Calcium imaging / Patch Clamp / Neuropixels

Today was grey and rainy; the perfect time to grab a camera and go outside. Please enjoy a little Autumn timeline cleanse!

The program for the 2026 Basal Ganglia GRC is live! 🧠🧪 www.grc.org/basal-gangli... We are already ~60% full, so apply now to join us! Submit an abstract by end of Oct to be considered for a short talk. See you in Tuscany!

Called it. My bet is an optogenetics Nobel in 2027.

Using a new genetically-encoded voltage indicator in an all-optical approach to measure synaptic plasticity in awake behaving mice. Great work by @jacquescarolan.bsky.social and colleagues. Check out www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Neurons ! 🧫 #Neuroscience

Early profs and profs alike: What is your advice for people who are JUST starting their labs? First goals and tasks?

Postdoc Opportunity at Karolinska Institutet: We're seeking an electrophysiologist to join an exciting collaborative project focusing on diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Join us! ki.varbi.com/what:job/job...

Whelp, I did not make the cut. Luckily, I have been given an amazing opportunity elsewhere; and who knows, maybe in a few years things there will be a similar position. But maybe this is a good opportunity to talk about what it's like to apply for academic positions as a postdoc:

I love this sort of thing! Use cheap, generic hardware to do complicated lab stuff!

Advice to US PhD students who might be looking to come to Europe: Contact European PIs early so that you can start working on European Postdoctoral Fellowships early,

Anyone interested in getting my job? Do not hesitate to apply, it's a pretty good gig

Well there's something you don't see every day. Unless you're a German firefighter, I guess.

Much appreciate coffee legend @jameshoffmann.bsky.social explaining why voltage imaging is such a bugger

Coronal sections the new Rorschach test?

Guten morgen Deutschland!

Celebratory giant stroopwafel!

I am still struggling to believe it: the Norwegian Research Council has decided to fund my proposal to study Striatal interneurons in decision making! Incredibly grateful to have been given this opportunity to start my own line of research! www.khrono.no/hun-far-12-m...

*New preprint from the lab* – “Granularity of thalamic head direction cells” doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🧠📈 🧪 1/11

I am advertising for a #postdoc for a 3 year BBSRC-funded project exploring the role of macrophages in salivary gland development. The successful candidate will be based at @edinuni-irr.bsky.social at @uni-of-edinburgh.bsky.social. Closing date: 9th Oct. elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

This is a disaster if the EU doesn't follow up by doubling the budget 😬🧪

Whelp, it sure looks like I'm in the Netherlands!

German McDonald's is weeeird

Awfully kind of gas stations to provide sheltered motorcycle parking when it rains! 😇 (I'm on the XSR900 behind the adventure time machine)

I have somehow managed to hold two meetings in two different countries on the same day. Evidently, my holidays are going splendidly.

Got to hand it to @lunduniversity-med.bsky.social , they have some pretty buildings!

For #FluorescenceFriday, microtubule networks are shown in two adipocytes 🔬 #CellBiology #Microscopy

Bird’s eye view, literally. 🐦👁️ Glowing quail embryo eye for #FluorescenceFriday, #DevBio 🧪🔬

#SnapshotsinNeuroscience: Tree Shrew Visual Thalamus This image from Sciaccotta, Kipcak, & Erisir shows excitatory axon terminals expressing vesicular glutamate transporters in the thalamus of a tree shrew. Image credit: Arda Kipcak https://blog.eneuro.org/2025/08/snapshots_mouse_tree_shrew_thalamus

Desk cleaned up, things packed. It's been a great journey, here at the University of Oslo, but all good things come to an end. Although, I may be back...

JOB ALERT 🚨 We are hiring TWO principal investigators in cell, molecular, systems, or chemical biology in Toronto, Canada at @sinaihealth.bsky.social. We provide a generous startup, fully funded salary and academic appointment at U of Toronto. www.nature.com/naturecareer... Please repost!

I just edited a 9-page proposal down to 5 pages. Please clap.

Happy #FluorescentFriday everyone. New image from @kristenmontgomery.bsky.social of hungry microglia cells in the hippocampus with our new confocal (thank you CFI!!). Green=Iba1, red=CD68. And kudos to Kristen for perseverance!

Now there's a neat distribution: somatostatin-expressing neurons in the retrosplenial cortex for #FluorescenceFriday !

My fellow patch clampers, I am extremely proud to introduce our newest member, Sondre, who just patched his very first ever cell! It is a beautiful cortical interneuron! 🧠

Now out in @natneuro.nature.com What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed? Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7 🧵1/18

Starting a PhD

Past me: Eh, it's late, I'm tired, making fresh solutions is a problem for future-me. Current me: Wow. Okay. Screw that guy.

if you're a teacher who wants to bring science to life in the classroom, @skypeascientist.bsky.social brings scientists to your class. Sign up at: www.skypeascientist.com

Whelp, fingers crossed: application submitted for my dream job! A total of 42 pages for the application, an additional 106 pages for my most relevant papers; it's a doozy!

If the instructions specify a page limit but not a font size, 6pt is fair game, right?

You know vibe-coding, but have you heard of vibe-patching? (it's just me patching in the dark, vibing to music)

I have foolishly offered to patch some cells for a colleague, so you know what that means: time to re-string my harp! 🧠

Slightly diminish a band: Led Blimp

In retrospect, it was indeed foolish of me to even try.

Check this neuron infected with #SARSCoV2 being attacked by a microglia. Is this process beneficial or detrimental? Do we want therapies to inhibit microglia activation/neuroinflammation, but what if it means more neurons infecting other neurons? Neurovirology is fascinating! #FluorescenceFriday

Never ask postdocs what they'll be doing next year, that's considered terribly offensive in their culture.

Just my $0,02 on this, but: back when I worked as an editor, the best manuscripts I saw were always the ones with many authors. Those were always the ones with independent controls, different methodologies to support their conclusions, etc. Don't be stingy with authorship; your editor may like it!

Share your #wfh setup if it's better than what you have at work!

That feeling when an old colleague randomly offers to help you navigate the academic job and funding landscape. Sometimes, academia ain't all bad