Matteo Carandini
@carandinilab.net
Neuroscientist at University College London (www.ucl.ac.uk/cortexlab). Opinions my own.
Pinned
Sequences are everywhere! In every brain region. And are written in stone.
Invariant Activity Sequences Across the Mouse Brain.
Out today, by Célian Bimbard, with @kenneth-harris.bsky.social.
Based on data by Célian and by @intlbrainlab.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Invariant Activity Sequences Across the Mouse Brain.
Out today, by Célian Bimbard, with @kenneth-harris.bsky.social.
Based on data by Célian and by @intlbrainlab.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Adam Kampff prioritized spreading knowledge over publishing flashy papers in prestigious journals, but colleagues say his mark on neuroscience was undeniable. The researcher and educator passed away on 9 December.
By Lauren Schneider
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
By Lauren Schneider
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
Remembering Adam Kampff, neuroscience educator and researcher
Kampff’s do-it-yourself approach inspired a generation of neuroscientists.
www.thetransmitter.org
December 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Adam Kampff prioritized spreading knowledge over publishing flashy papers in prestigious journals, but colleagues say his mark on neuroscience was undeniable. The researcher and educator passed away on 9 December.
By Lauren Schneider
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
By Lauren Schneider
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Do direction and orientation preferences form maps in the mouse superior colliculus (SC)?
We examined how motion and orientation tuning are organized in SC neurons and their retinal inputs—and how the retinal topography is transformed by collicular circuits.
tinyurl.com/mr2zt5rm
🧵👇
We examined how motion and orientation tuning are organized in SC neurons and their retinal inputs—and how the retinal topography is transformed by collicular circuits.
tinyurl.com/mr2zt5rm
🧵👇
December 24, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Do direction and orientation preferences form maps in the mouse superior colliculus (SC)?
We examined how motion and orientation tuning are organized in SC neurons and their retinal inputs—and how the retinal topography is transformed by collicular circuits.
tinyurl.com/mr2zt5rm
🧵👇
We examined how motion and orientation tuning are organized in SC neurons and their retinal inputs—and how the retinal topography is transformed by collicular circuits.
tinyurl.com/mr2zt5rm
🧵👇
I found this article really interesting. Especially the list of criteria [apologies, occasionally I stray from neuroscience]
December 24, 2025 at 9:20 AM
I found this article really interesting. Especially the list of criteria [apologies, occasionally I stray from neuroscience]
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
iGluSnFR4 is now available @natmethods.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates 🧪
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates - Nature Methods
iGluSnFR4f and iGluSnFR4s are the latest generation of genetically encoded glutamate sensors. They are advantageous for detecting rapid dynamics and large population activity, respectively, as demonst...
www.nature.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:21 PM
iGluSnFR4 is now available @natmethods.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates 🧪
Great work by @sylviaschroeder.bsky.social and team
Direction and orientation preferences in mouse superior colliculus and its retinal inputs exhibit a topography of cardinal biases atop locally mixed tuning https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.21.695778v1
December 24, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Great work by @sylviaschroeder.bsky.social and team
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Look who's finally on Bluesky! Welcome Hendrikje (and lab).
@nienborglab.bsky.social
Let's get her follower count up.
🙂
@nienborglab.bsky.social
Let's get her follower count up.
🙂
December 23, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Look who's finally on Bluesky! Welcome Hendrikje (and lab).
@nienborglab.bsky.social
Let's get her follower count up.
🙂
@nienborglab.bsky.social
Let's get her follower count up.
🙂
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
This head is spinning continuously, but we see it rotating back and forth...
...presumably because of our strong prior expectation that faces are convex.
This is a very nice example of the Hollow-Face illusion promoted by Richard Gregory:
www.richardgregory.org/experiments/
...presumably because of our strong prior expectation that faces are convex.
This is a very nice example of the Hollow-Face illusion promoted by Richard Gregory:
www.richardgregory.org/experiments/
December 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM
This head is spinning continuously, but we see it rotating back and forth...
...presumably because of our strong prior expectation that faces are convex.
This is a very nice example of the Hollow-Face illusion promoted by Richard Gregory:
www.richardgregory.org/experiments/
...presumably because of our strong prior expectation that faces are convex.
This is a very nice example of the Hollow-Face illusion promoted by Richard Gregory:
www.richardgregory.org/experiments/
Sequences are everywhere! In every brain region. And are written in stone.
Invariant Activity Sequences Across the Mouse Brain.
Out today, by Célian Bimbard, with @kenneth-harris.bsky.social.
Based on data by Célian and by @intlbrainlab.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Invariant Activity Sequences Across the Mouse Brain.
Out today, by Célian Bimbard, with @kenneth-harris.bsky.social.
Based on data by Célian and by @intlbrainlab.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 22, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Sequences are everywhere! In every brain region. And are written in stone.
Invariant Activity Sequences Across the Mouse Brain.
Out today, by Célian Bimbard, with @kenneth-harris.bsky.social.
Based on data by Célian and by @intlbrainlab.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Invariant Activity Sequences Across the Mouse Brain.
Out today, by Célian Bimbard, with @kenneth-harris.bsky.social.
Based on data by Célian and by @intlbrainlab.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Seven feel-good science stories to round up 2025. All too often we forget to celebrate the positives
🧪
#AcademicSky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪
#AcademicSky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Seven feel-good science stories to restore your faith in 2025
Immense progress in gene-editing, drug discovery and conservation are just some of the reasons to be cheerful about 2025.
www.nature.com
December 18, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Seven feel-good science stories to round up 2025. All too often we forget to celebrate the positives
🧪
#AcademicSky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪
#AcademicSky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
This paper by Ken's group seems like a very important follow up to Stringer + Pachitariu et al (consistent a MSc in the lab found that UMAP could capture their data well):
"High-dimensional neuronal activity from low-dimensional latent dynamics: a solvable model"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
"High-dimensional neuronal activity from low-dimensional latent dynamics: a solvable model"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
High-dimensional neuronal activity from low-dimensional latent dynamics: a solvable model
Computation in recurrent networks of neurons has been hypothesized to occur at the level of low-dimensional latent dynamics, both in artificial systems and in the brain. This hypothesis seems at odds ...
www.biorxiv.org
December 16, 2025 at 5:19 PM
This paper by Ken's group seems like a very important follow up to Stringer + Pachitariu et al (consistent a MSc in the lab found that UMAP could capture their data well):
"High-dimensional neuronal activity from low-dimensional latent dynamics: a solvable model"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
"High-dimensional neuronal activity from low-dimensional latent dynamics: a solvable model"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Fully-funded International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme🧠 Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal 🇵🇹
Deadline: Jan 31, 2026
fchampalimaud.org/champalimaud...
Research program spans systems/computational/theoretical/clinical/sensory/motor neuroscience, neuroethology, intelligence, and more!!
Deadline: Jan 31, 2026
fchampalimaud.org/champalimaud...
Research program spans systems/computational/theoretical/clinical/sensory/motor neuroscience, neuroethology, intelligence, and more!!
December 16, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Fully-funded International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme🧠 Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal 🇵🇹
Deadline: Jan 31, 2026
fchampalimaud.org/champalimaud...
Research program spans systems/computational/theoretical/clinical/sensory/motor neuroscience, neuroethology, intelligence, and more!!
Deadline: Jan 31, 2026
fchampalimaud.org/champalimaud...
Research program spans systems/computational/theoretical/clinical/sensory/motor neuroscience, neuroethology, intelligence, and more!!
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Ok, this is nuts. Once you see it you cannot unsee it. Do you see it?
(OP @drgbuckingham.bsky.social )
(OP @drgbuckingham.bsky.social )
December 16, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Ok, this is nuts. Once you see it you cannot unsee it. Do you see it?
(OP @drgbuckingham.bsky.social )
(OP @drgbuckingham.bsky.social )
This is fantastic news
December 16, 2025 at 8:07 PM
This is fantastic news
The European Research Council (@erc.europa.eu) has released the results for this year's Consolidator Grants, and yet again the UK, Germany, and Netherlands receive most of the grants. Interestingly, they contribute fewer awardees. Italy instead stands out for the opposite. (1/2)
December 10, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The European Research Council (@erc.europa.eu) has released the results for this year's Consolidator Grants, and yet again the UK, Germany, and Netherlands receive most of the grants. Interestingly, they contribute fewer awardees. Italy instead stands out for the opposite. (1/2)
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Today we honour the memory of Adam Kampff, whose passing leaves an immense void in our community.
We are profoundly grateful to Adam. The best way to honour him is to continue innovating, collaborating, and sharing generously, as he taught us. Thank you, Adam Kampff.
We are profoundly grateful to Adam. The best way to honour him is to continue innovating, collaborating, and sharing generously, as he taught us. Thank you, Adam Kampff.
December 9, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Today we honour the memory of Adam Kampff, whose passing leaves an immense void in our community.
We are profoundly grateful to Adam. The best way to honour him is to continue innovating, collaborating, and sharing generously, as he taught us. Thank you, Adam Kampff.
We are profoundly grateful to Adam. The best way to honour him is to continue innovating, collaborating, and sharing generously, as he taught us. Thank you, Adam Kampff.
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Best part about being a scientist is the people I get to work with. Valentin (@bio-emergent.bsky.social) and I got to give a talk at NeurIPS, bridging a gap between low- and high-dim perspectives of the brain. Thankfully, the audience was (somewhat) more awake than the San Diego desert 🏜️
December 8, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Best part about being a scientist is the people I get to work with. Valentin (@bio-emergent.bsky.social) and I got to give a talk at NeurIPS, bridging a gap between low- and high-dim perspectives of the brain. Thankfully, the audience was (somewhat) more awake than the San Diego desert 🏜️
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
The temperature in central the Netherlands over the past 320 years. Clearly shows that we're already well over 2 degrees of warming here. This year is heading for 11.5°C again.
This coming Monday and Tuesday, we'll even have that average, in December...
This coming Monday and Tuesday, we'll even have that average, in December...
Gemiddelde temperatuur centraal Nederland vanaf 1706, 3, 11 en 30 jaars gemiddelde op maandgemiddelde.
December 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
The temperature in central the Netherlands over the past 320 years. Clearly shows that we're already well over 2 degrees of warming here. This year is heading for 11.5°C again.
This coming Monday and Tuesday, we'll even have that average, in December...
This coming Monday and Tuesday, we'll even have that average, in December...
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Excited to share a new article, led by Barnes Jannuzi. Here we tried to pinpoint something about visual familiarity that isn't reflected in visual cortex via something putatively hippocampal. Nope! Per the theme of this era, the brain is not so simple. /1
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
Sharpened visual memory representations are reflected in inferotemporal cortex
Humans and other primates can robustly report whether they've seen specific images before, even when those images are extremely similar to ones they've previously seen. Multiple lines of evidence sugg...
www.jneurosci.org
December 6, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Excited to share a new article, led by Barnes Jannuzi. Here we tried to pinpoint something about visual familiarity that isn't reflected in visual cortex via something putatively hippocampal. Nope! Per the theme of this era, the brain is not so simple. /1
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
I’m keeping this one for the next time someone asks what harm it could do using “AI” to get started on some research.
December 5, 2025 at 3:39 AM
I’m keeping this one for the next time someone asks what harm it could do using “AI” to get started on some research.
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Call is out for Champalimaud International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme 2026! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Call is out for Champalimaud International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme 2026! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
Since Trump took office, the US Is funding fewer grants in every area of science and medicine or 41 % below average
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Since Trump took office, the US Is funding fewer grants in every area of science and medicine or 41 % below average
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Our lab plans to attend en masse. We think #FENS2026 will be the greatest FENS meeting ever. See you in Barcelona!
🚨 Big news for the neuroscience community!
The Call for Abstracts, Travel Grants and Registrations for #FENS2026 is officially open! 🧠
👉 Register and submit your work today: https://loom.ly/usQR0ao
The Call for Abstracts, Travel Grants and Registrations for #FENS2026 is officially open! 🧠
👉 Register and submit your work today: https://loom.ly/usQR0ao
December 2, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Our lab plans to attend en masse. We think #FENS2026 will be the greatest FENS meeting ever. See you in Barcelona!
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
· #AcademicSky ·
The European Research Council is launching €7m Plus Grants for ambitious, long‑term research — open to researchers at any career stage but limited to about 30 awards; current ERC grantees and applicants are ineligible, reports @clanicholson.bsky.social.
The European Research Council is launching €7m Plus Grants for ambitious, long‑term research — open to researchers at any career stage but limited to about 30 awards; current ERC grantees and applicants are ineligible, reports @clanicholson.bsky.social.
ERC’s new €7m Plus Grants open to researchers at any career stage - Research Professional News
European Research Council president describes scheme as part attempt to lure US talent
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:27 PM
· #AcademicSky ·
The European Research Council is launching €7m Plus Grants for ambitious, long‑term research — open to researchers at any career stage but limited to about 30 awards; current ERC grantees and applicants are ineligible, reports @clanicholson.bsky.social.
The European Research Council is launching €7m Plus Grants for ambitious, long‑term research — open to researchers at any career stage but limited to about 30 awards; current ERC grantees and applicants are ineligible, reports @clanicholson.bsky.social.
Reposted by Matteo Carandini
An AI agent, run by collaborators on another continent, generated equations that explain the dynamics of the neurons we recorded 🤯
Finally had the time to read the paper after post-SfN recovery. The approach is v cool, & the Gaussian parametrization feels almost embarrassingly obvious in hindsight.
Finally had the time to read the paper after post-SfN recovery. The approach is v cool, & the Gaussian parametrization feels almost embarrassingly obvious in hindsight.
1. New preprint resolving a conundrum in systems neuroscience with an AI scientist, and humans Reilly Tilbury, Dabin Kwon, @haydari.bsky.social, @jacobmratliff.bsky.social, @bio-emergent.bsky.social, @carandinilab.net, @kevinjmiller.bsky.social, @neurokim.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Characterizing neuronal population geometry with AI equation discovery
The visual cortex contains millions of neurons, whose combined activity forms a population code representing visual stimuli. There is, however, a discrepancy between our understanding of this code at ...
www.biorxiv.org
November 26, 2025 at 7:03 PM
An AI agent, run by collaborators on another continent, generated equations that explain the dynamics of the neurons we recorded 🤯
Finally had the time to read the paper after post-SfN recovery. The approach is v cool, & the Gaussian parametrization feels almost embarrassingly obvious in hindsight.
Finally had the time to read the paper after post-SfN recovery. The approach is v cool, & the Gaussian parametrization feels almost embarrassingly obvious in hindsight.
This 2017 preprint by @suryaganguli.bsky.social is foundational: the dimension of a neural code can't be > that of the experiment used to measure it. Yet it is not very widely known. Maybe because people don't like the message? And because it's "unpublished"? (After writing it, Gao left for SpaceX)
Low-dimensional activity for simple tasks is a clear prediction from basic coding arguments
A theory of multineuronal dimensionality, dynamics and measurement
In many experiments, neuroscientists tightly control behavior, record many trials, and obtain trial-averaged firing rates from hundreds of neurons in circuits containing billions of behaviorally relev...
www.biorxiv.org
November 24, 2025 at 9:16 AM
This 2017 preprint by @suryaganguli.bsky.social is foundational: the dimension of a neural code can't be > that of the experiment used to measure it. Yet it is not very widely known. Maybe because people don't like the message? And because it's "unpublished"? (After writing it, Gao left for SpaceX)