Yoav Livneh
@yoavlivneh.bsky.social
Neuroscientist | Happy father |
PI at Weizmann Institue | FENS-Kavli Network Scholar | Brain-body interactions
https://www.weizmann.ac.il/brain-sciences/labs/livneh/
PI at Weizmann Institue | FENS-Kavli Network Scholar | Brain-body interactions
https://www.weizmann.ac.il/brain-sciences/labs/livneh/
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
(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 Yoav Livneh
So excited to see our latest paper out today in @natcomms.nature.com! Studies led by the amazing @margestelzner.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41.... VTA GABA neurons have a unique role in economic decision making - they integrate reward seeking motivation and the current cost of seeking
Ventral tegmental area GABA neurons integrate positive and negative valence - Nature Communications
The role of ventral tegmental area GABA neurons in behavior is unclear. Here, authors show that VTA GABA but not dopamine neurons integrate positive and negative valence to encode motivational conflic...
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:18 PM
So excited to see our latest paper out today in @natcomms.nature.com! Studies led by the amazing @margestelzner.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41.... VTA GABA neurons have a unique role in economic decision making - they integrate reward seeking motivation and the current cost of seeking
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Call for junior or mid-career group leaders in neuroscience! Apply by 30 Jan to join the FENS-Kavli Network. We are looking for excellent and engaged future scholars who are committed to exchanging scientific ideas & improve neuroscience in Europe. fenskavlinetwork.org/who-we-are/a...
November 17, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Call for junior or mid-career group leaders in neuroscience! Apply by 30 Jan to join the FENS-Kavli Network. We are looking for excellent and engaged future scholars who are committed to exchanging scientific ideas & improve neuroscience in Europe. fenskavlinetwork.org/who-we-are/a...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Excited to share our new preprint:
Blockade of associative spine enlargement impairs awake cortical function
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Blockade of associative spine enlargement impairs awake cortical function
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 13, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Excited to share our new preprint:
Blockade of associative spine enlargement impairs awake cortical function
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Blockade of associative spine enlargement impairs awake cortical function
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Out now: Favila, Capece Marsico et al. 2025, Nature Communications: Using longitudinal deep-brain imaging, we report that amygdala interneurons exhibit complex and heterogeneous plasticity during associative learning, at both the single-cell and population level.
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Heterogeneous plasticity of amygdala interneurons in associative learning and extinction - Nature Communications
In this study, the authors uncover how diverse inhibitory interneurons in the amygdala flexibly contribute to fear and safety learning, revealing a key role for inhibition in emotional memory and adap...
www.nature.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Out now: Favila, Capece Marsico et al. 2025, Nature Communications: Using longitudinal deep-brain imaging, we report that amygdala interneurons exhibit complex and heterogeneous plasticity during associative learning, at both the single-cell and population level.
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
The Crunchometer is a low-cost, open-source technology that uses bite sound to democratize the microstructural analysis of feeding bouts on solid food: 🧪
The Crunchometer: A Low-Cost, Open-Source Acoustic Analysis of Feeding Microstructure.
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
The Crunchometer: A Low-Cost, Open-Source Acoustic Analysis of Feeding Microstructure.
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
doi.org
November 3, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The Crunchometer is a low-cost, open-source technology that uses bite sound to democratize the microstructural analysis of feeding bouts on solid food: 🧪
The Crunchometer: A Low-Cost, Open-Source Acoustic Analysis of Feeding Microstructure.
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
The Crunchometer: A Low-Cost, Open-Source Acoustic Analysis of Feeding Microstructure.
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
New essay in @currentbiology.bsky.social special brain-body issue! Fly lab meets psychiatrist: how bodily signals shape cognition and mental health. Great collaboration with Albino Oliveira-Maia showing @champalimaudf.bsky.social discovery ↔️ clinic at its best. www.cell.com/current-biol...
From cognition in the body to the body in cognition
Carlos Ribeiro and Albino Oliveira-Maia propose how brain–body interactions may inform
the study of ‘higher’ cognitive functions such as learning and memory across model
systems.
www.cell.com
October 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM
New essay in @currentbiology.bsky.social special brain-body issue! Fly lab meets psychiatrist: how bodily signals shape cognition and mental health. Great collaboration with Albino Oliveira-Maia showing @champalimaudf.bsky.social discovery ↔️ clinic at its best. www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
I am excited to share my PhD work on head-direction cells recorded in the wild, now published in @science.org, where we recorded neurons in bats flying outdoors on an island.
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
October 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I am excited to share my PhD work on head-direction cells recorded in the wild, now published in @science.org, where we recorded neurons in bats flying outdoors on an island.
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
All-optical experiments are great but @neurorussell.bsky.social found that opsin desensitization due to cross-talk between the imaging laser and the opsin causes major issues. These can be ameleorated with long inter-stimulus intervals & short imaging doses. All here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Desensitization of opsin responses during all-optical interrogation depends on imaging parameters
Significance The combination of two-photon calcium imaging and two-photon optogenetic stimulation, termed all-optical interrogation, provides spatial and temporal precision when recording and manipula...
www.biorxiv.org
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM
All-optical experiments are great but @neurorussell.bsky.social found that opsin desensitization due to cross-talk between the imaging laser and the opsin causes major issues. These can be ameleorated with long inter-stimulus intervals & short imaging doses. All here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Why does the naked mole rat have the longest lifespan of any rodent, nearly 40 years?
A 30-year long mystery unraveled @ScienceMagazine today!
Its cGAS enzyme in cells has 4 missense mutations that upends its function, promoting DNA repair and suppressing inflammation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A 30-year long mystery unraveled @ScienceMagazine today!
Its cGAS enzyme in cells has 4 missense mutations that upends its function, promoting DNA repair and suppressing inflammation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Why does the naked mole rat have the longest lifespan of any rodent, nearly 40 years?
A 30-year long mystery unraveled @ScienceMagazine today!
Its cGAS enzyme in cells has 4 missense mutations that upends its function, promoting DNA repair and suppressing inflammation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A 30-year long mystery unraveled @ScienceMagazine today!
Its cGAS enzyme in cells has 4 missense mutations that upends its function, promoting DNA repair and suppressing inflammation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
they also don't have to be for fruit fly neurobiology to be interesting and worthy of study, so desperately trying to make flies = people is unnecessary and annoying.
October 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
they also don't have to be for fruit fly neurobiology to be interesting and worthy of study, so desperately trying to make flies = people is unnecessary and annoying.
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
🎇 Excited to finally share JL Romero Sosa’s publication! Results are from single-cell imaging in different subregions of rat frontal cortex during ✨de novo learning. Spoiler: everything is not everywhere all at once www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Neural coding of choice and outcome are modulated by uncertainty in orbitofrontal but not secondary motor cortex - Nature Communications
Neural mechanisms underlying flexible learning and decision-making are not fully understood. Using single-cell calcium imaging, authors here found that neurons in orbitofrontal and secondary motor cortex exhibit complementary roles in reward learning, with neurons in the former exerting a sustained role in conditions of uncertainty.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:33 PM
🎇 Excited to finally share JL Romero Sosa’s publication! Results are from single-cell imaging in different subregions of rat frontal cortex during ✨de novo learning. Spoiler: everything is not everywhere all at once www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Congratulations to @betleylab.bsky.social and team on this beautiful study!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A parabrachial hub for need-state control of enduring pain - Nature
Activity in a set of parabranchial neurons in the mouse brain is increased during chronic pain, predicts coping behaviour, and can be modulated by circuits activated by survival threats.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Congratulations to @betleylab.bsky.social and team on this beautiful study!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Ever wonder if there are spatial maps in the brain outside the hippocampal-entorhinal regions? In this preprint, we describe a novel spatial map in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) that preserves the topological arrangements and distance between locations. However, ...
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
The orbitofrontal cortex forms a context-generalized spatial schema that preserves topology and distance
Flexible and efficient navigation requires the brain to construct maps that are both topological, preserving the relationships between locations, and schematic, enabling generalization across environm...
www.biorxiv.org
September 26, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Ever wonder if there are spatial maps in the brain outside the hippocampal-entorhinal regions? In this preprint, we describe a novel spatial map in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) that preserves the topological arrangements and distance between locations. However, ...
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Important and exciting work!
Even after recovery, relapse is heartbreakingly common in anorexia nervosa. Could the answer lie in the gut’s hidden signals? 🧵
September 23, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Important and exciting work!
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Even after recovery, relapse is heartbreakingly common in anorexia nervosa. Could the answer lie in the gut’s hidden signals? 🧵
September 22, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Even after recovery, relapse is heartbreakingly common in anorexia nervosa. Could the answer lie in the gut’s hidden signals? 🧵
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
The #FKNE Leadership Training Course for the Starting PI is open! Don't miss the opportunity to enhance your abilities and learn to tackle challenging moments as an early group leader! Application deadline: 15 Oct. 2025
fenskavlinetwork.org/fkne-leaders...
@fens.org
fenskavlinetwork.org/fkne-leaders...
@fens.org
September 18, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The #FKNE Leadership Training Course for the Starting PI is open! Don't miss the opportunity to enhance your abilities and learn to tackle challenging moments as an early group leader! Application deadline: 15 Oct. 2025
fenskavlinetwork.org/fkne-leaders...
@fens.org
fenskavlinetwork.org/fkne-leaders...
@fens.org
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
What if many psychiatric disorders share the same hidden glitch in how the brain infers reality? In a new volume, Al Powers and I gather experts to examine how disrupted sensory inference across #vision, #touch, #proprioception and #interoception might unify our understanding.
September 17, 2025 at 6:32 AM
What if many psychiatric disorders share the same hidden glitch in how the brain infers reality? In a new volume, Al Powers and I gather experts to examine how disrupted sensory inference across #vision, #touch, #proprioception and #interoception might unify our understanding.
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Just published in World Psychiatry our study "Trauma under psychedelics: how psychoactive substances impact trauma processing" . Amazing work led by @ophirnetzer.bsky.social with the brave survivors of the Nova festival attack. Huge team effort, thx to all!
👉 doi.org/10.1002/wps....
👉 doi.org/10.1002/wps....
Trauma under psychedelics: how psychoactive substances impact trauma processing
Click on the article title to read more.
doi.org
September 16, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Just published in World Psychiatry our study "Trauma under psychedelics: how psychoactive substances impact trauma processing" . Amazing work led by @ophirnetzer.bsky.social with the brave survivors of the Nova festival attack. Huge team effort, thx to all!
👉 doi.org/10.1002/wps....
👉 doi.org/10.1002/wps....
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
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 Yoav Livneh
❄️ Common shrews shrink their brains in winter.
🧠 The process is reversible and occurs because brain cells shrink, rather than die off. As a result, neuronal numbers stay constant and preserve brain function.
I can defo relate to seasonal brain shrinkage.
🧪🦊🌍
Paper: www.cell.com/current-biol...
🧠 The process is reversible and occurs because brain cells shrink, rather than die off. As a result, neuronal numbers stay constant and preserve brain function.
I can defo relate to seasonal brain shrinkage.
🧪🦊🌍
Paper: www.cell.com/current-biol...
September 4, 2025 at 3:23 PM
❄️ Common shrews shrink their brains in winter.
🧠 The process is reversible and occurs because brain cells shrink, rather than die off. As a result, neuronal numbers stay constant and preserve brain function.
I can defo relate to seasonal brain shrinkage.
🧪🦊🌍
Paper: www.cell.com/current-biol...
🧠 The process is reversible and occurs because brain cells shrink, rather than die off. As a result, neuronal numbers stay constant and preserve brain function.
I can defo relate to seasonal brain shrinkage.
🧪🦊🌍
Paper: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
Reposted by Yoav Livneh
I rarely dive into circuit-mapping papers, but this blockbuster from @ribeirocarlitos.bsky.social lab is a doozy! Check it out.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
From Sensory Detection to Motor Action: The Comprehensive Drosophila Taste-Feeding Connectome
In Drosophila , the gustatory system is distributed across multiple body parts and tightly couples sensory input to value-based behaviors such as feeding, foraging, and social interactions. Despite th...
www.biorxiv.org
September 1, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I rarely dive into circuit-mapping papers, but this blockbuster from @ribeirocarlitos.bsky.social lab is a doozy! Check it out.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...