New updated on how pyramidal neurons impact interneuron subtypes. Turns out spontaneous activity, Wnt signaling in PV Interneurons and integrin-signaling in SST neurons are the culprits! Also see how optimal transport tracks identity.https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.20.604399v2

I am so excited about this combined analysis of the selective CRHR2 population within the lateral septum and how they control defensive behavior. Dionnet was truly a gifted graduate student. Keep your eyes on this one!

At my last year of attending the McKnight conference. Such an amazing group of scientists. A big shout out to Lauren Orefice who gave an amazing talk this morning!

Here is a chat with Bosilijka Tasic and myself about the enhancer-mediated AAVs that we were both centrally involved in publishing. I truly believe these approaches are fundamentally important for both basic and clinical approaches! braininitiative.nih.gov/news-events/...

So I open up the NYtimes and there is my pal @ardemp.bskyverified.social saying that despite funding cuts he is staying in this country that he loves. Keep the faith you all!.... www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/u...

"Exploring brain circuits, one cell type—or more— at a time" www.cell.com/neuron/fullt... Bosiljka Tasic & @gordfishell.bsky.social ‬ @cp-neuron.bsky.social

Yep, glad people in europe are taking notice. Hey guys, we are having a giant fire sale! Top scientists looking for relocation to the other side of the pond. Sad!

One thousand candidate enhancers tested in vivo in the mouse brain! A massive resource and oh so useful as validation set for genome-wide enhancer prediction methods. Super fun to be involved in one of the papers: ‘the prediction challenge paper’ by Nelson&Niklas et al www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

Here is the collective effort of 12 labs, lead by my own at the Broad to target the range of cortical interneuron subtypes! These tools should be a game changer for all of you using NHP and other less genetically amenable species! Have at it! urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=htt...

Check out the neuroview and all the great articles of new tools to target different cell types with enhancer-mediated AAVs!

Even though it is spring....it seems to have gotten dark lately...."Within the last several days, Harvard University has received letters from most federal agencies indicating that nearly all of HMS’s active, direct federal grants have been terminated."

I will fly to anywhere in the United States on my own dime to talk to people about basic science! I encourage all of you, particularly senior scientists to make this commitment. If you are looking for material ask @karalmarshall.bsky.social She has put together an amazing basic talk!

OK inspired by @karalmarshall.bsky.social I am reaching out to the public where ever I can. Traditionally Republicans have been incredibly supportive of science. We as scientists need to reach out to people across the spectrum to rally their support for basic science!

Ask Kara for this talk! It is an amazing walk through for the general public.mmI am going to give a general talk to the public every time I am traveling through the USA. I have had a wonderful career. It is my students and postdocs I am worried about 🥺. Come help out!

Gave a talk at my parents’ retirement community to describe how science is done, and what is at stake. There was a ton of interest, and anyone can do this. Get the word out about how science affects everyone. I’m happy to share slides with anyone who asks- just get in touch! youtu.be/BY_SFgi-Cig

Given all that is going on consider this quote from Bertram Russell's 1930 book The conquest of Happiness: “The man who can be interested in the structure of atoms or the way in which a beetle navigates, is likely to get a joy in life which no amount of success in the pursuit of power can give. ”

Heads up: A ton of papers from my group at the Broad, Pittsburgh, Irvine, Caltech, Duke, Berkeley and especially the Allen are on deck for a big consortium publication on new methods to target range of specific neuronal and non-neuronal cells coming out in Neuron and associated journals May 20th!

Nuff said...https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2025/the-promise-of-american-higher-education/

Color in the lines of your favorite proteins....can't wait to see David Ginty's full chest tattoo of a Pacinian corpsule!!!

The time has come for all of America to reflect where they stand on the question of academic freedom...

Take a look at the harvard web site...We have our break-throughs and next generation drugs on full display! Come take a look at the new wonders of medicine! So proud to be a part of it!!! Harvard.edu

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.

And so the fight begins in earnest!

As Sun Tzu said "Do not press a desperate enemy too hard. Leave him a way of escape." After what happened to Columbia, it's pretty clear capitulation is not a viable option.

Harvard takes a stand, although after Columbia it is not clear what other choice they had.

We all owe america so much! I arrived in NYC from Canada in 1989 with ambition and a dream! I hope America keeps letting us all keep paying it forward!

Great idea! Let's see more people follow @imprida.bsky.social lead

Following up on @lmprida.bsky.social with my very first paper on striatal patch cells during development from 1987: starting my 38 year journey to explore how cells create pattern. c.f. this to my latest biorxiv on interneurons. www.jneurosci.org/content/7/7/... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I love the retrospective of our lives. The journey from Physics to brain function. Got to love it!!❤️

Me too. This storm may take all of us down but I came to the United States for science and have never lived without democracy. Keep the faith!!

To reiterate: without democracy and science....what do we really have left?

  If democracy and science go away, what do we have left?

And then sent on to others “Hi All, I received this like many or all of you.  Personally, I was on the fence about signing onboard but in discussing this with Alex Schier we went over the words of Martin Niemöller “First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out” and decided to sign."

I was asked to sign a letter by a bunch of national academy of science people arguing against Trump’s attacks on science and after a bit of hesitation did.

Posted a lot about my concerns about science in the USA. I am going to take a break and focus on questions. Just posted two things that puzzle me on GRNs and non-autonomous signaling and quantitive analysis of cortical circuits. Take a breath and consider some tough questions!

With regards to GRNs...We find that interneurons alter their identity when apposed to different pyramidal neurons (Wu et al. Biorxiv 2024). How do surface signals alter TF expression to change GRNs? Linking this will explain a lot of how cortical circuits are so precise!

Working on understanding the diversity of neuronal circuits. Myh8 SST interneurons qualitatively target 66% ET and 33% IT but how much variance is there in specific individual neurons....we need a quantitive answer to this for distinct neuronal types.

So it seems the newspapers paid scant attention to the "stand up for science". Led by @jmgrohneuro.bsky.social a letter by the NIMH BSC reversed the termination of three young scientists. Your voice for science matters. Make yourself heard.

Busy day. Prospective students visiting @scripps.edu and Standing up for Science especially for the next generation of scientists!

Well, some good news. Determination of Soohyun Lee, Mark Histed, Toby Merton seems to have been reversed and all three of them have been rehired. Not the end of the journey but a good first step.

Much as I am touched by the outreach of people proclaiming my role in signing a letter protesting the suspension without pay of Soohyun Lee, Mark Histed and Toby Merton, the issue is simply about due process. Individuals at the NIMH have an expectation of being fairly reviewed by the BSC. Full Stop

Eight years ago we marched for science. This time the stakes are much bigger!

The important step towards understanding brain evolution.

Interesting and compelling idea!

Visiting KAUST in Saudi Arabia to see my wonderful ex-postdoc @leenaibrahim.bsky.social . 36 square miles of campus,. with 10,000 people all doing science. Interesting to see what they are doing in science. More after I visit the campus for my visit. What a remarkable adventure.

This time, I took the liberty of changing the title myself!

HI Everyone! Cortical Development just moved over to Bluesky. Come to this years meeting in Naxos Sicily May 25th-28th. Come join the fun and science!

Our other big direction is to understand how neural circuits self-assemble from bottom-up signaling, to a mix of bottom-up and top-down computation... spoiler alert, interneurons are centrally involved in the process!

OK, here is my lab's next adventure. We are going to understand how gene regulatory networks modify themselves by bringing together intrinsic programming and non-autonomous environmental cues. Wish us luck…