There is still time to apply. I'm now looking for someone who likes imaging, for a project like this: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

Delighted to share our discoveries about one of the brain's neurotransmitter systems:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Together with colleagues at the @alleninstitute.org, we have learned a lot about a tiny cluster of neurons in the brainstem locus coeruleus (LC) that releases norepinephrine (NE). 1

The revised version of our paper on the impact of top-down feedback is now out @elife.bsky.social:

doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

tl;dr: we show that using human-brain-like feedback/anatomy in a deep RNN leads to human-like visual biases!

This work was led by @tmshbr.bsky.social

#NeuroAI 🧠📈 🧪

Many thanks to @klaus-tschira-stiftung.de and @gso-forresearchers.bsky.social for this wonderful opportunity to study the mechanisms underlying naturalistic decision processes in the context of foraging behavior!
We’ll also soon have openings for PhD students, stay tuned!

Chemical Reaction Networks Learn Better than Spiking Neural Networks We mathematically prove that chemical reaction networks without hidden layers can solve tasks for which spiking neural networks require hidden layers. Our proof uses the deterministic mass-action kine...

This is satisfyingly niche. Shots fired by the chemical reaction networks community.

arxiv.org/abs/2603.12060

Stoked this is finally out! We ask: how can we simulate the brain from the bottom up? It's not sufficient to grab the connectome and wire it up in silico! We need 1) ultrastructure 2) (causal) calibration data 3) functional data. Then we can build a simulation compiler. 1/

Happy to see the main paper from my postdoc finally out!

An important piece on error-based learning in biological networks

Our latest publication grapples with how the brain could implement gradient descent by sending learning targets top-down, gating plasticity with dendritic inhibition, and updating synaptic weights with biologically observed learning rules like BTSP.

www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Modern building with colorful vertical panels and a large "DZNE" sign, with people walking nearby on a paved path surrounded by trees.

Event badge with the name "Fabrizio Musacchio" and "DZNE" on it, attached to a lanyard with red, blue, and gray segments, placed on a canvas bag with "BONNBRAIN.DE" printed on it.

Six presenters stand on a stage at a conference, with a large blue and white "BONN BRAIN" logo displayed on a screen behind them.

A presenter stands on stage giving a talk to an audience in a conference room with a large screen displaying a slide titled "Representational similarity is preserved during representational drift in random networks."

A great start to #BonnBrain26 🧠 today, highlighted by the excellent young investigator talks by @martipof.bsky.social, @samueleckmann.bsky.social, Nicole Hoffmann, Carlo Castoldi, Karen Yu Chen Cheng, @seidlcarina.bsky.social, @j-b-eppler.bsky.social and Julia Schnermann 💫💪

#DZNE #BonnBrain

Job opening: Professorship for Molecular Pharmacology at Marburg University, Germany.

We seek a scientifically outstanding researcher in the field of epithelial biology in inflammation, regeneration, and/or cancer.

stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/0...

Next position advertised by our cluster: We are searching for a Lab Manager running the single cell-sequencing lab at Heidelberg University.
adb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FD...

a close up of a sad cat with the words pleeeaasse written below it ALT: a close up of a sad cat with the words pleeeaasse written below it

Hey, I’ve got a childhood epilepsy R01 I’m writing - it’s mechanistic, focusing on calcium and cytoskeleton.

Waaaaay out of my wheelhouse, and I’d love to get expert’s input for my specific aims - any takers to have a quick look at my page and just absolutely wreck it?

Biological Laboratory | LEGO® Ideas This is a two-floor realistic Biological Laboratory building. In this design, I try to tell stories about biologists, introduce biology concepts to general publ…

I just made an account and voted for this biology laboratory made of LEGO to "promote biological research and inspire more people into the world of biology". They need 10K votes. Reposting and/or voting below would be helpful. 🤗
beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

Are you a computational postdoc or even in the last year of your PhD and you want to set up your own lab? Want to work in one of the most multi-disciplinary and multi-national institutions in the world? Want to be a leader in understanding biology - molecules up? Apply below!

I think this is a *super* important paper - if this result can be replicated with other regions or tasks then this may come to form our core understanding of credit assignment signals in the neocortex!

#neuroscience 🧪

We're hiring! This is a unique opportunity to translate our understanding of neural computation - from circuit-level mechanisms to computational principles - into the human brain, through the establishment of cutting-edge human neural recording capabilities with collaborators in London and abroad.

We’re hiring a Group Leader!

Join us to lead a transformative initiative in human systems neuroscience.

Find out more and apply ⤵️

www.sainsburywellcome.org/content/curr...

Sub-membrane actin rings compartmentalize the plasma membrane There is mounting evidence that the cytoskeleton organizes the plasma membrane. Due to the dynamic nature of cytoskeletal proteins, direct experimental confirma

Very excited to share my PhD work with @ewerslab.bsky.social at @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social out at JCB! It's all about actin rings and how they compartmentalize the #plasmamembrane! A short thread 1/5

rupress.org/jcb/article-...

🚨🚨🚨Attention, cell biologists! @jcellsci.bsky.social are recruiting a new EiC to follow in @drmichaelway.bsky.social’s footsteps & are seeking community input - link to survey 👇

🥳🥳🥳 Pretty fab start to 2026!!

Toward a science of prospective learning In a constantly changing world, effective intelligence means anticipating future changes. Kording et al. argue that organisms adapt prospectively, modeling how environments and capabilities of the org...

While much of machine learning is retrospective (learn the past distribution) learning in biology is prospective (learn for the future) - here we discuss some implications for neuroscience (with @tdverstynen.bsky.social, Josh Vogelstein, Pratik Chaudhari): www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

Fluorescence lifetime-based biosensor for monitoring compartmentalized autophagy dynamics in the intact mammalian brain Synaptic architecture underlies neuronal computation, with autophagy serving as a key regulator of synaptic plasticity, function and local metabolism. Yet, autophagy dynamics and regulation within int...

I am excited to share our new paper, where we developed and used a new approach that allows us to dynamically monitor autophagy in the intact mouse brain! biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Finally got the job ad—looking for 2 PhD students to start spring next year:

www.gao-unit.com/join-us/

If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!

I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮

Glad to see this out 😊 Thanks to @joss-openjournals.bsky.social for the smooth review process 🙏

MotilA – A Python pipeline for the analysis of microglial fine process motility in 3D time-lapse multiphoton microscopy data Musacchio et al., (2025). MotilA – A Python pipeline for the analysis of microglial fine process motility in 3D time-lapse multiphoton microscopy data. Journal of Open Source Software, 10(116), 9267, ...

Happy to share that our #JOSS paper on MotilA is now published 😊

#OpenSource #Python pipeline for reproducible, batch-scale analysis of #microglia fine-process motility in 3D/4D in vivo multiphoton imaging:

📄 doi.org/10.21105/jos...
💻 github.com/FabrizioMusa...

#Neuroscience 🧪 #OpenScience

Uni Bern: PhD Position in Statistics with a focus on Statistical Machine Learning for Self-Driving Microscopy

🔬📊 PhD (100%) – Statistics & ML for self-driving microscopy

Joint PhD with David Ginsbourger (Stats) & Pertz Lab (Cell Biology).
Gaussian Processes, Bayesian design, active learning on live-cell experiments.

ohws.prospective.ch/public/v1/jo...

#PhD #Statistics #MachineLearning #Bayesian

Two Dopamine Neuron Subtypes Process Smell in Different Ways - Neuroscience News Closely related dopamine-releasing neurons in the olfactory bulb behave in fundamentally different ways depending on their physical structure.

Our paper is featured in Neuroscience News @neurosciencenews.bsky.social !

neurosciencenews.com/olfaction-do...

How does the axonal sub-membrane periodic cytoskeleton develop? Nick & Rohan from our lab found that building blocks are delivered in packets and co-assemble locally with actin for final structure. Fun collaboration with imaging Guru @christlet.bsky.social and his team.

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Slowdown of microtubule retrograde flow enables axon and dendrite development and maintenance www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12...

That's a wrap! Thanks to the great people that did most of the experiments for this project: Thorben Pietralla, @cboeger.bsky.social and Sina Stern. Of course thanks to Nenad Pavin for supervising the super fun modeling part of the project. And thanks to Frank Bradke for bringing us all together.