Brad Hulse
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bradkhulse.bsky.social
Brad Hulse
@bradkhulse.bsky.social
Neuroscientist | Navigation | Central complex bumpologist | Senior scientist at Janelia
Reposted by Brad Hulse
Neuroscience projects last several years, and you are usually a bit jaded by the time you wrap it up. Not this one– spending several months on an island in the middle of nowhere, away from all the craziness of the world reminds you how beautiful the world really is.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=46sv...
Bat Island: The New Era of Science
YouTube video by Weizmann Institute of Science
www.youtube.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
Really excited to share this Opinion piece we've been working on with fellow head-direction cell geeks @apeyrache.bsky.social @desdemonafricker.bsky.social and (bsky-less?) Andrea Burgalossi! While head-direction cells pop up in many cortical regions, we think that one of them is quite unique (1/8)
The postsubiculum as a head-direction cortex
The organisation of thalamocortical networks follows a conserved structure. Traditionally, these are divided into primary sensory systems that receive…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
🌟 Apply to lead a lab at Janelia 🌟

We’re #hiring Group Leaders in our Computation & Theory research area.

🔹 5-year renewable appointment
🔹 Internal funding + generous resources
🔹 Collaboration across disciplines

📅 Apply by Nov. 4 👉 https://janelia.link/groupleader
October 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint:
“Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We describe the #connectomics reconstruction and analysis of an entire adult #maleCNS #drosophila central nervous system. 1/10
October 15, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
🧠 A new wiring diagram of the 166,000+ neurons in the brain & nerve cord of a male fruit fly is a key tool in uncovering how the brain enables complex behavior—information that could ultimately help scientists better understand what causes different diseases ➡️ https://hhmi.news/4o3EJnk
October 13, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
We're very proud to be releasing the complete male fly CNS connectome!

It's the product of a huge team effort here at Janelia in partnership with the Cambridge Fly Connectomics group (@jefferis.bsky.social and colleagues), plus invaluable collaborators.

More soon...
www.janelia.org/project-team...
Male CNS Connectome
A team of researchers has unveiled the complete connectome of a male fruit fly central nervous system —a seamless map of all the neurons in the brain and nerve cord of a single male fruit fly and the ...
www.janelia.org
October 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
Exciting news for #drosophila #connectomics and #neuroscience enthusiasts: the Drosophila male central nervous system connectome is now live for exploration. Find out more at the landing page hosted by our Janelia FlyEM collaborators www.janelia.org/project-team....
Male CNS Connectome
A team of researchers has unveiled the complete connectome of a male fruit fly central nervous system —a seamless map of all the neurons in the brain and nerve cord of a single male fruit fly and the ...
www.janelia.org
October 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
1/8
How can the brain create countless unique memories using a single, universal metric of space? We’ve been waiting for the answer to this for two decades!
Read it here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 25, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
I’m super excited to finally put my recent work with @behrenstimb.bsky.social on bioRxiv, where we develop a new mechanistic theory of how PFC structures adaptive behaviour using attractor dynamics in space and time!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
🌟 Launch your own lab at Janelia 🌟

Advance our understanding of biology through theory, computational modeling & machine learning.

🔹 No teaching requirements
🔹 100% internally funded
🔹 Collaborate with expert support teams

📅 Apply by Nov. 4 👉 https://janelia.link/groupleader
September 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
New from @katejj.bsky.social group!
Head direction cells use a head-referenced dual-axis updating rule in 3D space https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.17.676760v1
September 17, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
Finally preprinted! TL;DR: thalamic head-direction neurons can shape their activity regardless of input. Big thanks to @apeyrache.bsky.social and master experimentalist @sskromne.bsky.social .
🚨New preprint alert!

The thalamus has long been seen as a relay of sensory signals to cortex.
But could it also generate its own structured activity?
Our study explores this question in the head-direction (HD) system.

Some explanation 🧵👇 1/13

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Coherent dynamics of thalamic head-direction neurons irrespective of input
While the thalamus is known to relay and modulate sensory signals to the cortex, whether it also participates in active computation and intrinsic signal generation remains unresolved. The anterodorsal...
www.biorxiv.org
September 16, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
🚨New preprint alert!

The thalamus has long been seen as a relay of sensory signals to cortex.
But could it also generate its own structured activity?
Our study explores this question in the head-direction (HD) system.

Some explanation 🧵👇 1/13

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Coherent dynamics of thalamic head-direction neurons irrespective of input
While the thalamus is known to relay and modulate sensory signals to the cortex, whether it also participates in active computation and intrinsic signal generation remains unresolved. The anterodorsal...
www.biorxiv.org
September 16, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
*New preprint from the lab* – “Granularity of thalamic head direction cells”
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧠📈 🧪
1/11
Granularity of thalamic head direction cells
Head direction signaling is fundamental for spatial orientation and navigation. The anterodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (ADn) contains a high density of head direction (HD) cells that process sensori...
doi.org
September 15, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
Thanks Misha for the shout-out!
It has been a truly mind-opening journey. WHOLISTIC is one step towards whole-organism neuroscience and a true physiological observatory - with extensions on the way! I am continually amazed by what the data reveals - so much remains to be discovered and mined.
Preprint -
Excited to present WHOLISTIC, which extends the concept of whole-brain functional imaging to the entire body. Pioneering work by incredibly talented Virginia Ruetten @vmsruetten.bsky.social, this platform reveals whole-organism cellular dynamics in vivo.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 8, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
Preprint -
Excited to present WHOLISTIC, which extends the concept of whole-brain functional imaging to the entire body. Pioneering work by incredibly talented Virginia Ruetten @vmsruetten.bsky.social, this platform reveals whole-organism cellular dynamics in vivo.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 8, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
I am very thankful for the support from the Department of Biological Sciences and Dartmouth @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social for supporting my interdisciplinary research vision! We are recruiting Post Docs and Grad Students to join this exciting endeavor!
September 3, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
📢We're #hiring Group Leaders!

Apply to lead a lab at Janelia & advance biology using theory, computational modeling & machine learning.

🔹5-year renewable appointment
🔹Pioneer new tools & approaches
🔹Collaborate across disciplines

Apply by Nov. 4👉 https://janelia.link/groupleader
August 26, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
My first paper with @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social is finally out in @natcomms.nature.com ! rdcu.be/eACGf

TL;DR: asymmetric learning rates can be induced by shifts in tonic dopamine giving rise to pessimistic/optimistic biases in agents or animals undergoing reinforcement learning .
Tonic dopamine and biases in value learning linked through a biologically inspired reinforcement learning model
Nature Communications - Accurate future predictions are essential for guiding behavior, and disruptions in this process are associated with psychiatric disorders. Here the authors show that changes...
rdcu.be
August 13, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
How is the nervous system organized to coordinate behavior? To approach this massive question, a team led by @asbates.bsky.social, @jasper-tms.bsky.social, @mindyisminsu.bsky.social, & Helen Yang present the BANC: a Brain and Nerve Cord connectome.

Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

🧪#Neuroskyence
August 3, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
New preprint from Yipei Guo and Ann Hermundstad (@hhmijanelia.bsky.social) - a wonderfully in-depth investigation into environmental variability and optimal behavioural strategies.
Environmental dynamics impact whether matching is optimal https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.20.665805v1
July 25, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
🪰 A new ‘Eyemap’ developed by a team led by Arthur Zhao & @michaelreiser.bsky.social reveals how visual information detected by the fly’s eye shows up in neurons deep in the brain. Remarkably, the eye’s shape determines how flies see motion.👁️
🔗 hhmi.news/4kSZjou
July 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
What does a neural network look like? Maybe like this view of Larissa Heinrich's U-net for organelle segmentation, with edges between layer inputs and outputs.

Want to help build networks like this? Join #HHMIJanelia's new AI initiative as a data engineer:
hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
July 23, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
🧠 Excited by synapse-level brain mapping? Join us at a world-class institute to build molecular tools based on our new #LICONN work — and push the frontier of #MolecularConnectomics. Let’s decode the brain, one synapse at a time.

hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
Research Specialist - Tavakoli Lab
Primary Work Address: 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, 20147 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is a pio...
hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
July 17, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Brad Hulse
Super excited to announce a follow-up to the Janelia 'mechanistic basis of foraging' conference - this time held in Birmingham, UK! Join us from the 3rd - 5th November to discuss all things foraging: uobevents.eventsair.com/the-mechanis...
Homepage - The Mechanistic Basis of Foraging
uobevents.eventsair.com
June 30, 2025 at 3:24 PM