Thanks Matthijs!

Optogenetic activation in the forelimb/orofacial/ motor cortex of direct ET elicits movements of the head/trunk while indirect ET amplify head/trunk movements and additionally elicit forelimb and oromanual movements resembling ethological feeding.

The diversification by indirect ET is cortical area specific and is achieved by initial exuberant axonal overgrowth followed by postnatal axonal pruning

Leveraging a novel genetic access to extratelencephalic neurons (ET) born via direct vs indirect neurogenesis in same mouse, we show that direct ET neurons largely target forebrain/midbrain while indirect ET neurons massively amplify and diversify projections and expand to brainstem/spinal cord.

Distinct neurogenic pathways shape the diversification and mosaic organization of cortical output channels The cerebral cortex broadcasts its output to subcortical regions through the projections of diverse extratelencephalic (ET) neurons derived from eithe…

Happy to share my first postdoc paper, now out in @cp-neuron.bsky.social 🧠
We show how two distinct neurogenic pathways direct and indirect neurogenesis, differentially shape the cortical efferent projectome, linking evo-devo to adult connectivity and function.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Delighted to share that our study is now out @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell-stem-ce... Congrats to Dr. @federicamosti.bsky.social for the culmination of a beautiful thesis!

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

📊 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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