Alexandra Keinath
@atkeinath.bsky.social
Hip, hip, hippocampus! Neuroscientist studying our personal space. Assistant professor at UIC. Head of the Keinath Lab since ‘23. 🏳️⚧️ wedobrainstuff.com
Pinned
Alexandra Keinath
@atkeinath.bsky.social
· Jul 15
Change-resistance distinguishes the representational geometries of human spatial memory and mouse CA1 in deformed environments
Prior work has highlighted qualitative similarities between the neural instantiations of cognitive maps in rodents and memory-guided navigation in humans, suggesting a conservation of representational...
www.biorxiv.org
Trans rights are human rights.
Fresh work incoming: Here we quantitatively compare the representational geometry of mouse CA1 and human spatial memory during environmental deformations. Briefest TLDR: Human memory looks like a change-resistant version of mouse CA1.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Fresh work incoming: Here we quantitatively compare the representational geometry of mouse CA1 and human spatial memory during environmental deformations. Briefest TLDR: Human memory looks like a change-resistant version of mouse CA1.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
What’s better than a one-channel #Miniscope? 🥁 A TWO-CHANNEL Miniscope!
Our new Miniscope2C is a dual-channel, open-source Miniscope that lets you record 2 fluorescent signals simultaneously in freely moving animals.
Read the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/10)
Our new Miniscope2C is a dual-channel, open-source Miniscope that lets you record 2 fluorescent signals simultaneously in freely moving animals.
Read the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/10)
July 14, 2025 at 4:55 PM
What’s better than a one-channel #Miniscope? 🥁 A TWO-CHANNEL Miniscope!
Our new Miniscope2C is a dual-channel, open-source Miniscope that lets you record 2 fluorescent signals simultaneously in freely moving animals.
Read the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/10)
Our new Miniscope2C is a dual-channel, open-source Miniscope that lets you record 2 fluorescent signals simultaneously in freely moving animals.
Read the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/10)
Trans rights are human rights.
Fresh work incoming: Here we quantitatively compare the representational geometry of mouse CA1 and human spatial memory during environmental deformations. Briefest TLDR: Human memory looks like a change-resistant version of mouse CA1.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Fresh work incoming: Here we quantitatively compare the representational geometry of mouse CA1 and human spatial memory during environmental deformations. Briefest TLDR: Human memory looks like a change-resistant version of mouse CA1.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Change-resistance distinguishes the representational geometries of human spatial memory and mouse CA1 in deformed environments
Prior work has highlighted qualitative similarities between the neural instantiations of cognitive maps in rodents and memory-guided navigation in humans, suggesting a conservation of representational...
www.biorxiv.org
July 15, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Trans rights are human rights.
Fresh work incoming: Here we quantitatively compare the representational geometry of mouse CA1 and human spatial memory during environmental deformations. Briefest TLDR: Human memory looks like a change-resistant version of mouse CA1.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Fresh work incoming: Here we quantitatively compare the representational geometry of mouse CA1 and human spatial memory during environmental deformations. Briefest TLDR: Human memory looks like a change-resistant version of mouse CA1.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Super excited to share that one of our outstanding founding undergrad RAs @dahery.bsky.social will be headed to the Kempner postbac program at Harvard to work with @gershbrain.bsky.social after graduation! Congratulations David! You cannot be replaced, and I’m so proud and excited for you!
April 14, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Super excited to share that one of our outstanding founding undergrad RAs @dahery.bsky.social will be headed to the Kempner postbac program at Harvard to work with @gershbrain.bsky.social after graduation! Congratulations David! You cannot be replaced, and I’m so proud and excited for you!
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
The dataset and code for our recent paper in Neuron (tinyurl.com/yc48d6vr) is online now!
The data is available on Zenodo (zenodo.org/records/1486...) and code on Github (github.com/jquinnlee/ge...). Big thanks to @markbrandonlab.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social on this effort! #neuroskyence 🧠
The data is available on Zenodo (zenodo.org/records/1486...) and code on Github (github.com/jquinnlee/ge...). Big thanks to @markbrandonlab.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social on this effort! #neuroskyence 🧠
Mouse CA1 Calcium Imaging and Behavioural Dataset in 3x3 Geometric Morph Paradigm
The following dataset was collected by Dr. J. Quinn Lee, Dr. Alexandra T. Keinath, and Erica Cianfarano in the laboratory of Dr. Mark P. Brandon. All methods and details are described in the original ...
zenodo.org
April 8, 2025 at 9:45 PM
The dataset and code for our recent paper in Neuron (tinyurl.com/yc48d6vr) is online now!
The data is available on Zenodo (zenodo.org/records/1486...) and code on Github (github.com/jquinnlee/ge...). Big thanks to @markbrandonlab.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social on this effort! #neuroskyence 🧠
The data is available on Zenodo (zenodo.org/records/1486...) and code on Github (github.com/jquinnlee/ge...). Big thanks to @markbrandonlab.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social on this effort! #neuroskyence 🧠
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
How good is your place cell model?
Come benchmark yours against real data - nearly 70K CA1 rate maps in various geometric shapes across weeks - collected and curated in my lab by the great @jquinnlee.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social
Come benchmark yours against real data - nearly 70K CA1 rate maps in various geometric shapes across weeks - collected and curated in my lab by the great @jquinnlee.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social
The dataset and code for our recent paper in Neuron (tinyurl.com/yc48d6vr) is online now!
The data is available on Zenodo (zenodo.org/records/1486...) and code on Github (github.com/jquinnlee/ge...). Big thanks to @markbrandonlab.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social on this effort! #neuroskyence 🧠
The data is available on Zenodo (zenodo.org/records/1486...) and code on Github (github.com/jquinnlee/ge...). Big thanks to @markbrandonlab.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social on this effort! #neuroskyence 🧠
Mouse CA1 Calcium Imaging and Behavioural Dataset in 3x3 Geometric Morph Paradigm
The following dataset was collected by Dr. J. Quinn Lee, Dr. Alexandra T. Keinath, and Erica Cianfarano in the laboratory of Dr. Mark P. Brandon. All methods and details are described in the original ...
zenodo.org
April 9, 2025 at 12:06 AM
How good is your place cell model?
Come benchmark yours against real data - nearly 70K CA1 rate maps in various geometric shapes across weeks - collected and curated in my lab by the great @jquinnlee.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social
Come benchmark yours against real data - nearly 70K CA1 rate maps in various geometric shapes across weeks - collected and curated in my lab by the great @jquinnlee.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
If you’ve been wondering what Elon Musk and his lackeys are up to since taking control of the US government, look no further. Our latest story names six 19- to 24-year-olds working with his DOGE organization, which now has access to sensitive federal systems. wrd.cm/4jzpiSN
The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
wrd.cm
February 2, 2025 at 10:43 PM
If you’ve been wondering what Elon Musk and his lackeys are up to since taking control of the US government, look no further. Our latest story names six 19- to 24-year-olds working with his DOGE organization, which now has access to sensitive federal systems. wrd.cm/4jzpiSN
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
Shoutout to all the millennial junior faculty who finally got their dream jobs right as the scientific enterprise in the states is functionally dismantled.
February 2, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Shoutout to all the millennial junior faculty who finally got their dream jobs right as the scientific enterprise in the states is functionally dismantled.
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
i think an important thing for people outside the US to understand is that elon musk seized control of the government today and most americans don’t even realize it happened.
February 1, 2025 at 5:43 AM
i think an important thing for people outside the US to understand is that elon musk seized control of the government today and most americans don’t even realize it happened.
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
The campaign against trans rights is also about stripping away everyone’s protections against discrimination, reviving, as Douglass put it “the moral blindness” of those who “persuade themselves that they are safe, though the rights of others may be struck down.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Attack on Trans Rights Won’t End There
Once legal rights begin to fall, they fall for everyone.
www.theatlantic.com
January 29, 2025 at 6:28 PM
The campaign against trans rights is also about stripping away everyone’s protections against discrimination, reviving, as Douglass put it “the moral blindness” of those who “persuade themselves that they are safe, though the rights of others may be struck down.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
🚨 new publication from our lab in @pnas.org !
"Expert navigators deploy rational complexity–based decision precaching for large-scale real-world planning"
Entropy of streets & successor representations explain planning speed
Colab wth Daniel McNamee at Champalimaud
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
"Expert navigators deploy rational complexity–based decision precaching for large-scale real-world planning"
Entropy of streets & successor representations explain planning speed
Colab wth Daniel McNamee at Champalimaud
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
January 27, 2025 at 3:39 PM
🚨 new publication from our lab in @pnas.org !
"Expert navigators deploy rational complexity–based decision precaching for large-scale real-world planning"
Entropy of streets & successor representations explain planning speed
Colab wth Daniel McNamee at Champalimaud
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
"Expert navigators deploy rational complexity–based decision precaching for large-scale real-world planning"
Entropy of streets & successor representations explain planning speed
Colab wth Daniel McNamee at Champalimaud
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
Trump is attempting to unilaterally freeze trillions of dollars in federal spending that’s been duly appropriated by Congress. This is completely insane and illegal. He’s seizing unlawful control over the constitutional spending power? Five alarm fire www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion
The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 28, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Trump is attempting to unilaterally freeze trillions of dollars in federal spending that’s been duly appropriated by Congress. This is completely insane and illegal. He’s seizing unlawful control over the constitutional spending power? Five alarm fire www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
RFkJr is a threat to human health: when the next pandemic hits we need disease tracking (CDC now silenced) and fast vaccine development (which he opposes). If you live in ME, NC, SD, LA, AK, ID, KY or SD call your senators to oppose his confirmation (hearing this Wed.).
(continued, please retweet):
(continued, please retweet):
January 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM
RFkJr is a threat to human health: when the next pandemic hits we need disease tracking (CDC now silenced) and fast vaccine development (which he opposes). If you live in ME, NC, SD, LA, AK, ID, KY or SD call your senators to oppose his confirmation (hearing this Wed.).
(continued, please retweet):
(continued, please retweet):
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
This is a very scary time for early career scientists like people looking for/who are postdocs and new faculty trying to get funding. Any words of encouragement to share for people in this category?
January 23, 2025 at 6:02 PM
This is a very scary time for early career scientists like people looking for/who are postdocs and new faculty trying to get funding. Any words of encouragement to share for people in this category?
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
Okay, this is very cool: evidence from Peter Jonas' group that human CA3 follows a different logic of synaptic connectivity than rodent CA3, focussing more on sparser, but highly reliable synapses.
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
CC @dlevenstein.bsky.social & @repromancer.bsky.social
#neuroscience 🧪
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
CC @dlevenstein.bsky.social & @repromancer.bsky.social
#neuroscience 🧪
Human hippocampal CA3 uses specific functional connectivity rules for efficient associative memory
Human hippocampal CA3 networks use sparse and broad synaptic connectivity, and their
recurrent synapses employ reliability, precision, and long integration times to enhance
memory capacity. Thus, the ...
www.cell.com
January 23, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Okay, this is very cool: evidence from Peter Jonas' group that human CA3 follows a different logic of synaptic connectivity than rodent CA3, focussing more on sparser, but highly reliable synapses.
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
CC @dlevenstein.bsky.social & @repromancer.bsky.social
#neuroscience 🧪
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
CC @dlevenstein.bsky.social & @repromancer.bsky.social
#neuroscience 🧪
Tough week to be a trans neuroscientist with an immigrant spouse in the US…
… anyway, see y’all at Winter Brain!
… anyway, see y’all at Winter Brain!
January 23, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Tough week to be a trans neuroscientist with an immigrant spouse in the US…
… anyway, see y’all at Winter Brain!
… anyway, see y’all at Winter Brain!
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
Out now in Nature from @behrenstimb.bsky.social and crew:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Understanding this kind of schematic pattern learning and transfer will be key, IMO, to moving towards models of what we might call "higher-order cognition" or "reasoning".
🧠📈 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Understanding this kind of schematic pattern learning and transfer will be key, IMO, to moving towards models of what we might call "higher-order cognition" or "reasoning".
🧠📈 🧪
A cellular basis for mapping behavioural structure - Nature
Mice generalize complex task structures by using neurons in the medial frontal cortex that encode progress to task goals and embed behavioural sequences.
www.nature.com
December 19, 2024 at 3:07 PM
Out now in Nature from @behrenstimb.bsky.social and crew:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Understanding this kind of schematic pattern learning and transfer will be key, IMO, to moving towards models of what we might call "higher-order cognition" or "reasoning".
🧠📈 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Understanding this kind of schematic pattern learning and transfer will be key, IMO, to moving towards models of what we might call "higher-order cognition" or "reasoning".
🧠📈 🧪
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
Our latest preprint has landed www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Fantastic work from @laurenb29.bsky.social and Will de Cothi showing how many of the cell types associated with subiculum (e.g. boundary vector cells, corner cells) can be understood as successor features. TLDR: SUB not CA1 is the SR
Fantastic work from @laurenb29.bsky.social and Will de Cothi showing how many of the cell types associated with subiculum (e.g. boundary vector cells, corner cells) can be understood as successor features. TLDR: SUB not CA1 is the SR
Unifying Subicular Function: A Predictive Map Approach
The successor representation has emerged as a powerful model for understanding mammalian navigation and memory; explaining the spatial coding properties of hippocampal place cells and entorhinal grid ...
www.biorxiv.org
November 26, 2024 at 12:21 PM
Our latest preprint has landed www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Fantastic work from @laurenb29.bsky.social and Will de Cothi showing how many of the cell types associated with subiculum (e.g. boundary vector cells, corner cells) can be understood as successor features. TLDR: SUB not CA1 is the SR
Fantastic work from @laurenb29.bsky.social and Will de Cothi showing how many of the cell types associated with subiculum (e.g. boundary vector cells, corner cells) can be understood as successor features. TLDR: SUB not CA1 is the SR
Super excited to share our first preprint of work from the lab! We monitor and manipulate the CA1 representation of mice exploring a multicompartment environment to contrast geometric vs. predictive theories of cognitive mapping.
TLDR: All signs point to a predictive theory!
tinyurl.com/yeyv5p3x
TLDR: All signs point to a predictive theory!
tinyurl.com/yeyv5p3x
Idiosyncratic navigation determines mouse CA1 representational structure in a multicompartment environment
Organisms from mice to humans rely on cognitive maps instantiated by the hippocampal formation to flexibly and efficiently navigate the world. Traditional theories of cognitive mapping posit that thes...
tinyurl.com
November 26, 2024 at 3:08 PM
Super excited to share our first preprint of work from the lab! We monitor and manipulate the CA1 representation of mice exploring a multicompartment environment to contrast geometric vs. predictive theories of cognitive mapping.
TLDR: All signs point to a predictive theory!
tinyurl.com/yeyv5p3x
TLDR: All signs point to a predictive theory!
tinyurl.com/yeyv5p3x
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
Just in time for Thanksgiving, we're grateful for the publication of our paper in #eLife
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We measured dopamine and behavioral responses to intraorally delivered sucrose across acquisition and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.
1/n
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We measured dopamine and behavioral responses to intraorally delivered sucrose across acquisition and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.
1/n
It Tastes Bad Melissa GIF
ALT: It Tastes Bad Melissa GIF
media.tenor.com
November 25, 2024 at 6:28 PM
Just in time for Thanksgiving, we're grateful for the publication of our paper in #eLife
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We measured dopamine and behavioral responses to intraorally delivered sucrose across acquisition and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.
1/n
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We measured dopamine and behavioral responses to intraorally delivered sucrose across acquisition and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.
1/n
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
Psyched that my postdoc work w @markbrandonlab.bsky.social + @atkeinath.bsky.social is now in Neuron! TL/DR: remapping in CA1 has a representational structure that is reliable across brains, and we use this representation to test models of cognitive maps.
#NeuroSky #NeuroAI 🧪🧠
tinyurl.com/4juhmad8
#NeuroSky #NeuroAI 🧪🧠
tinyurl.com/4juhmad8
Identifying representational structure in CA1 to benchmark theoretical models of cognitive mapping
Decades of theoretical and empirical work have suggested the hippocampus instantiates some form of a cognitive map. Yet, tests of competing theories h…
tinyurl.com
November 22, 2024 at 6:58 PM
Psyched that my postdoc work w @markbrandonlab.bsky.social + @atkeinath.bsky.social is now in Neuron! TL/DR: remapping in CA1 has a representational structure that is reliable across brains, and we use this representation to test models of cognitive maps.
#NeuroSky #NeuroAI 🧪🧠
tinyurl.com/4juhmad8
#NeuroSky #NeuroAI 🧪🧠
tinyurl.com/4juhmad8
My last postdoc pub with @markbrandonlab.bsky.social and @jquinnlee.bsky.social is out. Here we use RSA and miniscopes to characterize CA1 responses to diverse deformations and compare to models. The dataset is public, and we'll build on it in future work.
authors.elsevier.com/c/1k8j8_KOmx...
authors.elsevier.com/c/1k8j8_KOmx...
authors.elsevier.com
November 22, 2024 at 4:26 PM
My last postdoc pub with @markbrandonlab.bsky.social and @jquinnlee.bsky.social is out. Here we use RSA and miniscopes to characterize CA1 responses to diverse deformations and compare to models. The dataset is public, and we'll build on it in future work.
authors.elsevier.com/c/1k8j8_KOmx...
authors.elsevier.com/c/1k8j8_KOmx...
Exciting day for us at the Keinath Lab! Last day of data collection for our first set of immersive VR experiments. 300+ participants across three experiments, this last one in an extra-large space! Stay tuned!
November 19, 2024 at 11:32 PM
Exciting day for us at the Keinath Lab! Last day of data collection for our first set of immersive VR experiments. 300+ participants across three experiments, this last one in an extra-large space! Stay tuned!