Karl Deisseroth
@deisseroth.bsky.social
neuroscientist, psychiatrist, writer
optogenetics.org
karldeisseroth.org
https://www.amazon.com/Projections-Story-Emotions-Karl-Deisseroth/dp/1984853694
optogenetics.org
karldeisseroth.org
https://www.amazon.com/Projections-Story-Emotions-Karl-Deisseroth/dp/1984853694
Pinned
Karl Deisseroth
@deisseroth.bsky.social
· Nov 28
A moment in time: Dieter Oesterhelt passed away in Münich on this day (November 28) in 2022. He identified the 1st microbial rhodopsin more than 50 years ago, with far-reaching impact that could hardly have been imagined.
laskerfoundation.org/in-memoriam-...
laskerfoundation.org/in-memoriam-...
Thank you @samvesuna.bsky.social and the whole secret cake team! And congrats to all the amazing laboratory and clinical presenters from our program– the surprise cake got us through (I had forgotten how physically challenging being a poster presenter can be). I'll train harder for next year...
#Stanford Human Neural Circuitry (HNC) showcasing years of hard work and interdisciplinary team efforts @sfn.org !... icing on the cake was a mid-session surprise Bday celebration for HNC and Karl :). #Dlab poster session first? Thanks for being a good sport @deisseroth.bsky.social!
November 22, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Thank you @samvesuna.bsky.social and the whole secret cake team! And congrats to all the amazing laboratory and clinical presenters from our program– the surprise cake got us through (I had forgotten how physically challenging being a poster presenter can be). I'll train harder for next year...
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
We had the most amazing 25 year lab anniversary today. Blown away by the science from my alumni and very proud of the current members. The community they have built is remarkable and it felt like a family reunion. The tacos, drinks, cake, and jazz were pretty great too.
November 21, 2025 at 6:19 AM
We had the most amazing 25 year lab anniversary today. Blown away by the science from my alumni and very proud of the current members. The community they have built is remarkable and it felt like a family reunion. The tacos, drinks, cake, and jazz were pretty great too.
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
It's time to meet your #OptoGRC2026 chairs!
Co-vice chair @tinakim-neuro.bsky.social is an assistant professor at @princeton.edu who spent the summer building a van for weekend adventures 🚐✨
She's most looking forward to meeting new people & exploring areas outside of her usual wheelhouse!
Co-vice chair @tinakim-neuro.bsky.social is an assistant professor at @princeton.edu who spent the summer building a van for weekend adventures 🚐✨
She's most looking forward to meeting new people & exploring areas outside of her usual wheelhouse!
November 20, 2025 at 7:23 PM
It's time to meet your #OptoGRC2026 chairs!
Co-vice chair @tinakim-neuro.bsky.social is an assistant professor at @princeton.edu who spent the summer building a van for weekend adventures 🚐✨
She's most looking forward to meeting new people & exploring areas outside of her usual wheelhouse!
Co-vice chair @tinakim-neuro.bsky.social is an assistant professor at @princeton.edu who spent the summer building a van for weekend adventures 🚐✨
She's most looking forward to meeting new people & exploring areas outside of her usual wheelhouse!
Our microbial-opsin work (and most of the field ) is basic science, but it was intriguing to review clinical progress–direct & indirect–with a wonderful team of co-authors
t.co/JrJen2WGBV
& adapt a fig. of PMID:28912215 (2017) with my long-time collaborator Peter Hegemann (pic: a memory from 2017).
t.co/JrJen2WGBV
& adapt a fig. of PMID:28912215 (2017) with my long-time collaborator Peter Hegemann (pic: a memory from 2017).
November 18, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Our microbial-opsin work (and most of the field ) is basic science, but it was intriguing to review clinical progress–direct & indirect–with a wonderful team of co-authors
t.co/JrJen2WGBV
& adapt a fig. of PMID:28912215 (2017) with my long-time collaborator Peter Hegemann (pic: a memory from 2017).
t.co/JrJen2WGBV
& adapt a fig. of PMID:28912215 (2017) with my long-time collaborator Peter Hegemann (pic: a memory from 2017).
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Amazing collaboration with @alleninstitute.org team—@hongkuizeng.bsky.social, Bosiljka Tasic, Tanya L. Daigle, La'Akea Siverts—to develop new transgenics for all-optical neuroscience.
And deeply grateful to @deisseroth.bsky.social for his support and mentorship. 🙏
12/13
And deeply grateful to @deisseroth.bsky.social for his support and mentorship. 🙏
12/13
November 13, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Amazing collaboration with @alleninstitute.org team—@hongkuizeng.bsky.social, Bosiljka Tasic, Tanya L. Daigle, La'Akea Siverts—to develop new transgenics for all-optical neuroscience.
And deeply grateful to @deisseroth.bsky.social for his support and mentorship. 🙏
12/13
And deeply grateful to @deisseroth.bsky.social for his support and mentorship. 🙏
12/13
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
✨ New preprint ✨ What if we could watch AND control thousands of individual neurons in behaving mice—with stable access over months? 🧠⚡ Our work introduces transgenic all-optical tools that make this possible - and a resulting surprising discovery! 🔭💡
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/13 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/13 🧵
Large-scale cellular-resolution read/write of activity enables discovery of cell types defined by complex circuit properties
The complexity of the mammalian brain’s vast population of interconnected neurons poses a formidable challenge to elucidate its underlying mechanisms of coordination and computation. A key step forwar...
www.biorxiv.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:24 AM
✨ New preprint ✨ What if we could watch AND control thousands of individual neurons in behaving mice—with stable access over months? 🧠⚡ Our work introduces transgenic all-optical tools that make this possible - and a resulting surprising discovery! 🔭💡
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/13 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/13 🧵
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Big thanks to all the co-authors. Huge shoutout to Tony Drinnenberg, Charu Ramakrishnan and @deisseroth.bsky.social as well as the team at @alleninstitute.org. This would not have been possible without their new mouse lines. Check out this preprint for more information: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Large-scale cellular-resolution read/write of activity enables discovery of cell types defined by complex circuit properties
The complexity of the mammalian brain's vast population of interconnected neurons poses a formidable challenge to elucidate its underlying mechanisms of coordination and computation. A key step forwar...
doi.org
October 24, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Big thanks to all the co-authors. Huge shoutout to Tony Drinnenberg, Charu Ramakrishnan and @deisseroth.bsky.social as well as the team at @alleninstitute.org. This would not have been possible without their new mouse lines. Check out this preprint for more information: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Our new paper "High-capacity associative memory in a quantum-optical spin glass." Achieves 7-fold increased capacity thru a quantum optical analog of short term plasticity from neuroscience. Atoms (neurons) couple to motion and photons (synapses)!
arxiv.org/abs/2509.12202
arxiv.org/abs/2509.12202
September 16, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Our new paper "High-capacity associative memory in a quantum-optical spin glass." Achieves 7-fold increased capacity thru a quantum optical analog of short term plasticity from neuroscience. Atoms (neurons) couple to motion and photons (synapses)!
arxiv.org/abs/2509.12202
arxiv.org/abs/2509.12202
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Scopes trial telling students in central Tennessee about their inner fish.
I’m so grateful to the high school and middle school teachers who brought their students from small schools to the event (some from almost an hr away).
I’m so grateful to the high school and middle school teachers who brought their students from small schools to the event (some from almost an hr away).
August 28, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Scopes trial telling students in central Tennessee about their inner fish.
I’m so grateful to the high school and middle school teachers who brought their students from small schools to the event (some from almost an hr away).
I’m so grateful to the high school and middle school teachers who brought their students from small schools to the event (some from almost an hr away).
congratulations Neil! NAS is lucky to have you leading the way...
Some personal news…
The NAS Council has approved the nomination of Neil H. Shubin to be the next president of the National Academy of Sciences. An evolutionary biologist and science communicator, Shubin would succeed Marcia McNutt when her term ends on June 30, 2026. Read more: www.nasonline.org/news/neil-h-...
July 15, 2025 at 2:28 AM
congratulations Neil! NAS is lucky to have you leading the way...
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
HHMI Tangled Bank Studios brings science to life through powerful, visually stunning storytelling.✨
For over a decade, @tangledbankhhmi.bsky.social has delivered award-winning films that engage audiences with the wonder, complexity, and importance of science.
For over a decade, @tangledbankhhmi.bsky.social has delivered award-winning films that engage audiences with the wonder, complexity, and importance of science.
June 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
HHMI Tangled Bank Studios brings science to life through powerful, visually stunning storytelling.✨
For over a decade, @tangledbankhhmi.bsky.social has delivered award-winning films that engage audiences with the wonder, complexity, and importance of science.
For over a decade, @tangledbankhhmi.bsky.social has delivered award-winning films that engage audiences with the wonder, complexity, and importance of science.
Congratulations to our Human Neural Circuitry team; bit.ly/4dEyX7Z publishes today in Science! This was the hardest challenge of my career, but one of the most rewarding, after years of rebuilding– & expanding my inpatient neuropsychiatry in the service of basic discovery bsky.app/profile/deis...
May 30, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Congratulations to our Human Neural Circuitry team; bit.ly/4dEyX7Z publishes today in Science! This was the hardest challenge of my career, but one of the most rewarding, after years of rebuilding– & expanding my inpatient neuropsychiatry in the service of basic discovery bsky.app/profile/deis...
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
📆 Mark your calendars: #OptoGRC2026 is headed back to Tuscany, May 10-15, 2026!
We look forward to reuniting with our amazing community for a week of great science, thoughtful discussions & shared time with colleagues.
More details coming soon👇🏽
tinyurl.com/esvrabsu
We look forward to reuniting with our amazing community for a week of great science, thoughtful discussions & shared time with colleagues.
More details coming soon👇🏽
tinyurl.com/esvrabsu
May 23, 2025 at 8:05 PM
📆 Mark your calendars: #OptoGRC2026 is headed back to Tuscany, May 10-15, 2026!
We look forward to reuniting with our amazing community for a week of great science, thoughtful discussions & shared time with colleagues.
More details coming soon👇🏽
tinyurl.com/esvrabsu
We look forward to reuniting with our amazing community for a week of great science, thoughtful discussions & shared time with colleagues.
More details coming soon👇🏽
tinyurl.com/esvrabsu
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
New paper from the lab: Our teeth arose as sensory organs on the outside of the body of ancient jawless fish.!! Congrats to Yara Haridy and the team!
Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05...
Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05...
Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Teeth first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient fish, fossil scans find
Anyone who has ever squirmed through a dental cleaning can tell you how sensitive teeth can be. This sensitivity gives important feedback about temperature, pressure—and yes, pain—as we bite and chew ...
phys.org
May 21, 2025 at 3:27 PM
New paper from the lab: Our teeth arose as sensory organs on the outside of the body of ancient jawless fish.!! Congrats to Yara Haridy and the team!
Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05...
Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05...
Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Unforgettable moments honoring @deisseroth.bsky.social, recipient of the Asan Award in Medicine! Watch this great video highlighting his groundbreaking contributions:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOzK...
Proud to celebrate this historic achievement in Seoul. Cheers, Karl! 🎉 #AsanAward #Neuroscience
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOzK...
Proud to celebrate this historic achievement in Seoul. Cheers, Karl! 🎉 #AsanAward #Neuroscience
March 19, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Unforgettable moments honoring @deisseroth.bsky.social, recipient of the Asan Award in Medicine! Watch this great video highlighting his groundbreaking contributions:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOzK...
Proud to celebrate this historic achievement in Seoul. Cheers, Karl! 🎉 #AsanAward #Neuroscience
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOzK...
Proud to celebrate this historic achievement in Seoul. Cheers, Karl! 🎉 #AsanAward #Neuroscience
Congratulations to these two outstanding physician-neuroscientists! Many people now are familiar with the fascinating fundamental research of @michellemonje.bsky.social but most people probably don't know she is a truly great physician. I'm fortunate to be inspired by her every day, in every way.
Congratulations to winners of The Brain Prize 2025!
Professors @michellemonje.bsky.social, @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social and @hhmi.org Investigator, and Frank Winkler, Heidelberg University Hospital, have pioneered the field of Cancer Neuroscience.
Learn more: brainprize.org/winners/canc...
Professors @michellemonje.bsky.social, @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social and @hhmi.org Investigator, and Frank Winkler, Heidelberg University Hospital, have pioneered the field of Cancer Neuroscience.
Learn more: brainprize.org/winners/canc...
March 5, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Congratulations to these two outstanding physician-neuroscientists! Many people now are familiar with the fascinating fundamental research of @michellemonje.bsky.social but most people probably don't know she is a truly great physician. I'm fortunate to be inspired by her every day, in every way.
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
I am hiring: PhD students, postdocs, admin personnel. Email me if you know somebody that may be interested in joining us in Cologne! 👇👇
Please RT for reach! 🙏🙏
Please RT for reach! 🙏🙏
I am excited to announce that I will be founding an institute for network stimulation at the University Hospital Cologne – already this coming May!
February 17, 2025 at 2:04 AM
I am hiring: PhD students, postdocs, admin personnel. Email me if you know somebody that may be interested in joining us in Cologne! 👇👇
Please RT for reach! 🙏🙏
Please RT for reach! 🙏🙏
strongly recommend this book... @neilshubin.bsky.social is a great communicator and scientist. We're coming up on the 10 year anniversary of this special moment from February 2015: Neil showing the Tiktaalik fossil to a few of my entranced kids.
February 5, 2025 at 5:46 PM
strongly recommend this book... @neilshubin.bsky.social is a great communicator and scientist. We're coming up on the 10 year anniversary of this special moment from February 2015: Neil showing the Tiktaalik fossil to a few of my entranced kids.
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Combined analysis of #GWAS and human brain single-cell transcriptomics data to infer the cell-types involved in the etiology of #schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders 🧪🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mapping the cellular etiology of schizophrenia and complex brain phenotypes - Nature Neuroscience
Duncan and colleagues link specific human brain cell types to schizophrenia and other complex brain phenotypes, providing mechanistic insights and a cellular taxonomy for psychiatric disorders.
www.nature.com
January 22, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Combined analysis of #GWAS and human brain single-cell transcriptomics data to infer the cell-types involved in the etiology of #schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders 🧪🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Welcome to Bluesky! and thank you @sykneuro.bsky.social! Of course, I was the lucky one, honored to have you in my lab... Looking forward to seeing you again in March!
Recognized for "the discovery of light-gated ion channel mechanisms and the development of optogenetics."
Honored to have had him as my PhD advisor (2009–2013)—was a true privilege to witness his groundbreaking work transform neuroscience.
Can’t wait for the ceremony on Mar 18!
Honored to have had him as my PhD advisor (2009–2013)—was a true privilege to witness his groundbreaking work transform neuroscience.
Can’t wait for the ceremony on Mar 18!
January 21, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Welcome to Bluesky! and thank you @sykneuro.bsky.social! Of course, I was the lucky one, honored to have you in my lab... Looking forward to seeing you again in March!
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
663 days since the senseless tragedy that took An, we present a manuscript that reports some of the discoveries that she left us.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Targeted stimulation of motor cortex neural ensembles drives learned movements
During the execution of learned motor skills, the neural population in the layer 2/3 (L2/3) of the primary motor cortex (M1) expresses a reproducible spatiotemporal activity pattern. It is debated whe...
www.biorxiv.org
January 7, 2025 at 5:53 AM
663 days since the senseless tragedy that took An, we present a manuscript that reports some of the discoveries that she left us.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Eric @erictopol.bsky.social has deep biomedical knowledge and remains a trusted science communicator, loyal to facts while others veer off. Importantly, he finds these interviews fun—I sure enjoyed talking to him about life, science, and what I’ve learned along the way.
Do you know about PIEZO receptors? We're learning more about their expansive role every day. A new podcast (with transcript and full video) with @ardemp.bsky.social, my friend and colleague @scripps.edu, who discovered these channels
erictopol.substack.com/p/ardem-pata...
erictopol.substack.com/p/ardem-pata...
December 29, 2024 at 8:55 PM
Eric @erictopol.bsky.social has deep biomedical knowledge and remains a trusted science communicator, loyal to facts while others veer off. Importantly, he finds these interviews fun—I sure enjoyed talking to him about life, science, and what I’ve learned along the way.
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Group selfie after our presidential plenary session at @acnporg.bsky.social this morning in Arizona at the invitation of ACNP President Helen Mayberg! With wonderful speakers Michelle Monje, Botond Roska & David McMullen speaking on advances that accelerate translation in neuropsychiatry!
December 9, 2024 at 12:00 AM
Group selfie after our presidential plenary session at @acnporg.bsky.social this morning in Arizona at the invitation of ACNP President Helen Mayberg! With wonderful speakers Michelle Monje, Botond Roska & David McMullen speaking on advances that accelerate translation in neuropsychiatry!
A moment in time: Dieter Oesterhelt passed away in Münich on this day (November 28) in 2022. He identified the 1st microbial rhodopsin more than 50 years ago, with far-reaching impact that could hardly have been imagined.
laskerfoundation.org/in-memoriam-...
laskerfoundation.org/in-memoriam-...
November 28, 2024 at 8:07 AM
A moment in time: Dieter Oesterhelt passed away in Münich on this day (November 28) in 2022. He identified the 1st microbial rhodopsin more than 50 years ago, with far-reaching impact that could hardly have been imagined.
laskerfoundation.org/in-memoriam-...
laskerfoundation.org/in-memoriam-...
Reposted by Karl Deisseroth
Preprint dropped! Excited about this study by Yu Wang, a PhD student from Li Ye's lab and mine, now a postdoc in @deisseroth.bsky.social lab. It unveils an unexpected role for PIEZO2/mechanosensation in sensory neurons that innervate fat! What is it sensing in fat?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
November 20, 2024 at 2:40 AM
Preprint dropped! Excited about this study by Yu Wang, a PhD student from Li Ye's lab and mine, now a postdoc in @deisseroth.bsky.social lab. It unveils an unexpected role for PIEZO2/mechanosensation in sensory neurons that innervate fat! What is it sensing in fat?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...