Luke Sjulson
@lukesjulson.bsky.social
MD/PhD neuroscientist/psychiatrist, father of 3, Nak Muay, engineer at heart. mPFC-HPC interactions in addiction/schizophrenia, multi-region ephys and imaging in vivo, gene therapy, novel optical methods for spatial transcriptomics https://sjulsonlab.org
Pinned
Luke Sjulson
@lukesjulson.bsky.social
· Dec 13
Neuroscience methods - YouTube
Nanocourse: Approaches to Study Neural Circuits This course was taught by Anita Autry, Tiago Gonçalves, and Luke Sjulson at Albert Einstein College of Medici...
www.youtube.com
Neuroscience students asked us to teach a PRACTICAL course on experimental methods, and it is now on YouTube!
Please like and repost to help us get the word out!
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Lecture 1: Signals and data acquisition
Focusing on hardware, digital/analog I/O, synchronization
🧵
Please like and repost to help us get the word out!
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Lecture 1: Signals and data acquisition
Focusing on hardware, digital/analog I/O, synchronization
🧵
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
Very excited to post our paper led by @daburke.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... where we uncover a simple mathematical rule underlying how brains learn that a cue predicts a reward. 1/26
Duration between rewards controls the rate of behavioral and dopaminergic learning - Nature Neuroscience
Cue–reward learning rate scales proportionally with the time between rewards. Consequently, learning over a fixed duration is independent of the number of trials. This challenges trial-based dopamine ...
www.nature.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Very excited to post our paper led by @daburke.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... where we uncover a simple mathematical rule underlying how brains learn that a cue predicts a reward. 1/26
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
We need to raise the bar on research code right now.
1) documentation and tests are dead simple now.
2) creating benchmarks integrating across multiple implementations
3) have agents double check your work / fix broken tests
4) fix outstanding bugs in major scientific packages
1) documentation and tests are dead simple now.
2) creating benchmarks integrating across multiple implementations
3) have agents double check your work / fix broken tests
4) fix outstanding bugs in major scientific packages
I have been using Claude Code recently, and I’m now convinced that LLM coding agents can solve one of the biggest problems in neuroscience: technical debt.
Labs generate tons of low-quality code bc the incentive structure rewards short-term productivity over longer-term concerns like 1/
Labs generate tons of low-quality code bc the incentive structure rewards short-term productivity over longer-term concerns like 1/
February 14, 2026 at 3:58 PM
We need to raise the bar on research code right now.
1) documentation and tests are dead simple now.
2) creating benchmarks integrating across multiple implementations
3) have agents double check your work / fix broken tests
4) fix outstanding bugs in major scientific packages
1) documentation and tests are dead simple now.
2) creating benchmarks integrating across multiple implementations
3) have agents double check your work / fix broken tests
4) fix outstanding bugs in major scientific packages
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
Ooooh. Cool new paper on origins of life. A simple 45-nucleotide RNA molecule that can perfectly copy itself.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand
The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...
www.science.org
February 13, 2026 at 2:19 AM
Ooooh. Cool new paper on origins of life. A simple 45-nucleotide RNA molecule that can perfectly copy itself.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
New paper alert! 🚨
We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales
1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit
This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.
Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales
1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit
This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.
Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
February 11, 2026 at 5:52 PM
New paper alert! 🚨
We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales
1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit
This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.
Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales
1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit
This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.
Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
I have been using Claude Code recently, and I’m now convinced that LLM coding agents can solve one of the biggest problems in neuroscience: technical debt.
Labs generate tons of low-quality code bc the incentive structure rewards short-term productivity over longer-term concerns like 1/
Labs generate tons of low-quality code bc the incentive structure rewards short-term productivity over longer-term concerns like 1/
February 11, 2026 at 2:11 PM
I have been using Claude Code recently, and I’m now convinced that LLM coding agents can solve one of the biggest problems in neuroscience: technical debt.
Labs generate tons of low-quality code bc the incentive structure rewards short-term productivity over longer-term concerns like 1/
Labs generate tons of low-quality code bc the incentive structure rewards short-term productivity over longer-term concerns like 1/
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
Our paper is out in @natneuro.nature.com!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
February 10, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Our paper is out in @natneuro.nature.com!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
This is almost as bad as the time I came across a matlab function that I wrote as a rotation student. Literally the worst code ever written, it's a masterpiece of incomprehensibility
February 11, 2026 at 12:14 AM
This is almost as bad as the time I came across a matlab function that I wrote as a rotation student. Literally the worst code ever written, it's a masterpiece of incomprehensibility
The day has finally come! An obscure question arose for which my PhD thesis contains the answer!
With barely-contained excitement, I dug up the old PDF to get the answer and realized... that I literally cannot decipher it 🤦♂️
With barely-contained excitement, I dug up the old PDF to get the answer and realized... that I literally cannot decipher it 🤦♂️
February 11, 2026 at 12:08 AM
The day has finally come! An obscure question arose for which my PhD thesis contains the answer!
With barely-contained excitement, I dug up the old PDF to get the answer and realized... that I literally cannot decipher it 🤦♂️
With barely-contained excitement, I dug up the old PDF to get the answer and realized... that I literally cannot decipher it 🤦♂️
People falling in love with LLMs remind me of that guy whose father died when he was 12, so he latched onto Optimus Prime as a father figure. As an adult, he changed his legal name to Optimus Prime and was widely mocked. It's not mental illness or stupidity; it's something much sadder
February 4, 2026 at 6:29 PM
People falling in love with LLMs remind me of that guy whose father died when he was 12, so he latched onto Optimus Prime as a father figure. As an adult, he changed his legal name to Optimus Prime and was widely mocked. It's not mental illness or stupidity; it's something much sadder
Just got the summary statement for an R21 resub w/ impact score of 40. Of the 3 major criticisms, the 2 biggest ones were factually incorrect. But there's no meaningful recourse in situations like this.
Imagine if applicants could write a one-page rebuttal before the study section meets...
Imagine if applicants could write a one-page rebuttal before the study section meets...
February 4, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Just got the summary statement for an R21 resub w/ impact score of 40. Of the 3 major criticisms, the 2 biggest ones were factually incorrect. But there's no meaningful recourse in situations like this.
Imagine if applicants could write a one-page rebuttal before the study section meets...
Imagine if applicants could write a one-page rebuttal before the study section meets...
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
News from central Jersey: I'm running to represent New Jersey's 12th Congressional District.
By entering the fray, I hope to bring ideas of repairing our frayed republic. Not only to defend it in 2026, but to build something stronger, for generations to come!
samwang.substack.com/p/entering-t...
By entering the fray, I hope to bring ideas of repairing our frayed republic. Not only to defend it in 2026, but to build something stronger, for generations to come!
samwang.substack.com/p/entering-t...
February 4, 2026 at 3:00 AM
News from central Jersey: I'm running to represent New Jersey's 12th Congressional District.
By entering the fray, I hope to bring ideas of repairing our frayed republic. Not only to defend it in 2026, but to build something stronger, for generations to come!
samwang.substack.com/p/entering-t...
By entering the fray, I hope to bring ideas of repairing our frayed republic. Not only to defend it in 2026, but to build something stronger, for generations to come!
samwang.substack.com/p/entering-t...
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
The bureaucracy of science has grown so much, the system is collapsing upon itself:
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
February 3, 2026 at 6:52 PM
The bureaucracy of science has grown so much, the system is collapsing upon itself:
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
AI will not cure cancer, story #587:
I have a client who is studying a potential therapeutic target. All the literature suggests that co-targeting their original target and another molecule should be synergistic because they participate in parallel pathways.
I have a client who is studying a potential therapeutic target. All the literature suggests that co-targeting their original target and another molecule should be synergistic because they participate in parallel pathways.
January 29, 2026 at 2:01 PM
AI will not cure cancer, story #587:
I have a client who is studying a potential therapeutic target. All the literature suggests that co-targeting their original target and another molecule should be synergistic because they participate in parallel pathways.
I have a client who is studying a potential therapeutic target. All the literature suggests that co-targeting their original target and another molecule should be synergistic because they participate in parallel pathways.
The supplementary videos for this preprint are fantastic. Some wild examples of decoding the animal's attentional focus and/or intent
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
January 28, 2026 at 2:04 PM
The supplementary videos for this preprint are fantastic. Some wild examples of decoding the animal's attentional focus and/or intent
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him.
White. Hot. Rage.
White. Hot. Rage.
January 24, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him.
White. Hot. Rage.
White. Hot. Rage.
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
Main postdoc study out! We can redefine prefrontal cortex regions with single-unit activity! Grateful to @carlenlab.bsky.social and @weltgeischt.bsky.social who made this crazy project real. Thanks to all co-authors, collaborators, and reviewers.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A prefrontal cortex map based on single-neuron activity - Nature Neuroscience
The authors mapped spontaneous and choice activity across mouse prefrontal cortex. The activity maps aligned with intrinsic connectivity rather than anatomical subregions, suggesting that connectivity...
www.nature.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 AM
Main postdoc study out! We can redefine prefrontal cortex regions with single-unit activity! Grateful to @carlenlab.bsky.social and @weltgeischt.bsky.social who made this crazy project real. Thanks to all co-authors, collaborators, and reviewers.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A humble proposal: all abbreviations in scientific papers should use PDF tooltips to expand the abbreviation when the mouse pointer hovers over them.
Anyone agree/disagree?
Anyone agree/disagree?
January 16, 2026 at 10:10 PM
A humble proposal: all abbreviations in scientific papers should use PDF tooltips to expand the abbreviation when the mouse pointer hovers over them.
Anyone agree/disagree?
Anyone agree/disagree?
I’m excited to be an associate member of @acnporg.bsky.social
Looking forward to coming to the ACNP meeting regularly!
#ACNP2026
Looking forward to coming to the ACNP meeting regularly!
#ACNP2026
Congrats to all of the new @acnporg.bsky.social Associate Members!!! #ACNP2026
January 15, 2026 at 2:49 PM
I’m excited to be an associate member of @acnporg.bsky.social
Looking forward to coming to the ACNP meeting regularly!
#ACNP2026
Looking forward to coming to the ACNP meeting regularly!
#ACNP2026
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
The data show that when you let more women and racial/ethnic minorities into your academic society they tend to be overrepresented doing the service work of your society. Isn’t that interesting? #ACNP2026
January 14, 2026 at 10:33 PM
The data show that when you let more women and racial/ethnic minorities into your academic society they tend to be overrepresented doing the service work of your society. Isn’t that interesting? #ACNP2026
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.
January 12, 2026 at 8:59 AM
Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
When and why do modular representations emerge in neural networks?
@stefanofusi.bsky.social and I posted a preprint answering this question last year, and now it has been extensively revised, refocused, and generalized. Read more here: doi.org/10.1101/2024... (1/7)
@stefanofusi.bsky.social and I posted a preprint answering this question last year, and now it has been extensively revised, refocused, and generalized. Read more here: doi.org/10.1101/2024... (1/7)
January 9, 2026 at 7:06 PM
When and why do modular representations emerge in neural networks?
@stefanofusi.bsky.social and I posted a preprint answering this question last year, and now it has been extensively revised, refocused, and generalized. Read more here: doi.org/10.1101/2024... (1/7)
@stefanofusi.bsky.social and I posted a preprint answering this question last year, and now it has been extensively revised, refocused, and generalized. Read more here: doi.org/10.1101/2024... (1/7)
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
If you are submitting an NIH grant in February, you will be required to use SciENcv to prepare you biosketch.
IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.
IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.
January 6, 2026 at 11:29 PM
If you are submitting an NIH grant in February, you will be required to use SciENcv to prepare you biosketch.
IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.
IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
🧠 New year, new preprint!
Why does motor learning involve multiple brain regions? We propose that the cortico-cerebellar system learns a "map" of actions where similar movements are nearby, while basal ganglia do RL in this simplified space.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Why does motor learning involve multiple brain regions? We propose that the cortico-cerebellar system learns a "map" of actions where similar movements are nearby, while basal ganglia do RL in this simplified space.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
January 5, 2026 at 12:54 PM
🧠 New year, new preprint!
Why does motor learning involve multiple brain regions? We propose that the cortico-cerebellar system learns a "map" of actions where similar movements are nearby, while basal ganglia do RL in this simplified space.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Why does motor learning involve multiple brain regions? We propose that the cortico-cerebellar system learns a "map" of actions where similar movements are nearby, while basal ganglia do RL in this simplified space.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Luke Sjulson
And immediately after being sworn in, he will launch nuclear missiles at the San Andreas Fault and Hackensack, New Jersey.
December 31, 2025 at 1:13 AM
And immediately after being sworn in, he will launch nuclear missiles at the San Andreas Fault and Hackensack, New Jersey.