David Schoppik
schoppik.com
David Schoppik
@schoppik.com
Studying how balance develops, functions, and fails at NYU Langone. http://www.schoppiklab.com .

"And worse I may be yet: the worst is not so long as we can say, 'This is the worst.’” -- King Lear (Act IV Scene I)
Pinned
Big paper from @paigel.bsky.social in our lab:

Sensory feedback is always crucial for proper development, right? Wrong!

Crazier still, the motor system is the slowest part of a developing reflex circuit!

Surprises abound in this bluetorial c’mon along….

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1/19
Sensation is dispensable for the maturation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex
Vertebrates stabilize gaze using a neural circuit that transforms sensed instability into compensatory counterrotation of the eyes. Sensory feedback tunes this vestibulo-ocular reflex throughout life....
www.science.org
Reposted by David Schoppik
New work from Baier Lab 🧠 🐟

🔗 to paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
For everyone who replies to stuff like this with "obviously"

- it's NOT LEGIBLE TO MANY INSTITUTIONS UNTIL IT'S MEASURED
- WE NEED TO HAVE EVIDENCE FOR THE THINGS "we all know"
- ACTUALLY SEEING THE MAGNITUDE AND NUANCES OF THESE KIND OF EFFECTS MATTERS AND IT MATTERS OVER TIME TOO
*Women receive substantially lower "potential" ratings despite receiving higher performance ratings
*Differences in potential ratings account for half of the gender promotion gap
*Women’s lower potential ratings do not reflect future performance: women subsequently outperform male colleagues
Forthcoming in the AER: "“Potential” and the Gender Promotion Gap" by Alan Benson, Danielle Li, and Kelly Shue. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
I entirely agree.

Research in rodents has enabled remarkable technical advances and deepened our understanding of brainstem circuits and general brain physiology.

However, only NHPs possess cognitive, visual, and motor faculties necessary to advance human-relevant systems neuroscience.
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
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 11, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
Delighted to see this finally out: rdcu.be/eO9oW
We tested whether brief striatal dopamine release events influence the vigor of skilled movements. Despite popular belief, we did not find any evidence linking rapid dopamine dynamics to motor vigor on a moment-by-moment basis.
Subsecond dopamine fluctuations do not specify the vigor of ongoing actions
Nature Neuroscience - Liu and colleagues show that the vigor (that is, speed and amplitude) of dexterous movements is not controlled by ongoing fluctuations in extracellular dopamine within the...
rdcu.be
November 10, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#blueprint 1/7
Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning - Nature Neuroscience
Dopamine encoding of reward prediction errors naturally fluctuates over females’ reproductive cycles with estrogenic signaling due to reduced expression of dopamine reuptake proteins.
www.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
@sfn.org #SfN25 #SanDiego starts this Saturday. The lab is going to be there in full force - see our presentations below.
Represented this year by @borderbiologist.bsky.social, Nick Kathman, @mrodea.bsky.social, @melcooperphd.bsky.social, @pryprk.bsky.social, @kerrylimberg.bsky.social.

(1/2)
November 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
Some thoughts on the CR/minibus.

1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.

Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
Excited to share my most recent postdoctoral work in the Jeanne lab @yaleneuro.bsky.social !

“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics
Extracting relevant features of a complex sensory signal typically involves sequential processing through multiple brain regions. However, identifying the logic and mechanisms of these transformations...
www.biorxiv.org
November 9, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
The Sosa Lab is going to #SfN25 and actively recruiting ✨postdocs✨ with systems neuroscience experience! We study both fundamental memory processes and how memory changes during pregnancy and postpartum.

If you are interested in meeting at SfN, please email me! www.sosaneurolab.com/join/postdoc...
Sosa Lab - Postdoctoral Researchers
We are seeking postdocs to start in 2026!
www.sosaneurolab.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Rich people are not entitled to a private audience with politicians just because they happen to be rich.
 Canadian multimillionaire and Shark Tank guy Kevin O'Leary went on TV to say he's upset Zohran won't talk to him: "I and others who invest in real estate have tried to get a meeting to figure out what's rhetoric and what's policy. So far for me it's been crickets."
November 7, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
I'm on the academic job market!

I design and analyze probabilistic machine-learning methods---motivated by real-world scientific constraints, and developed in collaboration with scientists in biology, chemistry, and physics.

A few highlights of my research areas are:
November 7, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
"Others will take time in catching up to that." whew
November 5, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Admittedly, the guy could wear the hell out of a suit. Beyond that, good riddance.
Eric Adams is amazing because when he won every media person was leaping over each to go “this is the normal sane leadership that the political left doesn’t understand normal sane Americans crave” and then every day since that Eric Adams has been like “Leprechauns are real and I’m going to cook one”
November 5, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by David Schoppik
November 5, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Reposted by David Schoppik
November 5, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by David Schoppik
the coolest
New article from the lab out today, in which we discuss how social behavior evolves at the molecular level. From parenting across the animal tree of life to caste systems in social insects, it’s all connected (and, therefore, slowly starts to make sense)…
Parental care, and more complex cooperative systems of care, have independently evolved in hundreds of animal lineages. In an article published today, we explore how these behaviors evolve 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭l shorturl.at/g5OPw /1
November 4, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
🚨Job alert🚨

The lab has up to *3 postdoc openings* for comp systems neuroscientists interested in describing and manipulating neural population dynamics mediating behaviour

This is part of a collaborative ARIA grant "4D precision control of cortical dynamics"

euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/383909
3 Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Champalimaud Foundation (Fundação D. Anna de Sommer Champalimaud e Dr.
euraxess.ec.europa.eu
November 4, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
November 4, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
Join our next #BlackInNeuro seminar! 🧠✨
🗓️ Nov 14 — 9AM PT | 12PM ET
Topic: non-invasive neurodiagnostics + advancing equitable brain health resources in Africa.
Register today! 🔗 us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
November 3, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
Melissa Ann Pinney's photographs capture everyday moments of adolescence inside Chicago Public Schools over the course of a seven-year artist residency. n.pr/3JGsjU3
A photographer captures life inside Chicago Public Schools
Melissa Ann Pinney's photographs capture everyday moments of adolescence inside Chicago Public Schools over the course of a seven-year artist residency.
n.pr
November 2, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
Early voting is complete in New York City! What we know:

735,317 people have voted.

That's more than four times the early total in 2021, and it's 67.5% of the early voting total in 2024.
November 2, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by David Schoppik
Maybe instead of *talking about* Nigerian Christians, we should *listen to* Nigerian Christians?

It's a moral failing to let your fear of terrorism lead you down the road to Islamaphobia, or prevent you from speaking up for Muslim children.

Nigerian British rapper Santan Dave:

[CW: cursing audio]
Dave - The Boy Who Played the Harp (Lyrics)
YouTube video by Naijahotstars TV
m.youtube.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:41 PM