Santiago Rompani
@santiagorompani.bsky.social
Neuro group leader at EMBL Rome. My lab studies how vision is shaped by cross-modal and state-dependent modulation, among other things.
Pinned
Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception - Nature Communications
The pupil is known to assist retinal adaptation to light level changes. Here, the authors find a mechanism for how the pupillary light reflex drives monocular and binocular retinal activity in mice an...
www.nature.com
The lab's first paper is out!
We find that pupil constriction in mice drives strong retinal activity in vivo, and that humans can also perceive pupil-shaped stimulus. This has repercussions for anybody using pupillometry.
🧵1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #neuro
We find that pupil constriction in mice drives strong retinal activity in vivo, and that humans can also perceive pupil-shaped stimulus. This has repercussions for anybody using pupillometry.
🧵1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #neuro
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Research in primate brains has been essential for the development of brain-computer interfaces and artificial neural networks. New funding and policy changes put future such advances at risk, write Cory Miller, @movshon.bsky.social and Doris Tsao.
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/47MXYLH
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/47MXYLH
Without monkeys, neuroscience has no future
Research in primate brains has been essential for the development of BCIs, ANNs. New funding and policy changes put future such advances at risk.
bit.ly
November 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Research in primate brains has been essential for the development of brain-computer interfaces and artificial neural networks. New funding and policy changes put future such advances at risk, write Cory Miller, @movshon.bsky.social and Doris Tsao.
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/47MXYLH
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/47MXYLH
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Still think brain regions don’t exist? That everything is everywhere? That cell types don’t matter and that everything is a dynamical phase portrait?
Wrong.
Interconnected brain modules exist at the level of fine grained transcriptomics. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Wrong.
Interconnected brain modules exist at the level of fine grained transcriptomics. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Whole-cortex in situ sequencing reveals input-dependent area identity - Nature
BARseq interrogates the expression of 104 cell-type marker genes in 10.3 million cells over nine mouse forebrain hemispheres to reveal the role of peripheral inputs on cortical area development.
www.nature.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Still think brain regions don’t exist? That everything is everywhere? That cell types don’t matter and that everything is a dynamical phase portrait?
Wrong.
Interconnected brain modules exist at the level of fine grained transcriptomics. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Wrong.
Interconnected brain modules exist at the level of fine grained transcriptomics. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Also need a new chapter on the cancer resistance mechanisms of the whale. 📖 🐋 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 4, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Also need a new chapter on the cancer resistance mechanisms of the whale. 📖 🐋 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Pre-stimulus pupil-linked arousal enhances initial stimulus availability and accelerates decay in iconic memory. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.31.685757v1
November 1, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Pre-stimulus pupil-linked arousal enhances initial stimulus availability and accelerates decay in iconic memory. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.31.685757v1
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Characteristic facial features in mice simultaneously encode not only currently used decision variables but also independent and unexpressed ones, and these features partially originate from neural activity in the secondary motor cortex
@fannycazettes.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@fannycazettes.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Facial expressions in mice reveal latent cognitive variables and their neural correlates - Nature Neuroscience
The face reveals more than just emotion. Cazettes, Reato and colleagues show that subtle facial movements reveal hidden cognitive states, reflecting the brain’s ongoing computations and offering a noninvasive window into unexpressed thoughts and decisions.
www.nature.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Characteristic facial features in mice simultaneously encode not only currently used decision variables but also independent and unexpressed ones, and these features partially originate from neural activity in the secondary motor cortex
@fannycazettes.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@fannycazettes.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Neuropixels Ultra!
By @steinmetzneuro.bsky.social, who led a big collaboration
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
By @steinmetzneuro.bsky.social, who led a big collaboration
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Ultra-high-density Neuropixels probes improve detection and identification in neuronal recordings
To understand the neural basis of behavior, it is essential to sensitively and accurately measure neural activity at single-neuron and single-spike re…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 30, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Neuropixels Ultra!
By @steinmetzneuro.bsky.social, who led a big collaboration
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
By @steinmetzneuro.bsky.social, who led a big collaboration
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Learning induces persistent chromatin loops underlying robust gene expression during memory recall https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.30.678146v1
September 30, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Learning induces persistent chromatin loops underlying robust gene expression during memory recall https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.30.678146v1
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
In the early years of my PhD I remember being asked if we'd ever treat or cure diseases like HIV or Huntington's. I remember saying maybe, but not knowing if I believed. Seeing research pay off as real impact on human lives is - incredible.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time
One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.
www.bbc.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:41 PM
In the early years of my PhD I remember being asked if we'd ever treat or cure diseases like HIV or Huntington's. I remember saying maybe, but not knowing if I believed. Seeing research pay off as real impact on human lives is - incredible.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
You could have rather put the quotation marks in "arousal", given the last sentence of the paper.
Nice and impressive, but it's basically saying that there is a low-dimensional descriptor. Now, it could have been reversed having latent brain dynamics as a predictor, and pupillometry as the target
Nice and impressive, but it's basically saying that there is a low-dimensional descriptor. Now, it could have been reversed having latent brain dynamics as a predictor, and pupillometry as the target
September 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
You could have rather put the quotation marks in "arousal", given the last sentence of the paper.
Nice and impressive, but it's basically saying that there is a low-dimensional descriptor. Now, it could have been reversed having latent brain dynamics as a predictor, and pupillometry as the target
Nice and impressive, but it's basically saying that there is a low-dimensional descriptor. Now, it could have been reversed having latent brain dynamics as a predictor, and pupillometry as the target
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Super proud of this collaboration with rockstar Ryan Raut - born out of playing in the sandbox in our last year of grad school! Multi-scale brain activity can be predicted from a simple measure of arousal like pupil diameter. Out with linear causality, in with dynamic systems to explain neurobiology
Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics - Nature
Reframing of arousal as a latent dynamical system can reconstruct multidimensional measurements of large-scale spatiotemporal brain dynamics on the timescale of seconds in mice.
www.nature.com
September 24, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Super proud of this collaboration with rockstar Ryan Raut - born out of playing in the sandbox in our last year of grad school! Multi-scale brain activity can be predicted from a simple measure of arousal like pupil diameter. Out with linear causality, in with dynamic systems to explain neurobiology
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
This one looks intriguing. Arousal "embedding" whole-brain dynamics. 🤯
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics - Nature
Reframing of arousal as a latent dynamical system can reconstruct multidimensional measurements of large-scale spatiotemporal brain dynamics on the timescale of seconds in mice.
doi.org
September 25, 2025 at 6:03 AM
This one looks intriguing. Arousal "embedding" whole-brain dynamics. 🤯
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
It’s been a 24 hour traveling day from Portland to Pécs, which includes 2 planes, a bus, a metro, a train & a car.
I am so excited to be at ERM2025 and to be selected as a speaker in the New Perspectives, Tools and Resources session!
I am so excited to be at ERM2025 and to be selected as a speaker in the New Perspectives, Tools and Resources session!
September 21, 2025 at 4:42 PM
It’s been a 24 hour traveling day from Portland to Pécs, which includes 2 planes, a bus, a metro, a train & a car.
I am so excited to be at ERM2025 and to be selected as a speaker in the New Perspectives, Tools and Resources session!
I am so excited to be at ERM2025 and to be selected as a speaker in the New Perspectives, Tools and Resources session!
Our EMBL Press office has a nice little article on our recent paper on how the pupil's dynamics shape visual responses in the mouse and human.
A new look at the pupil: more than just a gatekeeper www.embl.org/news/science...
A new look at the pupil: more than just a gatekeeper www.embl.org/news/science...
A new look at the pupil: more than just a gatekeeper | EMBL
New research from the Rompani and Asari groups at EMBL Rome suggests that the pupil does more than just respond to light and internal states — it may actively shape our vision.
www.embl.org
September 20, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Our EMBL Press office has a nice little article on our recent paper on how the pupil's dynamics shape visual responses in the mouse and human.
A new look at the pupil: more than just a gatekeeper www.embl.org/news/science...
A new look at the pupil: more than just a gatekeeper www.embl.org/news/science...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
*New preprint from the lab* – “Granularity of thalamic head direction cells”
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧠📈 🧪
1/11
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧠📈 🧪
1/11
Granularity of thalamic head direction cells
Head direction signaling is fundamental for spatial orientation and navigation. The anterodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (ADn) contains a high density of head direction (HD) cells that process sensori...
doi.org
September 15, 2025 at 3:13 PM
*New preprint from the lab* – “Granularity of thalamic head direction cells”
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧠📈 🧪
1/11
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧠📈 🧪
1/11
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Neurons in mouse primary visual cortex that respond emergently to illusory contours drive pattern completion
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Recurrent pattern completion drives the neocortical representation of sensory inference - Nature Neuroscience
Neurons that respond emergently to illusory contours drive pattern completion in V1. Pattern completion in lower cortical areas may therefore mediate perceptual inference by selectively reinforcing ac...
www.nature.com
September 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Neurons in mouse primary visual cortex that respond emergently to illusory contours drive pattern completion
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
OUT NOW from @zvrlab.bsky.social in Nat. Communications: Fear conditioning activates brain areas linked to emotion and stress. Brain responses vary by task and mental health, showing different patterns in people with anxiety or depression.
doi.org/10.1038/s414... #URochesterResearch
doi.org/10.1038/s414... #URochesterResearch
Neural correlates of human fear conditioning and sources of variability in 2199 individuals - Nature Communications
A large brain imaging study of over 2000 people worldwide shows that fear conditioning engages brain regions linked to emotion and attention, with differences in individuals with anxiety or…
doi.org
September 16, 2025 at 4:04 PM
OUT NOW from @zvrlab.bsky.social in Nat. Communications: Fear conditioning activates brain areas linked to emotion and stress. Brain responses vary by task and mental health, showing different patterns in people with anxiety or depression.
doi.org/10.1038/s414... #URochesterResearch
doi.org/10.1038/s414... #URochesterResearch
Heroic experiments recording in SC and V1 in unrestrained animals to see how the two areas differentially respond to visual detection (with causal perturbation)
Contributions of superior colliculus and primary visual cortex to visual spatial detection in freely moving mice https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.11.675538v1
September 17, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Heroic experiments recording in SC and V1 in unrestrained animals to see how the two areas differentially respond to visual detection (with causal perturbation)
Cool study showing the LC has dopaminergic as well as norepinephrine release differentially in different circuits--relevant to our understanding of how arousal shapes responses throughout the brain
Stimulus-Dependent Dopamine Dynamics from LocusCoeruleus Axons https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.15.676390v1
September 17, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Cool study showing the LC has dopaminergic as well as norepinephrine release differentially in different circuits--relevant to our understanding of how arousal shapes responses throughout the brain
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
🚨New preprint alert!
The thalamus has long been seen as a relay of sensory signals to cortex.
But could it also generate its own structured activity?
Our study explores this question in the head-direction (HD) system.
Some explanation 🧵👇 1/13
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The thalamus has long been seen as a relay of sensory signals to cortex.
But could it also generate its own structured activity?
Our study explores this question in the head-direction (HD) system.
Some explanation 🧵👇 1/13
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Coherent dynamics of thalamic head-direction neurons irrespective of input
While the thalamus is known to relay and modulate sensory signals to the cortex, whether it also participates in active computation and intrinsic signal generation remains unresolved. The anterodorsal...
www.biorxiv.org
September 16, 2025 at 3:56 PM
🚨New preprint alert!
The thalamus has long been seen as a relay of sensory signals to cortex.
But could it also generate its own structured activity?
Our study explores this question in the head-direction (HD) system.
Some explanation 🧵👇 1/13
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The thalamus has long been seen as a relay of sensory signals to cortex.
But could it also generate its own structured activity?
Our study explores this question in the head-direction (HD) system.
Some explanation 🧵👇 1/13
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
Excellent end to the Italian Congress for Neuroscience (SINS) - our postdoc Lucia Zanetti chairing a fascinating session on the retina & beyond together with @serenariccitelli.bsky.social! Well done & thanks to the speakers Stefano Di Marco, @santiagorompani.bsky.social, Norma Kühn & Max Joesch
September 13, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Excellent end to the Italian Congress for Neuroscience (SINS) - our postdoc Lucia Zanetti chairing a fascinating session on the retina & beyond together with @serenariccitelli.bsky.social! Well done & thanks to the speakers Stefano Di Marco, @santiagorompani.bsky.social, Norma Kühn & Max Joesch
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
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 Santiago Rompani
New (methods) preprint from the lab!
NERV: A Comprehensive Framework for Rapid, Reproducible, and Hardware-Synchronized Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution (1/10)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
NERV: A Comprehensive Framework for Rapid, Reproducible, and Hardware-Synchronized Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution (1/10)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
NERV: A Comprehensive Framework for Rapid, Reproducible, and Hardware-Synchronized Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution
Background: Behavioral neuroscience experiments require precise stimulus control, millisecond timing, hardware integration, and robust data provenance. Increasing use of 3D environments and multimodal...
www.biorxiv.org
September 9, 2025 at 1:20 AM
New (methods) preprint from the lab!
NERV: A Comprehensive Framework for Rapid, Reproducible, and Hardware-Synchronized Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution (1/10)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
NERV: A Comprehensive Framework for Rapid, Reproducible, and Hardware-Synchronized Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution (1/10)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
The two key studies of the International Brain Laboratory @intlbrainlab.bsky.social are out today!
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour - Nature
The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task i...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:46 PM
The two key studies of the International Brain Laboratory @intlbrainlab.bsky.social are out today!
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Amazing opportunity to apply for a PhD program with over 100 groups across 6 sites throughout Europe! No fee to apply, and we welcome applicants from all over the world.
📢 Recruitment for the EMBL International PhD Programme is officially open!
At EMBL, we train young scientists to become skilled and creative future leaders in academia and other sectors. Join us and get a head start on your career in life sciences!
bit.ly/47mmiFF
At EMBL, we train young scientists to become skilled and creative future leaders in academia and other sectors. Join us and get a head start on your career in life sciences!
bit.ly/47mmiFF
September 5, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Amazing opportunity to apply for a PhD program with over 100 groups across 6 sites throughout Europe! No fee to apply, and we welcome applicants from all over the world.
Reposted by Santiago Rompani
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 1, 2025 at 7:06 PM
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.