Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
@dukebrain.bsky.social
Promoting interdisciplinary brain science research and translating discoveries into solutions for health and society.
https://dibs.duke.edu/
https://dibs.duke.edu/
Reposted by Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
Peace, love, and science from our lab to you.
December 24, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Peace, love, and science from our lab to you.
Beautiful work on a frontal cortex to brainstem pathway in the primate brain, from NEI intramural investigators with help from Martin Bohlen and others in the Sommer Lab at Duke! Optogenetics for projection targeting and causal manipulation, to study visuomotor behavior.
I’m excited to share our new Current Biology paper! We use retrograde optogenetics in non-human primate and revealed a visuomotor convergence mechanism in the FEF-SC pathway.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Retrograde optogenetics reveals sensorimotor convergence within a corticotectal pathway of non-human primates
Yu et al. demonstrate that diverse frontal eye field signals converge on motor-selective
superior colliculus neurons to generate saccades, revealing visuomotor convergence
and establishing retrograde ...
www.cell.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Beautiful work on a frontal cortex to brainstem pathway in the primate brain, from NEI intramural investigators with help from Martin Bohlen and others in the Sommer Lab at Duke! Optogenetics for projection targeting and causal manipulation, to study visuomotor behavior.
Reposted by Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
Tomorrow is the last day to apply for SSNAP! Please spread the word! #neuroscience #philosophy #neurophilosophy
Good news everyone: #Duke Summer Seminars in Neuroscience and Philosophy (SSNAP) are back!! We are now accepting applications for SSNAP 2026, which will take place from May 26 to June 6, 2026. #neuroscience #philosophy #brain Please spread the word! ssnap.submittable.com/submit
SSNAP Applications Manager
SSNAP Applications Manager Powered By Submittable - Accept and Curate Digital Content
ssnap.submittable.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Tomorrow is the last day to apply for SSNAP! Please spread the word! #neuroscience #philosophy #neurophilosophy
Reposted by Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
Many congrats to the newly minted Dr. Maddie Clark!
December 17, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Many congrats to the newly minted Dr. Maddie Clark!
Two DIBS Network Faculty elected to National Academy of Inventors! Dr. Adam Wax: methods for imaging retinas & tracking biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Arovind Asokan: viral methods for gene therapies incl. for the brain. @dukeubme.bsky.social @dukesurgery.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/DIIBS-NAI
tinyurl.com/DIIBS-NAI
Duke Researchers Selected to National Academy of Inventors | Duke Today
tinyurl.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Two DIBS Network Faculty elected to National Academy of Inventors! Dr. Adam Wax: methods for imaging retinas & tracking biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Arovind Asokan: viral methods for gene therapies incl. for the brain. @dukeubme.bsky.social @dukesurgery.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/DIIBS-NAI
tinyurl.com/DIIBS-NAI
💪🥳
We just launched our new study (my 1st at Duke @dukepsychiatry.bsky.social 🎉)! The project aims to understand how socioenvironmental and daily stress influence risk for PTSD after trauma. 🧠 #Neuroscience #TraumaResearch
December 8, 2025 at 9:24 PM
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Congratulations Dr. Dodge!! For more information on his work, which focuses on the origins and prevention of aggressive and violent behaviors, here is his DIBS Faculty Network page:
dibs.duke.edu/profile/kenn...
dibs.duke.edu/profile/kenn...
December 8, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Congratulations Dr. Dodge!! For more information on his work, which focuses on the origins and prevention of aggressive and violent behaviors, here is his DIBS Faculty Network page:
dibs.duke.edu/profile/kenn...
dibs.duke.edu/profile/kenn...
Neuroanatomy with systems neuroscience implications, from Duke Research Scientist Dr. Martin Bohlen (@bohlen.bsky.social) and colleagues. Feedback from motor nuclei to the cerebellum in primates, well situated to provide corollary discharge for calibrating and coordinating eye movements. Beautiful!
For the oculomotor nerds out there… we’re excited to share our paired papers on precerebellar circuitry!
These two studies look at how internuclear pathways talk to the cerebellum and what that means for eye movement control. 👀🧠 #neuroskyence #science
These two studies look at how internuclear pathways talk to the cerebellum and what that means for eye movement control. 👀🧠 #neuroskyence #science
December 1, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Neuroanatomy with systems neuroscience implications, from Duke Research Scientist Dr. Martin Bohlen (@bohlen.bsky.social) and colleagues. Feedback from motor nuclei to the cerebellum in primates, well situated to provide corollary discharge for calibrating and coordinating eye movements. Beautiful!
Terrific article on the Duke University Neuroscience Experience (DUNE), a summer program run by DIBS to bring local high school students to campus to conduct research in brain science labs. We're very proud of this program, which just completed its 5th summer!
sites.duke.edu/centerforpat...
sites.duke.edu/centerforpat...
November 28, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Terrific article on the Duke University Neuroscience Experience (DUNE), a summer program run by DIBS to bring local high school students to campus to conduct research in brain science labs. We're very proud of this program, which just completed its 5th summer!
sites.duke.edu/centerforpat...
sites.duke.edu/centerforpat...
Reposted by Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
Not directly related to @neurograce.bsky.social’s comment here but to the thread: I am baffled by the number of people who seem to think the claim is that all brain computation is low-d vs. the *emprical* finding that task-related neural activity is (linear) low-d in many (not all) cases.
This kind of stuff is why I say that I worry that the tools of neuroscience are not properly vetted
“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”
November 24, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Not directly related to @neurograce.bsky.social’s comment here but to the thread: I am baffled by the number of people who seem to think the claim is that all brain computation is low-d vs. the *emprical* finding that task-related neural activity is (linear) low-d in many (not all) cases.
Let us know any way we can help, Staci! Congratulations and good luck!
I am very grateful for Steve's leadership and excited to step into this new role! www.neuro.duke.edu/news/lisberg...
Lisberger to step down as department chair; Bilbo named interim leader
Stephen Lisberger, PhD, George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor for Research in Neurobiology, will step down from his role as
www.neuro.duke.edu
November 15, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Let us know any way we can help, Staci! Congratulations and good luck!
Wow!
Finally out! If you are interested in implementing closed loop experiments but need the flexibility to roll your own real-time algorithms, we can save you some serious time.
Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com introduces improv, a flexible software platform that integrates models with experiments in real-time. Traditional experiments collect all data first, then analyze it later. With improv, models analyze data as it streams in and actively guide what to do next.
November 13, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Wow!
Reposted by Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
Coming to San Diego for SfN and/or APAN? Come check out the intracranial work from the lab (7 posters)! There's a bit of everything this year, so come say hello!
#Sfn2025 #Neuroscience #neuroskyence
@dukebrain.bsky.social @dukeneurosurgery.bsky.social @dukeengineering.bsky.social
#Sfn2025 #Neuroscience #neuroskyence
@dukebrain.bsky.social @dukeneurosurgery.bsky.social @dukeengineering.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Coming to San Diego for SfN and/or APAN? Come check out the intracranial work from the lab (7 posters)! There's a bit of everything this year, so come say hello!
#Sfn2025 #Neuroscience #neuroskyence
@dukebrain.bsky.social @dukeneurosurgery.bsky.social @dukeengineering.bsky.social
#Sfn2025 #Neuroscience #neuroskyence
@dukebrain.bsky.social @dukeneurosurgery.bsky.social @dukeengineering.bsky.social
😻
my first #FluorescenceFriday post! Mouse hippocampus showing microglia, a lysosomal marker (CD68), and Aggrecan, a perineuronal net component. 😍 Image by Dr. Julia Dziabis!
November 8, 2025 at 7:42 AM
😻
Reposted by Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
Good news everyone: #Duke Summer Seminars in Neuroscience and Philosophy (SSNAP) are back!! We are now accepting applications for SSNAP 2026, which will take place from May 26 to June 6, 2026. #neuroscience #philosophy #brain Please spread the word! ssnap.submittable.com/submit
SSNAP Applications Manager
SSNAP Applications Manager Powered By Submittable - Accept and Curate Digital Content
ssnap.submittable.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Good news everyone: #Duke Summer Seminars in Neuroscience and Philosophy (SSNAP) are back!! We are now accepting applications for SSNAP 2026, which will take place from May 26 to June 6, 2026. #neuroscience #philosophy #brain Please spread the word! ssnap.submittable.com/submit
🧠🙌🌴
Excited to give a Special Lecture at #SfN2025 in San Diego (Nov 15-19)!
Proud of our current & former lab members presenting so posters and talks this year 🧠 ✨ See our schedule below! #Neuroscience #SuthanaLab
Proud of our current & former lab members presenting so posters and talks this year 🧠 ✨ See our schedule below! #Neuroscience #SuthanaLab
October 29, 2025 at 2:51 AM
🧠🙌🌴
Dr. Allie Sinclair, a 2019 DIBS Germinator award winner! Co-advised by @ralisonadcock.bsky.social and Greg Samanez-Larkin at the time, soon to be Asst Prof at Rice. Proud to see it!
Coming up on October 28! Dr. Allie Sinclair @asinclair.bsky.social (UPenn/Rice) will be presenting in @motcogmeet.bsky.social series: "Motivational States Bias Choices, Information Consumption, and Memory" 1/
October 16, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Dr. Allie Sinclair, a 2019 DIBS Germinator award winner! Co-advised by @ralisonadcock.bsky.social and Greg Samanez-Larkin at the time, soon to be Asst Prof at Rice. Proud to see it!
New work from Henry Yin and colleagues at Duke indicates we need to reconsider the role of VTA dopamine circuits in behavior!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Dopamine dynamics during stimulus-reward learning in mice can be explained by performance rather than learning - Nature Communications
VTA dopamine activity control movement-related performance, not reward prediction errors. Here, authors show that behavioral changes during Pavlovian learning explain DA activity regardless of reward ...
www.nature.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:13 PM
New work from Henry Yin and colleagues at Duke indicates we need to reconsider the role of VTA dopamine circuits in behavior!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New in Annual Review of Psychology from Alison Adcock and Jia-Hou Poh!
Motivations are like emotions about (what we know about) possible outcomes. Sometimes incentives spur urgency to act, other times to comprehend. Neuromodulatory systems reflect these motivational moods and shape memories. Out now w @jiahou-poh.bsky.social!
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Motivation as Neural Context for Adaptive Learning and Memory Formation
Our memories shape our perception of the world and guide adaptive behavior. Rather than a veridical record of experiences, memory is selective. An accumulating body of work suggests that motivational ...
www.annualreviews.org
October 13, 2025 at 4:40 PM
New in Annual Review of Psychology from Alison Adcock and Jia-Hou Poh!
What a tour de force from the Silver lab!
I am thrilled to share our latest story led by the incredibly talented Brooke D’Arcy and Camila Musso. We discover a rich world of local gene expression in radial glia, essential neural and glial precursors, and develop a new method for sub-cellular mRNA manipulation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 13, 2025 at 3:31 AM
What a tour de force from the Silver lab!
Reposted by Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
I wrote a short commentary on Anil Seth's wonderful forthcoming paper in BBS. It is largely inspired by the work of Andy Clark, although some ideas I owe to Ned Block and Dan Dennett (probably not the same ideas!). I highly recommend Anil's paper to anyone interested in consciousness [1/2]
October 10, 2025 at 12:59 AM
I wrote a short commentary on Anil Seth's wonderful forthcoming paper in BBS. It is largely inspired by the work of Andy Clark, although some ideas I owe to Ned Block and Dan Dennett (probably not the same ideas!). I highly recommend Anil's paper to anyone interested in consciousness [1/2]
Congratulations Tom! It's great to see a teacher, mentor, and leader of the Duke Neuroscience major honored this way!
October 5, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Congratulations Tom! It's great to see a teacher, mentor, and leader of the Duke Neuroscience major honored this way!
New op-ed by DIBS Associate Director Dr. Nicole Schramm-Sapyta on the important role of mental health care in crime prevention:
www.newsobserver.com/opinion/arti...
www.newsobserver.com/opinion/arti...
NC crime bill doesn’t do enough to address mental health. These steps will help | Opinion
We will all be safer if we choose proactive, rather than reactive, solutions to address mental health and crime. Now is the time to start in NC. | Opinion
www.newsobserver.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:50 AM
New op-ed by DIBS Associate Director Dr. Nicole Schramm-Sapyta on the important role of mental health care in crime prevention:
www.newsobserver.com/opinion/arti...
www.newsobserver.com/opinion/arti...
Duke community: DIBS has announced revival of its seed grant programs with a round of Germinators! These are specifically for grad students and postdocs - they are the PIs of the awards - to propose 1-year, interdisciplinary research projects in the brain sciences. RFP: dibs.duke.edu/2025-germina...
2025 Germinator Awards: Request for Proposals | Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
The Duke Institute for Brain Sciences (DIBS) invites applications for Germinator Awards: Interdisciplinary research and training relevant to the brain sciencesOpen only t
dibs.duke.edu
September 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Duke community: DIBS has announced revival of its seed grant programs with a round of Germinators! These are specifically for grad students and postdocs - they are the PIs of the awards - to propose 1-year, interdisciplinary research projects in the brain sciences. RFP: dibs.duke.edu/2025-germina...
To everyone interested in mental health: why not you?
September 19, 2025 at 2:47 AM
To everyone interested in mental health: why not you?