Figure 2. FORCE1s reports in vivo neuronal activity with high fidelity under resonance scanning 2-photon microscopy (A-I) 2P-guided whole-cell patching and resonant-scan imaging in anesthetized mice. (A) Experimental schematic. (B) 2P images of a representative FORCE1s-Kv-expressing neuron are shown at high resolution (i) and the size and resolution used during voltage imaging (ii). The patching pipette is outlined. (C) Simultaneous electrophysiological recording (top, 10 kHz) and FORCE1s-Kv fluorescence imaging (bottom, 440 Hz). The fluorescence trace was low-pass filtered at 150 Hz to enhance the visualization of the spikes. Dashed boxes: epochs shown in panels D-E. Vertical lines: detected spikes. Gray triangle (left, and in panels D-E): -70 mV. (D-E) Zoomed-in subthreshold (D) and bursting (E) epochs. Panel D’s optical trace was low-pass filtered at 50 Hz to enhance the visualization of subthreshold fluctuations.

This is beautiful data. 2p optical reporting of subthreshold voltage, validated with simultaneous patch clamp. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... FORCE1s by François St-Pierre's group, with a bunch of great people joining in.

This sounds most unlikely.

I don't like the guy, but he's unfairly targeted for this. His phrasing opened him to ridicule, but the point he was trying to make is perfectly valid. There are limits to knowledge and this leads to dangers of unseen risks. No matter how well prepared you are, you can be surprised.

This is so well done. 👌

Latest version of our "Zapit" random access optogenetics system is up on bioRxiv. The system documentation is here: zapit.gitbook.io/user-guide/

Pete Hegseth reportedly spent $24M of expiring DOD funds on lobster, ribeye steaks, and Alaskan king crab.

Now the Pentagon wants ANOTHER $500B, on top of Trump's record-setting $1T military budget.

Imagine what we could spend that money on instead.

Advanced Microscopy Facility Sainsbury Wellcome Centre

Our London-based imaging facility is currently looking for a research software engineer to help develop analysis pipelines for spatial omics. Job advert accessible via our homepage: swcmicroscopy.com Our Neuroinformatics facility also hiring for related roles: neuroinformatics.dev

Keir Starmer and David Lammy are taking an extraordinarily dangerous gamble with our individual liberty This week, MPs will vote on the second reading of the Courts and Tribunals Bill. Don’t let the anodyne name fool you – this is one of the most revolutionary pieces of legislation in our…

NEW BLOGPOST: Keir Starmer and David Lammy are taking an extraordinarily dangerous gamble with our individual liberty

For any MP unsure of how to vote on the government’s proposals to restrict trial by jury.

The UK government didn't want you to see this report on ecosystem collapse. I'm not surprised | George Monbiot It took an FOI request to bring this national security assessment to light. For ‘doomsayers’ like us, it is the ultimate vindication, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem.
Thank you.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Remembering Adam Kampff, neuroscience educator and researcher Kampff’s do-it-yourself approach inspired a generation of neuroscientists.

Adam Kampff prioritized spreading knowledge over publishing flashy papers in prestigious journals, but colleagues say his mark on neuroscience was undeniable. The researcher and educator passed away on 9 December.

By Lauren Schneider

www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...

Last night Adam Kampff, the glue, the light, the catalyst, the builder, the smile, left us. He and his work transformed the lives of many labs, scientists, students. He inspired and was generous to his last transformation, working tirelessly to set up a foundation to continue the work.Thank you!

I doubt a new party is going to get 20% of the vote in any reasonable time frame. Certainly not by the next election, which it what we need to stop Farage.

Barcoded Rabies In Situ Connectomics for high-throughput reconstruction of neural circuits Sequencing of oligonucleotide barcodes holds promise as a high-throughput approach for reconstructing synaptic connectivity at scale. Rabies viruses can act as a vehicle for barcode transmission, than...

1/ Mapping synaptic connectivity between individual neurons is extremely laborious. We developed BRISC, a new method that makes it possible to map inputs onto 100s of neurons in the same animal in a matter of weeks! Led by Alex Becalick and @antblot.bsky.social. 🧵

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

🔬👨‍💻📰 #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...

The first article begins with a short history of the approach

Curved light sheet microscopy for centimetre-scale cleared tissue imaging - Nature Photonics Light sheet microscopy with curved light sheets enables tiling-free imaging of an entire intact cleared mouse brain with lateral and axial spatial resolutions of 1.0 μm and 2.5 μm, respectively, in le...

Curved light-sheet microscopy
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A neuroimmune circuit mediates cancer cachexia-associated apathy Cachexia, a severe wasting syndrome associated with inflammatory conditions, often leads to multiorgan failure and death. Patients with cachexia experience extreme fatigue, apathy, and clinical depres...

1/ Why do patients with late-stage cancer lose motivation & sink into apathy?
🔥 Our new Science paper shows chronic inflammation activates a cytokine-sensing brain circuit that lowers motivation. Huge team effort: Aelita Zhu, Sarah Starosta, Pignatelli & Janowitz labs! 🧵
🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scie...

A huge day for mapping in life science!
—the mammalian brain, most extensive yet (10 papers @nature.com journals)
nature.com/articles/s41...
@alleninstitute.bsky.social
—a comprehensive map of the human cell->sub-cellular
nature.com/articles/s41...
—complete ape genomes
nature.com/articles/s41...

How does the brain work?

Scientists are closer to the answer with the largest wiring diagram and functional map of a mammalian brain to date. 🧵

🧠📈

Today @nytscience.bsky.social on the microplastics (=5 bottle caps) in our brain, the recent @naturemedicine.bsky.social paper
gift link www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/w...

This won't kill it, it will just hurt people with lower incomes. It needs to be carefully dismantled by enlightened governments. We are a bit short on those however.

Enhancing the Cre-loxP system: Two new genetic tools – roxCre and loxCre – can improve the performance of the Cre-loxP system for making genetic modifications in vivo.
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Many of us use 2p scopes to image 3D volumes of brain. But then we analyze the data plane by plane, resulting in duplicated neurons, missed neurons, and low s/n. Let's go 3D!

Suite3D: Volumetric cell detection for two-photon microscopy
by @haydari.bsky.social & team.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I would encourage anyone asked to referee for a Royal Society journal, to very vocally follow Michael’s example. 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭

I've got a kite with 800 m of line and I have used most of it on one occasion. So it must have been at 200 or 300 m.

Illusions of Time YouTube video by Vsauce

Vsauce puts all this well:

Standardized measurements for monitoring and comparing multiphoton microscope systems - Nature Protocols A set of procedures is described here for standardizing the evaluation of multiphoton microscope performance, covering laser power, pulse width optimizations, field of view, resolution and photomultip...

A practical guide for anyone using multiphoton microscopes: Assess your system performance with quick, affordable tests - ensuring reliable, standardised data across labs.

Out now in @natprot.bsky.social ⬇️

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

When I first joined here I remember there being a lot of posts about how the 'culture' of bluesky was to block liberally and starve the trolls.

I just hope people are still doing that!

Standardized measurements for monitoring and comparing multiphoton microscope systems Nature Protocols - A set of procedures is described here for standardizing the evaluation of multiphoton microscope performance, covering laser power, pulse width optimizations, field of view,...

That was a fun project! Thanks to Rob Lees, Adam Packer, and all the co-authors for inviting me to participate.
rdcu.be/edQXi

Britain’s food supply is precarious – and Trump’s chaos is spreading. I have a plan. Do you? | George Monbiot I’ve started a stockpile, but that isn’t the answer. If crisis strikes, the government needs a strategy to protect us all, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Everyone who is able should be doing this. And growing as much of their own food as they can, and saving seed

But individuals can only do so much, and millions don't have the means to stockpile or grow

The government should be making appropriate plans NOW

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...