Johnston Lab
@inchinn.bsky.social
Neuroscientist fascinated by sensory physiology and how internal state modulates neural circuits
https://johnstonlab.org/
https://johnstonlab.org/
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Out today in Nature: We uncover a neural mechanism for the integration of two internal states - hunger and estrous state - and how this integration shapes pup-directed behaviors in mice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Integration of hunger and hormonal state gates infant-directed aggression - Nature
Combined behavioural, circuit-level and cellular approaches are used to demonstrate how hypothalamic neurons integrate hunger and oestrous state to drive a switch in how female mice interact with pups...
www.nature.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Out today in Nature: We uncover a neural mechanism for the integration of two internal states - hunger and estrous state - and how this integration shapes pup-directed behaviors in mice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Johnston Lab
High-resolution #CryoET provides ‘compelling’ evidence for the true 3D architecture of glutamatergic synapses: a complex ‘synaptoplasm’ rather than the textbook postsynaptic density.
buff.ly/hOYKjHH
buff.ly/hOYKjHH
October 16, 2025 at 1:44 PM
High-resolution #CryoET provides ‘compelling’ evidence for the true 3D architecture of glutamatergic synapses: a complex ‘synaptoplasm’ rather than the textbook postsynaptic density.
buff.ly/hOYKjHH
buff.ly/hOYKjHH
Shreya @shreyac.bsky.social gave an excellent talk at this week's UKSN conference in beautiful Cambridge.
bsky.app/profile/elis...
bsky.app/profile/elis...
July 10, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Shreya @shreyac.bsky.social gave an excellent talk at this week's UKSN conference in beautiful Cambridge.
bsky.app/profile/elis...
bsky.app/profile/elis...
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Olfaction geeks, come to Cambridge next month for a 30yrs old cross-disciplinary smell chat from philosophy to clinics to circuits 🧠👃
Headliner @dattalab.bsky.social on his lab's brand new olfactory maps study
Networking lunches, fancy College dinner, student discount, plenty of coffee. Go register!
Headliner @dattalab.bsky.social on his lab's brand new olfactory maps study
Networking lunches, fancy College dinner, student discount, plenty of coffee. Go register!
June 16, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Olfaction geeks, come to Cambridge next month for a 30yrs old cross-disciplinary smell chat from philosophy to clinics to circuits 🧠👃
Headliner @dattalab.bsky.social on his lab's brand new olfactory maps study
Networking lunches, fancy College dinner, student discount, plenty of coffee. Go register!
Headliner @dattalab.bsky.social on his lab's brand new olfactory maps study
Networking lunches, fancy College dinner, student discount, plenty of coffee. Go register!
Reposted by Johnston Lab
🚨 Preprint alert! 🚨
Can mice estimate the distance to an odour source?
New work led by Cristina Marin and colleagues, jointly supervised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social at the @crick.ac.uk and myself.
Spoiler alert: Yes, they can!
Read the paper here: bit.ly/43A9tF9
Short 🧵 below
Can mice estimate the distance to an odour source?
New work led by Cristina Marin and colleagues, jointly supervised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social at the @crick.ac.uk and myself.
Spoiler alert: Yes, they can!
Read the paper here: bit.ly/43A9tF9
Short 🧵 below
May 18, 2025 at 8:41 AM
🚨 Preprint alert! 🚨
Can mice estimate the distance to an odour source?
New work led by Cristina Marin and colleagues, jointly supervised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social at the @crick.ac.uk and myself.
Spoiler alert: Yes, they can!
Read the paper here: bit.ly/43A9tF9
Short 🧵 below
Can mice estimate the distance to an odour source?
New work led by Cristina Marin and colleagues, jointly supervised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social at the @crick.ac.uk and myself.
Spoiler alert: Yes, they can!
Read the paper here: bit.ly/43A9tF9
Short 🧵 below
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Johnston and Filippi lab walk in the Yorkshire Dales
May 2, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Johnston and Filippi lab walk in the Yorkshire Dales
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Now in its final form, our recent work on how olfactory transduction currents help ensure sparse sensory coding. Led by a post-bac Kai Clane Belonio and a graduate student, Eyerusalem Haile, this was a group effort by the entire laboratory.
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Amplification of Olfactory Transduction Currents Implements Sparse Stimulus Encoding
Sensory systems must perform the dual and opposing tasks of being sensitive to weak stimuli while also maintaining information content in dense and variable sensory landscapes. This occurs in the olfa...
www.jneurosci.org
April 30, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Now in its final form, our recent work on how olfactory transduction currents help ensure sparse sensory coding. Led by a post-bac Kai Clane Belonio and a graduate student, Eyerusalem Haile, this was a group effort by the entire laboratory.
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Check out our review comparing typical experimental to naturally-occurring odor concentrations. You might be surprised.
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Thanks to Matt and Betty for asking me to take part!
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Thanks to Matt and Betty for asking me to take part!
Recalibrating Olfactory Neuroscience to the Range of Naturally Occurring Odor Concentrations
Sensory systems enable organisms to detect and respond to environmental signals relevant for their survival and reproduction. A crucial aspect of any sensory signal is its intensity; understanding how...
www.jneurosci.org
March 6, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Check out our review comparing typical experimental to naturally-occurring odor concentrations. You might be surprised.
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Thanks to Matt and Betty for asking me to take part!
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Thanks to Matt and Betty for asking me to take part!
A new collaborative effort on the impacts of mutations in PDZD8: Autistic features in humans, with mice displaying impaired social recognition behaviour, social odour recognition, and metabolic changes. Well done Dr Pantiru! 🧠 🧪 rdcu.be/ebCH8
Autistic behavior is a common outcome of biallelic disruption of PDZD8 in humans and mice
rdcu.be
February 28, 2025 at 7:36 AM
A new collaborative effort on the impacts of mutations in PDZD8: Autistic features in humans, with mice displaying impaired social recognition behaviour, social odour recognition, and metabolic changes. Well done Dr Pantiru! 🧠 🧪 rdcu.be/ebCH8
Reposted by Johnston Lab
New preprint: a simple method (ADePT) for optical control and recording of activity by axially-decoupling the focal planes for widefield patterned photo-stimulation and two photon imaging. Proof-of-principle analysis of functional connectivity in the olfactory bulb. 1/7 #neuroscience
Axially decoupled photo-stimulation and two photon readout (ADePT) for mapping functional connectivity of neural circuits
All optical physiology in vivo provides a conduit for investigating the function of neural circuits in 3-D. Here, we report a new strategy for flexible, axially-decoupled photo-stimulation and two pho...
doi.org
February 26, 2025 at 5:02 PM
New preprint: a simple method (ADePT) for optical control and recording of activity by axially-decoupling the focal planes for widefield patterned photo-stimulation and two photon imaging. Proof-of-principle analysis of functional connectivity in the olfactory bulb. 1/7 #neuroscience
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Our latest findings on social behavior circuits is out: how does the brain responds to social isolation? Terrific work by @dingliu.bsky.social et al. uncovering a circuit with similar neural architecture as physiological needs (hunger, thirst, sleep..). Detailed thread soon.
rdcu.be/ebo63
rdcu.be/ebo63
A hypothalamic circuit underlying the dynamic control of social homeostasis
Nature - New data on brain-wide circuits centred around two interconnected hypothalamic neuron populations provide significant mechanistic insights into the emergence of social need during social...
rdcu.be
February 26, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Our latest findings on social behavior circuits is out: how does the brain responds to social isolation? Terrific work by @dingliu.bsky.social et al. uncovering a circuit with similar neural architecture as physiological needs (hunger, thirst, sleep..). Detailed thread soon.
rdcu.be/ebo63
rdcu.be/ebo63
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Alexander Fjaeldstad and I have a new chapter in the book Smell, Taste, Eat: The Role of the Chemical Senses in Eating Behaviour, edited by @LorenzoDStafford. Lots of great insights here.
From our chapter, it’s clear that smell loss and its impact on ingestion remain vastly underexplored."
From our chapter, it’s clear that smell loss and its impact on ingestion remain vastly underexplored."
The Effect of Olfactory Disorder (and Other Chemosensory Disorders) on Perception, Acceptance, and Consumption of Food
People with changes in the overall sensory experience of food often complain of taste disturbances, although the problem is normally caused by the loss of aroma in the food (thus an olfactory disorder...
link.springer.com
January 26, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Alexander Fjaeldstad and I have a new chapter in the book Smell, Taste, Eat: The Role of the Chemical Senses in Eating Behaviour, edited by @LorenzoDStafford. Lots of great insights here.
From our chapter, it’s clear that smell loss and its impact on ingestion remain vastly underexplored."
From our chapter, it’s clear that smell loss and its impact on ingestion remain vastly underexplored."
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Leeds becomes first Russell Group university to quit X but will stay on other platforms like Bluesky. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Leeds becomes first Russell Group university to quit X - Research Professional News
Leeds says Elon Musk’s social media site “no longer aligns with our university values”
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
January 24, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Leeds becomes first Russell Group university to quit X but will stay on other platforms like Bluesky. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
A nice (dendritic) tree for the #FluorescentFriday before Christmas. 🎄
Reconstructed and modeled in elifesciences.org/articles/06250
Reconstructed and modeled in elifesciences.org/articles/06250
December 20, 2024 at 4:21 PM
A nice (dendritic) tree for the #FluorescentFriday before Christmas. 🎄
Reconstructed and modeled in elifesciences.org/articles/06250
Reconstructed and modeled in elifesciences.org/articles/06250
Reposted by Johnston Lab
🔊Major Breakthrough
Researchers from @UniklinikBonn @unibonn.bsky.social @rwth.bsky.social reveal how single neurons respond to smells, images & words!
This study in @natureportfolio.bsky.social bridges the gap between animal & human olfactory research!👃
📖 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Researchers from @UniklinikBonn @unibonn.bsky.social @rwth.bsky.social reveal how single neurons respond to smells, images & words!
This study in @natureportfolio.bsky.social bridges the gap between animal & human olfactory research!👃
📖 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Single-neuron representations of odours in the human brain - Nature
Human piriform and mediotemporal neurons encode odours, and signal how we perceive, rate and identify scents.
www.nature.com
November 12, 2024 at 10:50 AM
🔊Major Breakthrough
Researchers from @UniklinikBonn @unibonn.bsky.social @rwth.bsky.social reveal how single neurons respond to smells, images & words!
This study in @natureportfolio.bsky.social bridges the gap between animal & human olfactory research!👃
📖 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Researchers from @UniklinikBonn @unibonn.bsky.social @rwth.bsky.social reveal how single neurons respond to smells, images & words!
This study in @natureportfolio.bsky.social bridges the gap between animal & human olfactory research!👃
📖 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We have a fresh new paper!
The PhD project of the talented Mark Conway.
A learning-induced change in the sensitivity of olfactory receptor neurons enables consistent perception of an odor. #olfaction #neuroscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The PhD project of the talented Mark Conway.
A learning-induced change in the sensitivity of olfactory receptor neurons enables consistent perception of an odor. #olfaction #neuroscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Perceptual constancy for an odor is acquired through changes in primary sensory neurons
Learning-induced changes in primary sensory neurons support concentration-invariant perception of an odor.
www.science.org
December 11, 2024 at 7:42 PM
We have a fresh new paper!
The PhD project of the talented Mark Conway.
A learning-induced change in the sensitivity of olfactory receptor neurons enables consistent perception of an odor. #olfaction #neuroscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The PhD project of the talented Mark Conway.
A learning-induced change in the sensitivity of olfactory receptor neurons enables consistent perception of an odor. #olfaction #neuroscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Johnston Lab
New from Shiko Parnas' lab: Classical & operant learning in *Drosophila* rely on distinct neuronal pathways, challenging current paradigms! Unstoppable
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Neuronal circuit mechanisms of competitive interaction between action-based and coincidence learning
Parallel and interfering neuronal circuits are responsible for operant and classical learning.
www.science.org
December 6, 2024 at 8:39 PM
New from Shiko Parnas' lab: Classical & operant learning in *Drosophila* rely on distinct neuronal pathways, challenging current paradigms! Unstoppable
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Pretty pericytes,
Perching on a vessel,
Protecting the brain
An old Friday experiment for
#FluorescentFriday #Olfaction #haiku
Perching on a vessel,
Protecting the brain
An old Friday experiment for
#FluorescentFriday #Olfaction #haiku
December 6, 2024 at 8:13 AM
Pretty pericytes,
Perching on a vessel,
Protecting the brain
An old Friday experiment for
#FluorescentFriday #Olfaction #haiku
Perching on a vessel,
Protecting the brain
An old Friday experiment for
#FluorescentFriday #Olfaction #haiku
Reposted by Johnston Lab
✨ We can’t wait to see everyone next week at the 2024 Festive Symposium in Leeds!
It’s your chance to connect with #neuroscientists from academia, clinics, and industry as we explore 'The Resilient Brain'.
Make sure you’ve got your ticket! bna.org.uk/mediacentre/...
It’s your chance to connect with #neuroscientists from academia, clinics, and industry as we explore 'The Resilient Brain'.
Make sure you’ve got your ticket! bna.org.uk/mediacentre/...
December 4, 2024 at 1:24 PM
✨ We can’t wait to see everyone next week at the 2024 Festive Symposium in Leeds!
It’s your chance to connect with #neuroscientists from academia, clinics, and industry as we explore 'The Resilient Brain'.
Make sure you’ve got your ticket! bna.org.uk/mediacentre/...
It’s your chance to connect with #neuroscientists from academia, clinics, and industry as we explore 'The Resilient Brain'.
Make sure you’ve got your ticket! bna.org.uk/mediacentre/...
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Great blog by Bodo Stern (@hhmi.bsky.social) about the recent Clarivate decision on @elife.bsky.social’s impact factor. www.coalition-s.org/blog/how-the...
How the Web of Science takes a step back
<p>The Web of Science, a major commercial indexing service of scientific journals operated by Clarivate, recently decided to remove eLife from its Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). eLife will on...
www.coalition-s.org
November 30, 2024 at 7:39 AM
Great blog by Bodo Stern (@hhmi.bsky.social) about the recent Clarivate decision on @elife.bsky.social’s impact factor. www.coalition-s.org/blog/how-the...
Reposted by Johnston Lab
Sniffing helps animals identify smells and connect them to places and events, but noses can’t sense time or place.
How do brains connect odors with internal models of the world?
Our preprint suggests that the olfactory bulb participates in this connection.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How do brains connect odors with internal models of the world?
Our preprint suggests that the olfactory bulb participates in this connection.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 22, 2024 at 6:07 PM
Sniffing helps animals identify smells and connect them to places and events, but noses can’t sense time or place.
How do brains connect odors with internal models of the world?
Our preprint suggests that the olfactory bulb participates in this connection.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How do brains connect odors with internal models of the world?
Our preprint suggests that the olfactory bulb participates in this connection.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Johnston Lab
We have *another* preprint! This work was led by the amazing Candida Tufo, ex-PhD student in the lab.
We show that adult-born dopaminergic cells in the olfactory bulb rapidly functionally resemble their pre-existing counterparts!
Have a look at the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We show that adult-born dopaminergic cells in the olfactory bulb rapidly functionally resemble their pre-existing counterparts!
Have a look at the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 29, 2024 at 12:41 PM
We have *another* preprint! This work was led by the amazing Candida Tufo, ex-PhD student in the lab.
We show that adult-born dopaminergic cells in the olfactory bulb rapidly functionally resemble their pre-existing counterparts!
Have a look at the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We show that adult-born dopaminergic cells in the olfactory bulb rapidly functionally resemble their pre-existing counterparts!
Have a look at the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...