andy alexander
LightNews LightNews
andyalexander.bsky.social
andy alexander
@andyalexander.bsky.social
810 followers 750 following 55 posts
asst prof in psychological + brain sciences at ucsb
Posts Replies Media Videos
andyalexander.bsky.social
Any other UC folks encountering extensive red tape when purchasing from IMEC? UCSB says a clause in the purchase agreement requires a special exception from UCOP - is that the case for others? It's been almost 2.5 months since we began an order for more probes and we are still stuck at the uni...
December 30, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Reposted by andy alexander
annduan.bsky.social
New preprint from the lab!
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions
Flexible behaviour requires transforming abstract cognitive representations, such as value preferences, into concrete motor actions. During economic decision-making, individuals evaluate options to gu...
www.biorxiv.org
December 14, 2025 at 10:59 AM
andyalexander.bsky.social
Lazy but I can't find it and am sure it exists - can someone point me to a paper showing representational drift in *freely moving* animals where *parietal cortex hasn't been sucked out?*
December 14, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Reposted by andy alexander
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social
Drosophila maintain a consistent navigational goal angle for days to weeks https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.09.693277v1
December 11, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
jim-heys.bsky.social
Neuro grad students! Applications for the 6th annual - Rising Stars in Neuroscience - due Jan 9!

Don’t miss this chance to present research, sharpen science communication skills and connect with peers & faculty. Plus you’ll get to experience stunning Utah!

medicine.utah.edu/neurobiology...
December 9, 2025 at 6:52 PM
andyalexander.bsky.social
Keinath lab already absolutely killing it (as expected)
December 8, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
atkeinath.bsky.social
Another new paper from the lab: Predictive theories like the SR imply that navigators who navigate differently should have cognitive maps which differ in predictable ways. Here we show that this holds in mouse hippocampal CA1.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Environmental representations in mouse hippocampal CA1 reflect the predictive structure of navigation
Predictive theories of cognitive mapping propose that these representations encode the predictive relationships among contents as experienced by the n…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
spencerlaveresmith.bsky.social
Can your AI beat a mouse? This is happening Sunday! robustforaging.github.io NeurIPS workshop 11 to 2 California time on Zoom!

@mbeyeler.bsky.social
@sinzlab.bsky.social
@ninamiolane.bsky.social
@crisniell.bsky.social
@mariusschneider.bsky.social
J. Canzano, Y. Hou, J. Peng, et al.

#NeurIPS2025
December 6, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
michaelzlin.bsky.social
Had a really nice visit to UCSB, learning about the awesome neuroscience research there and presenting our work on voltage imaging in the molecular cellular and developmental biology seminar series.

Thanks to my host Ikuko Smith, who might have the best office view in all of UC!
December 7, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by andy alexander
ninamiolane.bsky.social
Also on Sunday Dec 7th, join us for the @neurreps.bsky.social workshop in Upper Level Ballroom 6A.
December 6, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
ninamiolane.bsky.social
Arrived #NeurIPS2025 ☀️

If you're interested in the interplay of Geometry, Topology, Algebra w/ Neuroscience & AI, I'll give 2 talks on Sunday:

🌐11:30am: The Algebra of Spatial Navigation (Groups & grid cells)

🍩1:30pm: Topological Deep Learning (Complexes & Graphs)

More👇
December 6, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
alleninstitute.org
🧠📢 New preprint alert

Large-scale ephys is exploding but spike sorting remains the computational bottleneck. A 2-hr, 6-probe Neuropixels 2.0 Quad Base session can take over a week to sort on a single machine. Here's a better solution. 🧵

#neuroskyence #compneurosky
December 5, 2025 at 8:42 PM
andyalexander.bsky.social
Awesome opportunity alert
rdgao.bsky.social Richard Gao @rdgao.bsky.social · 27d
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 🏖️🌮
December 4, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by andy alexander
drglitterbear.bsky.social
surprise surprise! it's about the existence of trans people. Another university capitulates to the fascist.
kissphoria.bsky.social gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · Nov 29
idk not to mention how very nuanced and normal the actual response here was
Trans Professors comment Mel Curth (She/They) November 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM Please note that I am not deducting points because you have certain beliefs, but instead I am deducting point for you posting a reaction paper that does not answer the questions for this assignment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive. While you are entitled to your own personal beliefs, there is an appropriate time or place to implement them in your reflections. I encourage all students to question or challenge the course material with other empirical findings or testable hypotheses, but using your own personal beliefs to argue against the findings of not only this article, but the findings of countless articles across psychology, biology, sociology, etc. is not best practice. You argue that abiding by normative gender roles is beneficial (it is perfectly fine to believe this. but to then say that evervone should act TPUSA OU Trans Professors comment the same, while also saying that people aren't pressured into gendered expectations is contradictory, especially since your arguments reflect a religious pressure to act in gender-stereotypical ways. You can say that strict gender norms don't create gender stereotypes, but that isn't true by definition of what a stereotype is. Please note that acknowledging gender stereotypes does not immediately denote a negative connotation, a nuance this article discusses. Additionally, to call an entire group of people "demonic" is highly offensive, especially a minoritized population. You are entitled to your own beliefs, but this isn't a vague narrative of "society pushes lies," but instead the result of countless years developing psychological and scientific evidence for these claims and directly interacting with the communities involved. You may personally disagree with this, but that TPUSA OU 2 Trans Professors comment doesn't change the fact that every major psychological, medical, pediatric, and psychiatric association in the United States acknowledges that, biologically and psychologically, sex and gender is neither binary nor fixed. I implore you apply some more perspective and empathy in your work. If you personally disagree with the findings, then by all means share your criticisms, but make sure to do so in a way that is appropriate and using the methodology of empirical psychology, as aligned with the learning goals in this class. If you have any additional questions or concerns about this or would like some additional educational resources, I would be happy to discuss this further and provide you with them. 3 TPUSA OU Additional professor Megan Waldron (She/Her/Hers) November 16, 2025 at 3:09 PM Samantha, I am the other instructor for this course, and I have also taken the time to read your paper. I concur with Mel on the grade you received. This paper should not be considered as a completion of the assignment. Everyone has different ways in which they see the world, but in an academic course such as this you are being asked to support your ideas with empirical evidence and higher-level reasoning. I find it concerning that you state at the beginning of your paper that you do not think bullying ("teasing") is a bad thing. In addition, your paper directly and harshly criticizes your peers and their opinions, which are just as valuable as yours. Disagreeing with others is fine, but there is a respectful way to go about it. That goes for discussion posts as well as reaction papers. Please employ more thoughtfulness in your future assignments TPUSA OU
November 30, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
jonrueckemann.bsky.social
I’m also on the job market this year — happy to connect with anyone interested in hippocampal computation, comparative neurophysiology, or collaborative directions
November 17, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
jonrueckemann.bsky.social
Our new preprint: The primate hippocampus parses experience into event-aligned neural states, creating a temporal scaffold for organizing behavior.

At #SfN25 ? Come chat at my poster — Wednesday AM (PP14; 414.03).
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · Nov 12
The Primate Hippocampus Constructs a Temporal Scaffold Anchored to Behavioral Events https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.12.687961v1
November 17, 2025 at 11:30 PM
andyalexander.bsky.social
I don't want to live in a world where HD cells don't exist
November 29, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Reposted by andy alexander
mbeyeler.bsky.social
🎉 Mouse vs AI #NeurIPS2025 Challenge 2025

The first year was a great success:
🤖 290 submissions
👥 22 teams
🌎 7 countries
robustforaging.github.io

A huge thank you to all who participated!👏

This was our first attempt at a global competition built around real mouse behavior and visual robustness
Robust Foraging Competition
Can your AI visually navigate better than a mouse?
robustforaging.github.io
November 26, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
malwaretech.com
I love that the Boston cop slide never got fixed and now people just willingly go down it in tribute. It’s basically a national landmark at this point
November 8, 2025 at 6:15 AM
andyalexander.bsky.social
Absolutely unacceptable
November 6, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Reposted by andy alexander
reimtime.bsky.social
The more I think about this, the more frustrated I get with our leadership. It is hard to see this decision as anything but preemptive compliance.
ubiquity75.xyz Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · Nov 2
The President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, PPFP, has been a jewel in the crown for faculty development and recruitment at the University of California for years and the results have been an expanded faculty with almost 100% tenure rates — unprecedented success.
November 5, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
ubiquity75.xyz
The President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, PPFP, has been a jewel in the crown for faculty development and recruitment at the University of California for years and the results have been an expanded faculty with almost 100% tenure rates — unprecedented success.
November 2, 2025 at 11:01 AM
andyalexander.bsky.social
Most things are a bummer right now but at least if you want to listen to All Hallows EP 5x before work today you are totally justified.

music.apple.com/us/album/all...
All Hallow's E.P. by AFI on Apple Music
Album · 1999 · 4 Songs
music.apple.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by andy alexander
trackingactions.bsky.social
#EPFL has an open faculty position - tenure track or tenured!! - in AI driven biophysics. Deadline is Nov 15th. Please spread the word!

www.epfl.ch/about/workin...
Assistant/associate Professor of AI-assisted Biophysics at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Group Leader at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)
The School of Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics) at EPFL and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) jointly seek to appoint a Tenure Track Assistant or tenured Associate Professor in AI-As...
www.epfl.ch
October 28, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Reposted by andy alexander
anniewertz.bsky.social
I’m recruiting #PhD students to join my Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social! We study how infants learn about the natural world from others 🌱 If you’re interested in #devpsych, #EvPsych, and #infantstudies, please reach out and apply! More info below (1/2)
October 27, 2025 at 4:22 PM