Portugues Lab
@portugueslab.bsky.social
Official account of the Portugues Lab @Cornell (previously @TUM), studying all things sensorimotor in larval zebrafish.
Have you ever wondered how the brain should represent the sensory world in order to generate behavior? Read our new preprint: work by Shuhong Huang shuhonghuang.bsky.social with our long-standing collaborator James Fitzgerald at Northwestern.
Behavioral alignment as an organizing principle in sensory coding https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.04.703828v1
February 8, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Have you ever wondered how the brain should represent the sensory world in order to generate behavior? Read our new preprint: work by Shuhong Huang shuhonghuang.bsky.social with our long-standing collaborator James Fitzgerald at Northwestern.
Reposted by Portugues Lab
1/6: New publication from the lab: “Plastic landmark anchoring in zebrafish compass neurons” by Ryosuke Tanaka (@ryosuketanaka.bsky.social) and Ruben is available here:
rdcu.be/eX1L4
rdcu.be/eX1L4
Plastic landmark anchoring in zebrafish compass neurons
Nature - Using two-photon microscopy with a panoramic virtual reality setup, how head direction cells in larval zebrafish integrate visual landmarks and optic flow to track orientation is revealed.
rdcu.be
January 7, 2026 at 8:53 PM
1/6: New publication from the lab: “Plastic landmark anchoring in zebrafish compass neurons” by Ryosuke Tanaka (@ryosuketanaka.bsky.social) and Ruben is available here:
rdcu.be/eX1L4
rdcu.be/eX1L4
Reposted by Portugues Lab
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We had a lot of fun working on this project (led by Itzel Ishida, not on bluesky). Some interesting highlights from the paper -
We had a lot of fun working on this project (led by Itzel Ishida, not on bluesky). Some interesting highlights from the paper -
Neuronal calcium spikes enable vector inversion in the Drosophila brain
In the fly central complex, PFNa neurons switch from firing classical sodium spikes
when depolarized to firing non-canonical T-type calcium spikes when hyperpolarized.
This bidirectional spiking allow...
www.cell.com
January 6, 2026 at 4:35 PM
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We had a lot of fun working on this project (led by Itzel Ishida, not on bluesky). Some interesting highlights from the paper -
We had a lot of fun working on this project (led by Itzel Ishida, not on bluesky). Some interesting highlights from the paper -
1/n: A new collaborative preprint from the lab to start the year: "A multi-ring shifter network computes head direction in zebrafish" together with Siyuan Mei, Martin Stemmler and Andreas Herz from the LMU, Munich.
January 2, 2026 at 5:52 PM
1/n: A new collaborative preprint from the lab to start the year: "A multi-ring shifter network computes head direction in zebrafish" together with Siyuan Mei, Martin Stemmler and Andreas Herz from the LMU, Munich.
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Adam Kampff’s passion for understanding and explaining the world was unmatched. Living by example and not ever compromising on his dreams, Adam was uncanny in making people realize they can learn and understand anything and everything. Keep his dream alive!
In his own words: tinyurl.com/ye29csw3
In his own words: tinyurl.com/ye29csw3
December 15, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Adam Kampff’s passion for understanding and explaining the world was unmatched. Living by example and not ever compromising on his dreams, Adam was uncanny in making people realize they can learn and understand anything and everything. Keep his dream alive!
In his own words: tinyurl.com/ye29csw3
In his own words: tinyurl.com/ye29csw3
Reposted by Portugues Lab
*First preprint from our lab* !!!!!
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
December 15, 2025 at 6:26 PM
*First preprint from our lab* !!!!!
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
(1/n) We are excited to share our new paper in Nature Communications, by Hagar Lavian (@hlavian.bsky.social) and team, revealing how the zebrafish brain integrates visual navigation signals! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Visual motion and landmark position align with heading direction in the zebrafish interpeduncular nucleus - Nature Communications
How are various visual signals integrated in the vertebrate brain for navigation? Here authors show that different spatial signals are topographically organized and align to one another in the zebrafi...
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:17 PM
(1/n) We are excited to share our new paper in Nature Communications, by Hagar Lavian (@hlavian.bsky.social) and team, revealing how the zebrafish brain integrates visual navigation signals! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Thrilled to share that our work is now published in Science! ✨
We found a preference for visual objects in the mouse spatial navigation system where they dynamically refine head-direction coding. In short, objects boost our inner compass! 🧭
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🧵1/
We found a preference for visual objects in the mouse spatial navigation system where they dynamically refine head-direction coding. In short, objects boost our inner compass! 🧭
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🧵1/
September 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Thrilled to share that our work is now published in Science! ✨
We found a preference for visual objects in the mouse spatial navigation system where they dynamically refine head-direction coding. In short, objects boost our inner compass! 🧭
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🧵1/
We found a preference for visual objects in the mouse spatial navigation system where they dynamically refine head-direction coding. In short, objects boost our inner compass! 🧭
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🧵1/
Reposted by Portugues Lab
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...
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
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...
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...
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Application is open! Come join us and our fantastic line-up of speakers next year in March in Bonn!
September 8, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Application is open! Come join us and our fantastic line-up of speakers next year in March in Bonn!
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Excited to share our latest!! Thanks to everyone involved especially @neurovenki.bsky.social!
Thrilled to share this work, long time in the making! Carried through creatively by @siddjakes.bsky.social after initial design & piloting by @trackingskills.bsky.social, with help from @trackingactions.bsky.social. Modeling in collaboration with Massimo Vergassola & Nicola Rigolli.
Mice navigate scent trails using predictive policies
Animals actively sense their environment to extract features of interest to guide behaviors. For mammals, odors are prominent environmental features which are sampled by active modulation of sniffing ...
www.biorxiv.org
September 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Excited to share our latest!! Thanks to everyone involved especially @neurovenki.bsky.social!
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Latest from the lab. Beautiful work from Joanna Lau and a fantastic collaboration with James Fitzgerald.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Supraspinal commands have a modular organization that is behavioral context specific
Lau et al. use calcium imaging and statistical modeling to comprehensively survey
reticulospinal activity during diverse locomotor behaviors. They find that a small
set of functional modules act combi...
www.cell.com
August 23, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Latest from the lab. Beautiful work from Joanna Lau and a fantastic collaboration with James Fitzgerald.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
@natrevneuro.nature.com just published a beautiful cover for the issue that includes the recent review on analogies in the visual system of vertebrates and invertebrates (@ryosuketanaka.bsky.social). Read it here doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Science and Art, what could be better?
Science and Art, what could be better?
July 23, 2025 at 4:43 PM
@natrevneuro.nature.com just published a beautiful cover for the issue that includes the recent review on analogies in the visual system of vertebrates and invertebrates (@ryosuketanaka.bsky.social). Read it here doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Science and Art, what could be better?
Science and Art, what could be better?
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Let's share @etlunsford.bsky.social's work : to survive, animals avoid drifting involuntarily in their environment. While humans rely on visual & vestibular cues, birds & fish need to sense complex flow changes of the external fluid (air/water) around them to select motor actions. How do they do?(1)
July 2, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Let's share @etlunsford.bsky.social's work : to survive, animals avoid drifting involuntarily in their environment. While humans rely on visual & vestibular cues, birds & fish need to sense complex flow changes of the external fluid (air/water) around them to select motor actions. How do they do?(1)
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Preprint Alert!
How does the brain distinguish different types of optic flow?
We combined CaMPARI2 labeling with single-cell RNA-seq (CaMPARI-seq) to dissect visual circuits in zebrafish.
Read the full study here 👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How does the brain distinguish different types of optic flow?
We combined CaMPARI2 labeling with single-cell RNA-seq (CaMPARI-seq) to dissect visual circuits in zebrafish.
Read the full study here 👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Molecular and functional dissection using CaMPARI-seq reveals the neuronal organization for dissociating optic flow-dependent behaviors
Optic flow processing is critical for the visual control of body and eye movements in many animals. Rotational and translational binocular optic flow patterns need to be clearly distinguished to induc...
www.biorxiv.org
June 10, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Preprint Alert!
How does the brain distinguish different types of optic flow?
We combined CaMPARI2 labeling with single-cell RNA-seq (CaMPARI-seq) to dissect visual circuits in zebrafish.
Read the full study here 👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How does the brain distinguish different types of optic flow?
We combined CaMPARI2 labeling with single-cell RNA-seq (CaMPARI-seq) to dissect visual circuits in zebrafish.
Read the full study here 👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Are you interested in visual systems? How are they similar or different across species? Read the review by Ryosuke @ryosuketanaka.bsky.social and Ruben published today in @natrevneuro.nature.com. It is available here: rdcu.be/enlpC
May 23, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Are you interested in visual systems? How are they similar or different across species? Read the review by Ryosuke @ryosuketanaka.bsky.social and Ruben published today in @natrevneuro.nature.com. It is available here: rdcu.be/enlpC
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Introducing warpfield, an open source Python library for GPU-accelerated non-rigid 3D registration. Warps and aligns gigavoxel volumes within seconds (not hours). For 3D microscopy, region-to-region and cell-to-cell matching.
A collaboration with @mh123.bsky.social 🚀
github.com/danionella/w...
A collaboration with @mh123.bsky.social 🚀
github.com/danionella/w...
May 12, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Introducing warpfield, an open source Python library for GPU-accelerated non-rigid 3D registration. Warps and aligns gigavoxel volumes within seconds (not hours). For 3D microscopy, region-to-region and cell-to-cell matching.
A collaboration with @mh123.bsky.social 🚀
github.com/danionella/w...
A collaboration with @mh123.bsky.social 🚀
github.com/danionella/w...
Reposted by Portugues Lab
If you're planning a course with mathematical methods content, or use such methods in your own work, please take a look at "Mathematics in Biology", by Meister, Lee, and Portugues, published at MIT Press. 1/2 @portugueslab.bsky.social mitpress.mit.edu/978026204940...
Mathematics in Biology
Biology has turned into a quantitative science. The core problems in the life sciences today involve complex systems that require mathematical expression, ye...
mitpress.mit.edu
May 21, 2025 at 9:53 PM
If you're planning a course with mathematical methods content, or use such methods in your own work, please take a look at "Mathematics in Biology", by Meister, Lee, and Portugues, published at MIT Press. 1/2 @portugueslab.bsky.social mitpress.mit.edu/978026204940...
Reposted by Portugues Lab
I bought this book and its great! Highly recommend to have around the lab.
"Mathematics in Biology" is a concise but rigorous textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students across the biological sciences that provides a foundation for understanding the methods used in quantitative biology: @mameister4.bsky.social
Mathematics in Biology
Biology has turned into a quantitative science. The core problems in the life sciences today involve complex systems that require mathematical expression, ye...
mitpress.mit.edu
May 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I bought this book and its great! Highly recommend to have around the lab.
Reposted by Portugues Lab
Algorithmic dissection of optic flow memory in larval zebrafish https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.15.648832v1
April 20, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Algorithmic dissection of optic flow memory in larval zebrafish https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.15.648832v1
Reposted by Portugues Lab
🧠 Interested in a postdoc in neuroscience?
Our Department of Computational Neuroethology is hiring for two exciting projects:
🔬 Retinal circuitry evolution
🐟 Mechanistic cognition in Danionella cerebrum
mpinb.mpg.de/en/research-...
📅 Apply by May 13 via the Max Planck #PostdocProgram
#Neuroethology
Our Department of Computational Neuroethology is hiring for two exciting projects:
🔬 Retinal circuitry evolution
🐟 Mechanistic cognition in Danionella cerebrum
mpinb.mpg.de/en/research-...
📅 Apply by May 13 via the Max Planck #PostdocProgram
#Neuroethology
April 15, 2025 at 2:37 PM
🧠 Interested in a postdoc in neuroscience?
Our Department of Computational Neuroethology is hiring for two exciting projects:
🔬 Retinal circuitry evolution
🐟 Mechanistic cognition in Danionella cerebrum
mpinb.mpg.de/en/research-...
📅 Apply by May 13 via the Max Planck #PostdocProgram
#Neuroethology
Our Department of Computational Neuroethology is hiring for two exciting projects:
🔬 Retinal circuitry evolution
🐟 Mechanistic cognition in Danionella cerebrum
mpinb.mpg.de/en/research-...
📅 Apply by May 13 via the Max Planck #PostdocProgram
#Neuroethology
Reposted by Portugues Lab
April 16, 2025 at 11:35 AM
1/3
Starting this summer, and after 11 wonderful years in Munich, the Portugues Lab will be starting a new adventure at the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior (NBB) (nbb.cornell.edu) at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Starting this summer, and after 11 wonderful years in Munich, the Portugues Lab will be starting a new adventure at the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior (NBB) (nbb.cornell.edu) at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior | Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
nbb.cornell.edu
April 2, 2025 at 1:01 PM
1/3
Starting this summer, and after 11 wonderful years in Munich, the Portugues Lab will be starting a new adventure at the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior (NBB) (nbb.cornell.edu) at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Starting this summer, and after 11 wonderful years in Munich, the Portugues Lab will be starting a new adventure at the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior (NBB) (nbb.cornell.edu) at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Reposted by Portugues Lab
We are super happy to present our first preprint - the effect of our Rethinking Naturalistic Behaviour Workshop - where we look more critically at the term "naturalistic behaviour" and point to its vagueness and inconsistency in its use! osf.io/preprints/os...
March 5, 2025 at 11:28 AM
We are super happy to present our first preprint - the effect of our Rethinking Naturalistic Behaviour Workshop - where we look more critically at the term "naturalistic behaviour" and point to its vagueness and inconsistency in its use! osf.io/preprints/os...