from issuing virtually all grant funding, an NIH official tells Popular Information.

BREAKING

The Trump administration is maintaining a funding freeze at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in defiance of two federal court orders.

The ongoing freeze was confirmed by an NIH official and internal correspondence reviewed by Popular Information.

If you live in a state that didn't join this suit, you might consider asking your governor why they are not taking concrete action to protect scientific research, workers, the economy, and the people of your state.

Thank you Jordan!

nothing would have happened without
Roche genentech as well as the support of SMAfoundation
and SMAEuropeGetting to know the SMA community and our wonderful participants changed my life; we're committed to move this to the next steps 💙 @news.upmc.com

Here we demonstrate that neurotechnology can be tailored to change single neuron properties thereby improving motoneuron function in a human motoneuron disease. This opens new avenues for the therapeutic use of neurotechnologies in neurodegenerative diseases as disease modifying interventions 1/2

A spine-zapping implant helped 3 people with a muscle-wasting disease walk better Three people with a muscle-destroying disease destined to worsen got a little stronger when an implanted device zapped their spinal cord.

Three people with a muscle-destroying disease destined to worsen got a little stronger – able to stand and walk more easily – when an implanted device zapped their spinal cord.

@mcapo.bsky.social

Story via @apnews.com 👇

apnews.com/article/spin...

The Trump admin has cancelled the panels that approve NIH grants, & is also banning scientists from communicating with the public, attending conferences, and hiring.

NIH is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world. This will severely halt the development of many lifesaving treatments.

NIH In Your State - United For Medical Research Select a state on the map to see the impact of NIH funding across America.

I just reached out to my senators about the NIH situation. If you need to find out how much impact NIH has in your state in terms of dollars in and their economic impact here's a link: www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...

My NIH study section that was to meet tomorrow was one of those canceled. This represents many months of work by the applicants and by the NIH staff and reviewers. Devastating is the correct word.

All NIH study sections canceled indefinitely. This will halt science and devastate research budgets in universities.

High-frequency epidural electrical stimulation reduces spasticity and facilitates walking recovery in patients with spinal cord injury High-frequency epidural electrical stimulation reduces spasticity, enabling protocols to improve recovery in people with incomplete spinal cord injury.

So happy for the Italian community! Silvestro's and Mortini's team came to my lab few years ago to train to tune SCS parameters and look what they have done! SCS works and it can be replicated easily! hopefully more and more patients will benefit #SpinalCordInjury

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

Can the motor system use sensory expectations to prepare for unexpected events?

Excited to share my latest work with @andpru.bsky.social – where we establish that sensory expectations shape neural population dynamics in motor circuits!

🧵 and paper below
1/

Why probability probably doesn’t exist (but it is useful to act like it does) All of statistics and much of science depends on probability — an astonishing achievement, considering no one’s really sure what it is.

An essay in Nature discusses how it’s an astonishing achievement that all of statistics and much of science depends on probability considering no one’s sure what it is. 🧪

Thank so much Jeff

YouTube video by Foundation for Biomedical Research Long-tailed macaques are more important than you think for medical treatments

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DZo...