Michael Schellenberger

Place cells in CA1 lack topographical organization of firing locations | PNAS Topography is a well-described and well-known concept for cortical organization in primary sensory and motor cortices of mammalian brains. Similar ...

A half-century old question may have its final answer. Using high-resolution #Mini2P microscopes, we find no evidence of local topography in #PlaceCells. Place fields of neighbouring cells are no more similar than those of randomly selected cells. 🧠🗺️ Out now in @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

My first first-author paper is on bioRxiv! Here we ask whether the same subset of neurons in ACC always display object correlates during extensive familiarisation to 2 objects. A short 🧵1/10

By adjusting the direction, width and frequency sweeps, the sweep system may provide a mechanism for allocating spatial attention in allocentric hippocampal maps. Check out the preprint for more findings and videos!

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

We had a lot of fun doing these experiments! Theta sweeps in MEC and internal direction signals in parasubiculum track moving objects during pursuit and reverse during backward movement. Simultaneously recorded HD cells in other areas remain locked to head direction across behaviors:

Whether the system can be flexibly redirected to prioritize specific locations has been unclear. Using large-scale #Neuropixels recordings in freely behaving rats, we find that both sweeps – and the internal direction signals driving them – are dynamically modulated moment by moment. (4/6)

Theta sweeps can track moving bait and go backwards!

Do you love quantifying animal behavior as much as we do? We have just the tool for you! Presenting #OCTRON - a pipeline that helps you create rich annotation data and enables training of custom segmentation models. Have a look, particularly if you work with non-model / invertebrate organisms!

Still at SfN on the last day? During the morning session on the 19th, 8:00AM - 12:00PM, come check out our posters from the Moser, Zong, and Gonzalo Cogno groups in row QQ ('Grid cells and spatially modulated cells'). Ephys, imaging, remapping, development, sweeps and more! 🧠
Detailed thread below 👇

Check out the work @azvollan.bsky.social and I present tomorrow morning #SfN25

SFN 2025 let’s gooo!!

Moser group posters are held Wednesday morning (QQ), so if you’re leaving early feel free to come find us to chat :)

Functional independence of entorhinal grid cell modules enables remapping in hippocampal place cells A systems-level understanding of cortical computation requires insight into how neural codes are transformed across distinct brain circuits. In the mammalian cortex, one of the few systems where such ...

1/5 How does the brain turn the low-dimensional, universal grid cell metric into the rich, diverse codes needed for memory in hippocampal place cells? 🧵
Preprint link 👇

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

Congratulations @simwieg.bsky.social !!!

Our work with Maxim Bazhenov's group showing interleaved replay of new and old memories within individual Up states using a combination of biophysical modeling and electrophysiology experiments.

Our new paper out now in Science explores how neural activity in the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) *drifts* over time - and *jumps* at key boundaries - to help organize events in memory.

🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Here's a quick summary of what we found 🧵👇

Event structure sculpts neural population dynamics in the lateral entorhinal cortex Our experience of the world is a continuous stream of events that must be segmented and organized at multiple timescales. The neural mechanisms underlying this process remain unknown. In this work, we...

Your brain doesn’t just passively track time ⏳ - it structures it.
In @Science.org we show that activity in 🧠 memory circuits (LEC) drifts constantly, but makes sharp jumps at key moments, segmenting life into meaningful events. (1/2)

👉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Excited to share that our paper is now published in Nature! In this study, we uncovered a grid-cell-based circuit in medial entorhinal cortex that probes the surrounding environment with theta-paced, sweeping spatial representations 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats @azvollan.bsky.social & @rjgardner.bsky.social & @edvardmoser.bsky.social & @m-bmoser.bsky.social 🎉🎉🎉 Fantastic paper!

Left–right-alternating theta sweeps in entorhinal–hippocampal maps of space - Nature A study in rats proposes a mechanism for how the brain maps the surrounding environment, including places it has never seen, by alternating left and right forward sweeps in successive theta cycles.

Grid cells have a geometry in time. Thanks to @azvollan.bsky.social l & @rjgardner.bsky.social for this heroic discovery. @ercresearch.bsky.social
#KiloNeurons @m-bmoser.bsky.social @kavlintnu.bsky.social @nature.com
@kavlifoundation.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Attention! Zong lab
is recruiting!! Two Ph.D and postdoc positions in neuroscience 🧠 are available!! Apply if you are strongly interested in applying cutting-edge
@TheMini2P 🔬 for frontier systems neuroscience studies!!!!
www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Thankful for a loving family, all of my super funny friends, a happy and collaborative lab environment, and my rat Rafael for giving me some beautiful data tonight 🤩🥰🍗