NERF
@nerflabs.bsky.social
Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders - NERF
We study neuronal circuits and develop new technologies to link brain activity to brain function
nerf.be
We study neuronal circuits and develop new technologies to link brain activity to brain function
nerf.be
Applications are now open for the NERF/VIB-KU Leuven Center For Brain & Disease Research joint PhD Call 2026!
📅 Application deadline: 20 November 2025
📍 Start date: Autumn 2026
🔗 Learn more about the projects & teams and apply now: https://cbd.sites.vib.be/en/phdcall2026
📅 Application deadline: 20 November 2025
📍 Start date: Autumn 2026
🔗 Learn more about the projects & teams and apply now: https://cbd.sites.vib.be/en/phdcall2026
November 3, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Applications are now open for the NERF/VIB-KU Leuven Center For Brain & Disease Research joint PhD Call 2026!
📅 Application deadline: 20 November 2025
📍 Start date: Autumn 2026
🔗 Learn more about the projects & teams and apply now: https://cbd.sites.vib.be/en/phdcall2026
📅 Application deadline: 20 November 2025
📍 Start date: Autumn 2026
🔗 Learn more about the projects & teams and apply now: https://cbd.sites.vib.be/en/phdcall2026
Which small midbrain structure plays a surprisingly central role in how animals see, decide, and act, and has been the star of multiple recent papers from @farrowlab.bsky.social and @boninlab.bsky.social?
That's right, the superior colliculus!
https://blog.vib.be/meet-the-superior-colliculus
That's right, the superior colliculus!
https://blog.vib.be/meet-the-superior-colliculus
September 24, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Which small midbrain structure plays a surprisingly central role in how animals see, decide, and act, and has been the star of multiple recent papers from @farrowlab.bsky.social and @boninlab.bsky.social?
That's right, the superior colliculus!
https://blog.vib.be/meet-the-superior-colliculus
That's right, the superior colliculus!
https://blog.vib.be/meet-the-superior-colliculus
What if... a brain scan would be as easy as an ultrassound?
The Urban lab's work on fUS is covered in EOS (in Dutch)!
Read it here 👇 https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/technologie/wat-als-een-hersenscan-even-eenvoudig-werd-als-een-echo
The Urban lab's work on fUS is covered in EOS (in Dutch)!
Read it here 👇 https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/technologie/wat-als-een-hersenscan-even-eenvoudig-werd-als-een-echo
Wat als een hersenscan even eenvoudig werd als een echo?
Bij pasgeboren baby’s verlopen epileptische aanvallen vaak zó subtiel dat ze onopgemerkt blijven. Toch kunnen net die eerste aanvallen schade veroorzake...
www.eoswetenschap.eu
September 4, 2025 at 7:22 AM
What if... a brain scan would be as easy as an ultrassound?
The Urban lab's work on fUS is covered in EOS (in Dutch)!
Read it here 👇 https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/technologie/wat-als-een-hersenscan-even-eenvoudig-werd-als-een-echo
The Urban lab's work on fUS is covered in EOS (in Dutch)!
Read it here 👇 https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/technologie/wat-als-een-hersenscan-even-eenvoudig-werd-als-een-echo
📢 New paper out in Nature!
The Hoekstra lab at Harvard and @farrowlab.bsky.social lab at NERF reveal how a brain switch is tuned by evolution to control freezing vs fleeing in two sister species of deer mice.
👏 Huge congratulations to the entire team
https://tinyurl.com/3at3zvby
The Hoekstra lab at Harvard and @farrowlab.bsky.social lab at NERF reveal how a brain switch is tuned by evolution to control freezing vs fleeing in two sister species of deer mice.
👏 Huge congratulations to the entire team
https://tinyurl.com/3at3zvby
July 23, 2025 at 3:07 PM
📢 New paper out in Nature!
The Hoekstra lab at Harvard and @farrowlab.bsky.social lab at NERF reveal how a brain switch is tuned by evolution to control freezing vs fleeing in two sister species of deer mice.
👏 Huge congratulations to the entire team
https://tinyurl.com/3at3zvby
The Hoekstra lab at Harvard and @farrowlab.bsky.social lab at NERF reveal how a brain switch is tuned by evolution to control freezing vs fleeing in two sister species of deer mice.
👏 Huge congratulations to the entire team
https://tinyurl.com/3at3zvby
New from the Urban Lab: PyfUS!
An open-source Python toolkit for analyzing whole-brain fUS data—now with single-voxel clustering for fine-scale insights. Just published in Neurocomputing.
🔗 Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2025.130899
🛠️ Code: github.com/OpenfUS/PyfUS
An open-source Python toolkit for analyzing whole-brain fUS data—now with single-voxel clustering for fine-scale insights. Just published in Neurocomputing.
🔗 Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2025.130899
🛠️ Code: github.com/OpenfUS/PyfUS
July 21, 2025 at 6:37 AM
New from the Urban Lab: PyfUS!
An open-source Python toolkit for analyzing whole-brain fUS data—now with single-voxel clustering for fine-scale insights. Just published in Neurocomputing.
🔗 Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2025.130899
🛠️ Code: github.com/OpenfUS/PyfUS
An open-source Python toolkit for analyzing whole-brain fUS data—now with single-voxel clustering for fine-scale insights. Just published in Neurocomputing.
🔗 Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2025.130899
🛠️ Code: github.com/OpenfUS/PyfUS
In a new essay in The Transmitter,
@farrowlab.bsky.social and katjareinhard.bsky.social make the case for evolutionary thinking in systems neuroscience. Comparative approaches = deeper insight into brain function.
tinyurl.com/33sebnf7
✨ Artwork by Eoin Ryan
@farrowlab.bsky.social and katjareinhard.bsky.social make the case for evolutionary thinking in systems neuroscience. Comparative approaches = deeper insight into brain function.
tinyurl.com/33sebnf7
✨ Artwork by Eoin Ryan
Systems and circuit neuroscience need an evolutionary perspective
To identify fundamental neuroscientific principles that generalize across species, neuroscientists must frame their research through an evolutionary lens.
tinyurl.com
July 16, 2025 at 11:25 AM
In a new essay in The Transmitter,
@farrowlab.bsky.social and katjareinhard.bsky.social make the case for evolutionary thinking in systems neuroscience. Comparative approaches = deeper insight into brain function.
tinyurl.com/33sebnf7
✨ Artwork by Eoin Ryan
@farrowlab.bsky.social and katjareinhard.bsky.social make the case for evolutionary thinking in systems neuroscience. Comparative approaches = deeper insight into brain function.
tinyurl.com/33sebnf7
✨ Artwork by Eoin Ryan
Reposted by NERF
We map brain-wide functions of awake mice at the single-voxel scale !
Introducing PyfUS our brand new, ground-setting, open-source software for analysing brain-wide functional ultrasound imaging datasets.
Now in #Neurocomputing
@sciencedirect.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Introducing PyfUS our brand new, ground-setting, open-source software for analysing brain-wide functional ultrasound imaging datasets.
Now in #Neurocomputing
@sciencedirect.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
July 16, 2025 at 10:44 AM
We map brain-wide functions of awake mice at the single-voxel scale !
Introducing PyfUS our brand new, ground-setting, open-source software for analysing brain-wide functional ultrasound imaging datasets.
Now in #Neurocomputing
@sciencedirect.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Introducing PyfUS our brand new, ground-setting, open-source software for analysing brain-wide functional ultrasound imaging datasets.
Now in #Neurocomputing
@sciencedirect.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Reposted by NERF
Excited to see this out! 🎉 Congratulations to the fantastic
@nkkuhn.bsky.social for leading the way, with key contributions from Chen Li and
@boninlab.bsky.social. Thanks also to: @nerflabs.bsky.social, @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social, @viblifesciences.bsky.social, and KU Leuven.
tinyurl.com/3rfe6f2k
@nkkuhn.bsky.social for leading the way, with key contributions from Chen Li and
@boninlab.bsky.social. Thanks also to: @nerflabs.bsky.social, @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social, @viblifesciences.bsky.social, and KU Leuven.
tinyurl.com/3rfe6f2k
July 16, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Excited to see this out! 🎉 Congratulations to the fantastic
@nkkuhn.bsky.social for leading the way, with key contributions from Chen Li and
@boninlab.bsky.social. Thanks also to: @nerflabs.bsky.social, @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social, @viblifesciences.bsky.social, and KU Leuven.
tinyurl.com/3rfe6f2k
@nkkuhn.bsky.social for leading the way, with key contributions from Chen Li and
@boninlab.bsky.social. Thanks also to: @nerflabs.bsky.social, @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social, @viblifesciences.bsky.social, and KU Leuven.
tinyurl.com/3rfe6f2k
New research from the @farrowlab.bsky.social and @boninlab.bsky.social at NERF out in @currentbiology.bsky.social reveals how the intricate dendritic architecture of midbrain neurons helps detect and compute critical motion cues.
https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0960-9822(25)00820-6
https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0960-9822(25)00820-6
July 15, 2025 at 7:41 PM
New research from the @farrowlab.bsky.social and @boninlab.bsky.social at NERF out in @currentbiology.bsky.social reveals how the intricate dendritic architecture of midbrain neurons helps detect and compute critical motion cues.
https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0960-9822(25)00820-6
https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0960-9822(25)00820-6
Reposted by NERF
Last piece of work by Urban lab @viblifesciences.bsky.social @cbdresearch.bsky.social @nerflabs.bsky.social
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Théo Lambert, Alan Urban, et al:
Functional ultrasound imaging and neuronal activity: How accurate is the spatiotemporal match?
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Functional ultrasound imaging and neuronal activity: How accurate is the spatiotemporal match?
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
June 23, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Last piece of work by Urban lab @viblifesciences.bsky.social @cbdresearch.bsky.social @nerflabs.bsky.social
Latest paper from the @alanurban.bsky.social lab shows functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging reliably tracks neuronal activity with good spatial precision! 🎯
Congrats to the team! 👏
https://direct.mit.edu/imag/article/doi/10.1162/IMAG.a.34/131016/Functional-ultrasound-imaging-and-neuronal
Congrats to the team! 👏
https://direct.mit.edu/imag/article/doi/10.1162/IMAG.a.34/131016/Functional-ultrasound-imaging-and-neuronal
May 27, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Latest paper from the @alanurban.bsky.social lab shows functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging reliably tracks neuronal activity with good spatial precision! 🎯
Congrats to the team! 👏
https://direct.mit.edu/imag/article/doi/10.1162/IMAG.a.34/131016/Functional-ultrasound-imaging-and-neuronal
Congrats to the team! 👏
https://direct.mit.edu/imag/article/doi/10.1162/IMAG.a.34/131016/Functional-ultrasound-imaging-and-neuronal
Last Friday, we celebrated Art & Neuroscience with great talks, posters, workshops, and lots of connection at the yearly NERF retreat.
Special thanks to the @boninlab.bsky.social for organizing, and to everyone who joined in on the fun! 🧠✨
Special thanks to the @boninlab.bsky.social for organizing, and to everyone who joined in on the fun! 🧠✨
May 26, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Last Friday, we celebrated Art & Neuroscience with great talks, posters, workshops, and lots of connection at the yearly NERF retreat.
Special thanks to the @boninlab.bsky.social for organizing, and to everyone who joined in on the fun! 🧠✨
Special thanks to the @boninlab.bsky.social for organizing, and to everyone who joined in on the fun! 🧠✨
🎨 Painted faces
🐁 Tickling experiments
🙋🏻♀️ Thought-provoking questions
Where else but at the NERF retreat? 🤩
🐁 Tickling experiments
🙋🏻♀️ Thought-provoking questions
Where else but at the NERF retreat? 🤩
May 23, 2025 at 9:50 AM
🎨 Painted faces
🐁 Tickling experiments
🙋🏻♀️ Thought-provoking questions
Where else but at the NERF retreat? 🤩
🐁 Tickling experiments
🙋🏻♀️ Thought-provoking questions
Where else but at the NERF retreat? 🤩
Exciting news: @boninlab.bsky.social & @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social with @franckp.bsky.social receive SFARI funding to study how early synaptic development in SYNGAP1 mutants shapes brain circuits & behavior in autism. 👏
https://tinyurl.com/54ywzxm9
https://tinyurl.com/54ywzxm9
May 19, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Exciting news: @boninlab.bsky.social & @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social with @franckp.bsky.social receive SFARI funding to study how early synaptic development in SYNGAP1 mutants shapes brain circuits & behavior in autism. 👏
https://tinyurl.com/54ywzxm9
https://tinyurl.com/54ywzxm9
Hayden, Karthik & Nastya from the @ppjgoncalves.bsky.social lab joined the #SBI Hackathon in Tübingen in March, contributing to the open-source SBI package. Nastya gave a lightning talk on multifidelity inference for computationally expensive simulators. A great week of science & collaboration!
April 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Hayden, Karthik & Nastya from the @ppjgoncalves.bsky.social lab joined the #SBI Hackathon in Tübingen in March, contributing to the open-source SBI package. Nastya gave a lightning talk on multifidelity inference for computationally expensive simulators. A great week of science & collaboration!
Congratulations to Dr. Simone Marcigaglia on defending his PhD today! 👏 🎓
Simone developed a novel microfluidic catheter aimed at bypassing the blood-brain barrier, an ambitious and much-needed approach that would fill an existing gap in the market for intracerebral infusions.
Simone developed a novel microfluidic catheter aimed at bypassing the blood-brain barrier, an ambitious and much-needed approach that would fill an existing gap in the market for intracerebral infusions.
April 10, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Congratulations to Dr. Simone Marcigaglia on defending his PhD today! 👏 🎓
Simone developed a novel microfluidic catheter aimed at bypassing the blood-brain barrier, an ambitious and much-needed approach that would fill an existing gap in the market for intracerebral infusions.
Simone developed a novel microfluidic catheter aimed at bypassing the blood-brain barrier, an ambitious and much-needed approach that would fill an existing gap in the market for intracerebral infusions.
Reposted by NERF
With beautiful illustration of calcium imaging of human cortical neurons in visual cortex of awake transplanted mice by @benvermaercke.bsky.social @boninlab.bsky.social
Transplanted cells offer insight into human-specific properties, such as lengthy cortical development and sensitivity to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease, writes @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social in our “Frontiers in human neurotechnology” series.
www.thetransmitter.org/human-neurot...
www.thetransmitter.org/human-neurot...
In vivo veritas: Xenotransplantation can help us study the development and function of human neurons in a living brain
Transplanted cells offer insight into human-specific properties, such as a lengthy cortical development and sensitivity to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease.
www.thetransmitter.org
April 7, 2025 at 2:47 PM
With beautiful illustration of calcium imaging of human cortical neurons in visual cortex of awake transplanted mice by @benvermaercke.bsky.social @boninlab.bsky.social
🎶 Throwback to Quiz Night two weeks ago! Our NERF delegation may not have made it to the podium, but team spirit (and Disney knowledge!) was strong 💪
Big thanks to the PhD Association for organizing such a fun night. We're already looking forward to the next edition!
Big thanks to the PhD Association for organizing such a fun night. We're already looking forward to the next edition!
April 2, 2025 at 8:37 AM
🎶 Throwback to Quiz Night two weeks ago! Our NERF delegation may not have made it to the podium, but team spirit (and Disney knowledge!) was strong 💪
Big thanks to the PhD Association for organizing such a fun night. We're already looking forward to the next edition!
Big thanks to the PhD Association for organizing such a fun night. We're already looking forward to the next edition!
In a series of recent studies, the Urban lab shows how it's pushing the boundaries of functional ultrasound (fUS), with:
👉 AI-powered navigation tools with micrometer precision
👉 3D vascular mapping
👉 ultra-sensitive activity analysis
https://blog.vib.be/peering-into-the-brain-with-ultrasound
👉 AI-powered navigation tools with micrometer precision
👉 3D vascular mapping
👉 ultra-sensitive activity analysis
https://blog.vib.be/peering-into-the-brain-with-ultrasound
March 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
In a series of recent studies, the Urban lab shows how it's pushing the boundaries of functional ultrasound (fUS), with:
👉 AI-powered navigation tools with micrometer precision
👉 3D vascular mapping
👉 ultra-sensitive activity analysis
https://blog.vib.be/peering-into-the-brain-with-ultrasound
👉 AI-powered navigation tools with micrometer precision
👉 3D vascular mapping
👉 ultra-sensitive activity analysis
https://blog.vib.be/peering-into-the-brain-with-ultrasound
Thus new review by Jennifer Hoy (University of Nevada) and Karl Farrow (NERF) takes a deep dive into the role of the superior colliculus.
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00052-1
Beautifully illustrated by Pia Rachedi + open access
@farrowlab.bsky.social
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00052-1
Beautifully illustrated by Pia Rachedi + open access
@farrowlab.bsky.social
March 18, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Thus new review by Jennifer Hoy (University of Nevada) and Karl Farrow (NERF) takes a deep dive into the role of the superior colliculus.
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00052-1
Beautifully illustrated by Pia Rachedi + open access
@farrowlab.bsky.social
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00052-1
Beautifully illustrated by Pia Rachedi + open access
@farrowlab.bsky.social
New work co-led by @ppjgoncalves.bsky.social introduces a powerful new approach to model conditional distributions of neural and behavioral data using masked variational autoencoders.
Congratulations to @auschulz.bsky.social et al.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)00109-3
Congratulations to @auschulz.bsky.social et al.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)00109-3
March 14, 2025 at 12:07 PM
New work co-led by @ppjgoncalves.bsky.social introduces a powerful new approach to model conditional distributions of neural and behavioral data using masked variational autoencoders.
Congratulations to @auschulz.bsky.social et al.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)00109-3
Congratulations to @auschulz.bsky.social et al.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)00109-3
As part of #NEUROGATE, the Haesler lab is helping develop a holographic endoscope for high-resolution, deep-brain imaging. Supported by a €2.5M EIC grant, this ultra-thin fiber technology could transform neuroscience & neurotech.
nerf.be/en/news#/new...
nerf.be/en/news#/new...
February 11, 2025 at 10:22 AM
As part of #NEUROGATE, the Haesler lab is helping develop a holographic endoscope for high-resolution, deep-brain imaging. Supported by a €2.5M EIC grant, this ultra-thin fiber technology could transform neuroscience & neurotech.
nerf.be/en/news#/new...
nerf.be/en/news#/new...
Belated congratulations to our newest Dr. Lies Deceuninck! 🙌 🎓
February 10, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Belated congratulations to our newest Dr. Lies Deceuninck! 🙌 🎓
Reposted by NERF
🚀New from Urban Lab in #eNeuro @sfnjournals.bsky.social We used spatiotemporal clustering of single fUS voxels to map visual activity in awake mice. This high-resolution method precisely separates signals, revealing fine-grained activity patterns like never before🧠✨ tinyurl.com/47t27c7k
Spatiotemporal Clustering of Functional Ultrasound Signals at the Single-Voxel Level
Functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging is a well-established neuroimaging technology that offers high spatiotemporal resolution and a large field of view. Typical strategies for analysing fUS data compri...
doi.org
February 10, 2025 at 1:38 PM
🚀New from Urban Lab in #eNeuro @sfnjournals.bsky.social We used spatiotemporal clustering of single fUS voxels to map visual activity in awake mice. This high-resolution method precisely separates signals, revealing fine-grained activity patterns like never before🧠✨ tinyurl.com/47t27c7k
What a week for the @boninlab.bsky.social!
Celebrating the publication of two papers and now the news of an FWO project grant, enabling more exciting science over the next four years. Congratulations Vincent Bonin and Asli Ayaz. 👏
Celebrating the publication of two papers and now the news of an FWO project grant, enabling more exciting science over the next four years. Congratulations Vincent Bonin and Asli Ayaz. 👏
December 17, 2024 at 9:07 AM
What a week for the @boninlab.bsky.social!
Celebrating the publication of two papers and now the news of an FWO project grant, enabling more exciting science over the next four years. Congratulations Vincent Bonin and Asli Ayaz. 👏
Celebrating the publication of two papers and now the news of an FWO project grant, enabling more exciting science over the next four years. Congratulations Vincent Bonin and Asli Ayaz. 👏