Mark Nicholas
@markolas.bsky.social
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📥 227
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Postdoc at HHMI Janelia, retired footballer, maker of good food
https://markolas11.github.io
reposted by
Mark Nicholas
CMU Neuroscience Institute
2 months ago
New research from the Wood Neuro Research Group suggests sickle cell disease changes how the brain’s networks work together, with the brain calling on extra support from attention systems to keep thinking and decision-making on track.
www.cmu.edu/ni/news-even...
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New study shows how sickle cell affects brain function
New research from the Wood Neuro Research Group suggests sickle cell disease changes how the brain’s networks work together, with the brain calling on extra support from attention systems to keep thin...
https://www.cmu.edu/ni/news-events/2026/how-sickle-cell-affects-brain-function
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Matt Geramita
5 months ago
Excited to share my postdoc work with
@yttrilab.bsky.social
and
@ahmarilab.bsky.social
where we show that the striatal indirect pathway mediates hesitation in mice (
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
). And I'm honored to have
@ahmarilab.bsky.social
introduce the findings with a musical abstract!
add a skeleton here at some point
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Interested in how cortex and striatum contribute to trained vs spontaneous behavior?? If you're at
#sfn25
, check out
@braininspired.bsky.social
talk Sunday at 1
#neuroskyence
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Yttri Lab
6 months ago
I hope this new-ish paper will challenge people to think about the interpretations of our models STRIATUM SUPPORTS REINFORCEMENT AND NOT ACTION SELECTION (!!!)
tinyurl.com/HodgeAndYttri
@cmuscience.bsky.social
@cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
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Striatal modulation supports context-specific reinforcement and not action selection
Hodge et al. used closed-loop optogenetic stimulation and naturalistic behaviors to determine that striatal activity does not select the action to perform but rather biases performance through reinfor...
https://tinyurl.com/HodgeAndYttri
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Antonio Falasconi
7 months ago
Happy to share our primer on Basal Ganglia - Brainstem interactions! From how the basal ganglia communicate with Brainstem motor circuits to how these activity patterns might come about! With Silvia Arber, now out in Current Biology
www.cell.com/current-biol...
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Basal ganglia–brainstem interactions
Our body executes many different movements with precision. Falasconi and Arber describe how basal ganglia interact with brainstem circuits controlling body movements and propose a movement-specific li...
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00885-1
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I started studying neuroscience back in 2012. This week I will be defending my PhD from the
@yttrilab.bsky.social
at
@cmu.edu
@the-cnbc.bsky.social
Date: Friday, September 26th Time: 2:30 pm eastern If you are interested in the Zoom option, please reach out.
#neuroskyence
8 months ago
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Thank you so much to
@lauragrima.bsky.social
for presenting her recent preprint today at
@the-cnbc.bsky.social
@cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
Super cool science and design
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
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A global dopaminergic learning rate enables adaptive foraging across many options
In natural environments, animals must efficiently allocate their choices across multiple concurrently available resources when foraging, a complex decision-making process not fully captured by existin...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.04.621923v2
9 months ago
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Vinny Costa
11 months ago
Why do we go downstairs when we hear a scary noise at night? New
#preprint
by postdoc Kati Rothenhoefer shows how novelty seeking & explore-exploit decision making in
#macaques
resolves curiosity about whether choices will lead to appetitive or aversive outcomes.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Dissociable effects of curiosity and hedonic valence on reinforcement learning
Curiosity and exploration support learning and adaptive decision-making in uncertain environments. While these processes are sensitive to motivational context, it remains unclear how outcome valence s...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.24.660807v2
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
11 months ago
Neuroscience peeps! There is an amazing opportunity opening up at CMU!
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
@cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
@cmuscience.bsky.social
@cmu.edu
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Director | Isaacson, Miller
https://www.imsearch.com/open-searches/carnegie-mellon-university-neuroscience-institute/director
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Julie Fabre
11 months ago
🚀 We are excited to share that bombcell is now available in Python! 🐍 Automatically sort your units into good/MUA/noise/non-somatic using quality metrics and interpretable & adjustable classification thresholds. pip install and play around with our toy dataset: 🔗
github.com/Julie-Fabre/...
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GitHub - Julie-Fabre/bombcell: Automated quality control, curation and neuron classification of spike-sorted electrophysiology data
Automated quality control, curation and neuron classification of spike-sorted electrophysiology data - Julie-Fabre/bombcell
https://github.com/Julie-Fabre/bombcell
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Antonio Falasconi
12 months ago
Forelimb movement control at the basal ganglia - brainstem interface! Happy to finally share this work from me and
@harsh-kanodia.bsky.social
with Silvia Arber!
@biozentrum.unibas.ch
@fmiscience.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Dynamic basal ganglia output signals license and suppress forelimb movements - Nature
Basal ganglia output neurons fire dynamically in bidirectional and movement-specific patterns to license forelimb movements.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09066-z
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
CMU Neuroscience Institute
12 months ago
Tim Verstynen, Interim Director of the NI, has been awarded the 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship! 👏 Awarded annually to "trailblazing artists and scholars," Tim will be inducted into the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows on June 2. Read more about his upcoming "exploration of exploration." 🌎 ⬇️
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CMU Neuroscientist Has Big Plans for Guggenheim Fellowship - Neuroscience Institute - Carnegie Mellon University
Timothy Verstynen has always been fascinated by how organisms explore their environments — from the human quest to map the surfaces of distant planets to the itty-bitty journeys of single-celled bacte...
https://www.cmu.edu/ni/news/cmu-neuroscientist-guggenheim-fellowship.html
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Tim Verstynen
about 1 year ago
🚨New lab preprint alert!🚨 Grab a drink, sit down, and let me walk you through the moment-by-moment process of how information loops through basal ganglia circuits during a decision. (Link at the end of the thread) 1/9
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Having learned from Carl both as an undergraduate and graduate student, I continually go back to my notes and the topics studied in his course to help me think about concepts in cognitive neuroscience. Thank you, Carl
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 year ago
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Super proud of this work and as I finish up my
#PhD
studies I am actively looking for a
#postdoc
position. I am interested in studying learning and value-based decision making and how cortical and subcortical areas contribute to complex behavior
tinyurl.com/LesionsOfM1
#neuroskyence
add a skeleton here at some point
over 1 year ago
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reposted by
Mark Nicholas
Victoria Corbit, PhD
over 1 year ago
It's a little surreal that this paper is finally out. My last paper from my PhD and likely my last mouse neuro publication ever! Ft.
@ahmarilab.bsky.social
@piantadosisean.bsky.social
If you're into mouse behavior, optogenetics, and calcium imaging, here's this 🐀🔦🔬
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
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Dissociable roles of central striatum and anterior lateral motor area in initiating and sustaining naturalistic behavior
Corbit et al. studied patterns of activity in corticostriatal circuits during naturally occurring complex behavior in mice. In contrast to models in which cortex leads striatum, these findings suggest...
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(24)01532-8
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Thanks to
@antofala.bsky.social
and
@harsh-kanodia.bsky.social
of
@biozentrum.bsky.social
for presenting at our journal club on some really cool SNr/brainstem activity during skilled reaching
#neuroskyence
over 1 year ago
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hello world
over 1 year ago
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