Alain Dagher
@alaindagher.bsky.social
Neurology and brain imaging.
ORCID: 0000-0002-0945-5779
ORCID: 0000-0002-0945-5779
Pinned
Reposted by Alain Dagher
Our lab, located at the University of Alberta (Canada), is hiring a postdoctoral scholar and/or PhD student to work on the contribution of genetic mutations to neurological disorder mechanisms and response to treatments. Please share widely! can-acn.org/postdoctoral...
Postdoctoral fellow or PhD student position with Dr. Anastassia Voronova (University of Alberta, Canada) – Canadian Association for Neuroscience
can-acn.org
January 12, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Our lab, located at the University of Alberta (Canada), is hiring a postdoctoral scholar and/or PhD student to work on the contribution of genetic mutations to neurological disorder mechanisms and response to treatments. Please share widely! can-acn.org/postdoctoral...
Everyone: academic publishing is broken.
Also everyone ( on a search committee): candidate has a cell paper and a nature neuroscience paper.
Also everyone ( on a search committee): candidate has a cell paper and a nature neuroscience paper.
“Reclaiming academic publishing as a public good requires a return to not-for-profit models & sustainable open-access systems. Quality, accessibility & integrity need to be put ahead of profit. Change is needed to protect the purpose of academic research: to advance knowledge in the public interest”
The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing
Academic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces.
theconversation.com
January 13, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Everyone: academic publishing is broken.
Also everyone ( on a search committee): candidate has a cell paper and a nature neuroscience paper.
Also everyone ( on a search committee): candidate has a cell paper and a nature neuroscience paper.
Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising?
This smells distinctly like collider bias and/or selection bias and/or regression to the mean... You simply can't select teen prodigies, and world class athletes rom databases, and go run regressions without serious consideration of the selection process!
"Most top achievers (Nobel laureates and world-class musicians, athletes, chess players) demonstrated lower performance than many peers during their early years. Across the highest adult performance, peak performance is negatively correlated with early performance" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
December 20, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising?
Reposted by Alain Dagher
If you're (1) into nhp neurophysiology and/or biological motor control, (2) a foreign big shot and (3) interested in moving here, please reach out -- this new program looks extremely attractive (min. $8M over 8y)! www.uwo.ca/research/can...
Canada-Impact-Plus - Research - Western University
www.uwo.ca
December 18, 2025 at 9:15 PM
If you're (1) into nhp neurophysiology and/or biological motor control, (2) a foreign big shot and (3) interested in moving here, please reach out -- this new program looks extremely attractive (min. $8M over 8y)! www.uwo.ca/research/can...
Reposted by Alain Dagher
Most published personality profiles are super similar! @kerliilv.bsky.social clustered 162 NEO PI personality-phenotype profiles. 70% of profiles belong to just 3 clusters , and 89% belong to just 5 😱!
Check out the thread for more! 👇
@alaindagher.bsky.social @renemottus.bsky.social
Check out the thread for more! 👇
@alaindagher.bsky.social @renemottus.bsky.social
Ever wondered whether we could map personality profiles as we do with genetic or brain data? We applied a similar method to explore similarities and differences of NEO PI profiles in our fresh-out paper. Here’s what we found 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Unity and Diversity of NEO-PI Personality Profiles of 162 Phenotypes - Kerli Ilves, Yueh en Wang, Kenn Konstabel, Ants Adamson, Kersten Kõrge, Aire Raidvee, Alain Dagher, René Mõttus, Uku Vainik, 2025
For over 30 years, detailed personality-phenotype association profiles based on the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI) have been published, yet the phenotype pr...
journals.sagepub.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Most published personality profiles are super similar! @kerliilv.bsky.social clustered 162 NEO PI personality-phenotype profiles. 70% of profiles belong to just 3 clusters , and 89% belong to just 5 😱!
Check out the thread for more! 👇
@alaindagher.bsky.social @renemottus.bsky.social
Check out the thread for more! 👇
@alaindagher.bsky.social @renemottus.bsky.social
Reposted by Alain Dagher
Brain size links neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.09.25341901v1
December 11, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Brain size links neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.09.25341901v1
Cortical expansion and genetic risk for PD.
Led by Houman Azizi and Nooshin Abbasi.
With @ptenigma.bsky.social @misicbata.bsky.social @yasharneuro.bsky.social @ndrewvo.bsky.social and many others www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Led by Houman Azizi and Nooshin Abbasi.
With @ptenigma.bsky.social @misicbata.bsky.social @yasharneuro.bsky.social @ndrewvo.bsky.social and many others www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Brain size links neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease
Genetic studies have advanced our understanding of Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis, establishing a role for autophagy and lysosomal dysfunction. However, how genetic risk translates into neurona...
www.medrxiv.org
December 11, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Cortical expansion and genetic risk for PD.
Led by Houman Azizi and Nooshin Abbasi.
With @ptenigma.bsky.social @misicbata.bsky.social @yasharneuro.bsky.social @ndrewvo.bsky.social and many others www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Led by Houman Azizi and Nooshin Abbasi.
With @ptenigma.bsky.social @misicbata.bsky.social @yasharneuro.bsky.social @ndrewvo.bsky.social and many others www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Conceptual and methodological flaws undermine claims of a link between the gut microbiome and autism: Neuron www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Conceptual and methodological flaws undermine claims of a link between the gut microbiome and autism
Claims that the gut microbiome causally contributes to autism regularly appear in
the scientific literature and popular press. Mitchell et al. critically examine influential
studies underpinning these...
www.cell.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Conceptual and methodological flaws undermine claims of a link between the gut microbiome and autism: Neuron www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
lol. No one who has done time in Canadian Academia has any illusion that it’s a meritocracy.
It is interesting when I've had this discussion in 🇨🇦, there is a large contingent who think strict panel ranking is inherently "fair" and anything that deviates from that (other criteria, tiered decisions) is inherently "unfair." It's a good example of the quantitative fallacy.
November 22, 2025 at 6:41 PM
lol. No one who has done time in Canadian Academia has any illusion that it’s a meritocracy.
I asked nano banana in Gemini 3.0 to make a diagram explaining two-sample MR with an arrow indicating pleiotropy. This is what it came up with. Not great - and what on earth is "pleizorotty"?
November 21, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I asked nano banana in Gemini 3.0 to make a diagram explaining two-sample MR with an arrow indicating pleiotropy. This is what it came up with. Not great - and what on earth is "pleizorotty"?
Reposted by Alain Dagher
Why does your brain shrink in Parkinson’s? Word shrink in this case refers to measurable loss of brain tissue (atrophy), which reflects thinning of cortex/loss of volume in key brain regions. New paper shows widespread atrophy following brain’s wiring diagram and local biological vulnerabilities.
November 17, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Why does your brain shrink in Parkinson’s? Word shrink in this case refers to measurable loss of brain tissue (atrophy), which reflects thinning of cortex/loss of volume in key brain regions. New paper shows widespread atrophy following brain’s wiring diagram and local biological vulnerabilities.
Reposted by Alain Dagher
Jonny Smallwood @themindwanders.bsky.social was a beloved friend and mentor. He was taken from us too soon. His was a beautiful mind who understood the beauty of minds. As ever before, his kind voice guides me and his work will continue. We miss you Jonny. www.cbs.mpg.de/news/obituar...
Obituary – Jonathan Smallwood
www.cbs.mpg.de
November 13, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Jonny Smallwood @themindwanders.bsky.social was a beloved friend and mentor. He was taken from us too soon. His was a beautiful mind who understood the beauty of minds. As ever before, his kind voice guides me and his work will continue. We miss you Jonny. www.cbs.mpg.de/news/obituar...
Reposted by Alain Dagher
New paper with @statsepi.bsky.social and @deevybee.bsky.social in which we show there's really no evidence for a link between the gut microbiome and autism www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Conceptual and methodological flaws undermine claims of a link between the gut microbiome and autism
Claims that the gut microbiome causally contributes to autism regularly appear in
the scientific literature and popular press. Mitchell et al. critically examine influential
studies underpinning these...
www.cell.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:10 PM
New paper with @statsepi.bsky.social and @deevybee.bsky.social in which we show there's really no evidence for a link between the gut microbiome and autism www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Alain Dagher
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Ying-Qiu Zheng, Saad Jbabdi, et al:
An image quality transfer approach for localising deep brain stimulation targets
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
An image quality transfer approach for localising deep brain stimulation targets
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
November 13, 2025 at 9:22 PM
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Ying-Qiu Zheng, Saad Jbabdi, et al:
An image quality transfer approach for localising deep brain stimulation targets
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
An image quality transfer approach for localising deep brain stimulation targets
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Reposted by Alain Dagher
Happy to share our review "Investigating hierarchical critical periods in human neurodevelopment” in @npp-journal.bsky.social! We examine neurobiological, environmental & behavioral evidence for human critical periods in sensory and association cortex +discuss new research directions rdcu.be/eMkVU 🧵
November 11, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Happy to share our review "Investigating hierarchical critical periods in human neurodevelopment” in @npp-journal.bsky.social! We examine neurobiological, environmental & behavioral evidence for human critical periods in sensory and association cortex +discuss new research directions rdcu.be/eMkVU 🧵
When they came after young women wearing a hijab, Lionel Carmant said nothing because his daughter does not wear a hijab. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Quebec bill would extend religious symbols ban to school support workers, force students to uncover faces | CBC News
The Quebec government is putting forward a bill that would extend the province's ban on the wearing of religious symbols to support staff in schools, and prohibit students from having their faces cove...
www.cbc.ca
October 31, 2025 at 5:30 PM
When they came after young women wearing a hijab, Lionel Carmant said nothing because his daughter does not wear a hijab. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Reposted by Alain Dagher
🚨New in Lancet Neurology: Autopsy study of aducanumab in #Alzheimer’s shows superficial cortical Aβ cleared, but deeper persists. ARIA showed inflammation+ microinfarcts in leptomeningeal/penetrating vessels. Some path is PET-invisible. @drneurochic.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lxn85FFzL...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lxn85FFzL...
October 16, 2025 at 10:33 AM
🚨New in Lancet Neurology: Autopsy study of aducanumab in #Alzheimer’s shows superficial cortical Aβ cleared, but deeper persists. ARIA showed inflammation+ microinfarcts in leptomeningeal/penetrating vessels. Some path is PET-invisible. @drneurochic.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lxn85FFzL...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lxn85FFzL...
I have really enjoyed this book.
October 16, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I have really enjoyed this book.
Reposted by Alain Dagher
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
www.theatlantic.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Francois Legault and Simon Jolin-Barrette are vying to become the Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin of Quebec.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Quebec tables draft constitution to affirm its 'distinct national character,' premier says | CBC News
The constitution, filed at the National Assembly on Thursday and lambasted by opposition parties as a piece of political theatre filed without proper consultation, includes language asserting Quebec’s...
www.cbc.ca
October 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Francois Legault and Simon Jolin-Barrette are vying to become the Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin of Quebec.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
I hate this place.
October 8, 2025 at 8:39 PM
I hate this place.
Reposted by Alain Dagher
Excited to share that our work introducing the Reproducible Brain Charts (RBC) data resource is now published in Neuron!! 🎉
📚 Read the paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lpaF3BtfH...
🧠 Explore the RBC dataset: reprobrainchart.github.io
📚 Read the paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lpaF3BtfH...
🧠 Explore the RBC dataset: reprobrainchart.github.io
(1/18) Now out on BioRxiv‼️ Reproducible Brain Charts: An open data resource for mapping brain development and its associations with mental health | doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Reproducible Brain Charts: An open data resource for mapping brain development and its associations with mental health
Major mental disorders are increasingly understood as disorders of brain development. Large and heterogeneous samples are required to define generalizable links between brain development and psychopat...
doi.org
September 22, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Excited to share that our work introducing the Reproducible Brain Charts (RBC) data resource is now published in Neuron!! 🎉
📚 Read the paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lpaF3BtfH...
🧠 Explore the RBC dataset: reprobrainchart.github.io
📚 Read the paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lpaF3BtfH...
🧠 Explore the RBC dataset: reprobrainchart.github.io
Reposted by Alain Dagher
📅 Save the Date: Oxford 2026 Glymphatic Research Symposium!
• Dates: March 30th, March 31st, April 1st 2026.
• Keynote speakers: Maiken Nedergaard & Jonathan Kipnis.
• Venue: Keble College, Oxford, UK.
• Registration link to follow
Looking forward to seeing you there! 🧠
• Dates: March 30th, March 31st, April 1st 2026.
• Keynote speakers: Maiken Nedergaard & Jonathan Kipnis.
• Venue: Keble College, Oxford, UK.
• Registration link to follow
Looking forward to seeing you there! 🧠
September 12, 2025 at 2:59 PM
📅 Save the Date: Oxford 2026 Glymphatic Research Symposium!
• Dates: March 30th, March 31st, April 1st 2026.
• Keynote speakers: Maiken Nedergaard & Jonathan Kipnis.
• Venue: Keble College, Oxford, UK.
• Registration link to follow
Looking forward to seeing you there! 🧠
• Dates: March 30th, March 31st, April 1st 2026.
• Keynote speakers: Maiken Nedergaard & Jonathan Kipnis.
• Venue: Keble College, Oxford, UK.
• Registration link to follow
Looking forward to seeing you there! 🧠