Mark Nicholas
@markolas.bsky.social
PhD candidate in Neuroscience in the @yttrilab.bsky.social at @CMU_Bio, retired footballer, maker of good food
https://markolas11.github.io
https://markolas11.github.io
Reposted by Mark Nicholas
Happy to share our primer on Basal Ganglia - Brainstem interactions!
From how the basal ganglia communicate with Brainstem motor circuits to how these activity patterns might come about! With Silvia Arber, now out in Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
From how the basal ganglia communicate with Brainstem motor circuits to how these activity patterns might come about! With Silvia Arber, now out in Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Basal ganglia–brainstem interactions
Our body executes many different movements with precision. Falasconi and Arber describe
how basal ganglia interact with brainstem circuits controlling body movements and
propose a movement-specific li...
www.cell.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Happy to share our primer on Basal Ganglia - Brainstem interactions!
From how the basal ganglia communicate with Brainstem motor circuits to how these activity patterns might come about! With Silvia Arber, now out in Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
From how the basal ganglia communicate with Brainstem motor circuits to how these activity patterns might come about! With Silvia Arber, now out in Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
I started studying neuroscience back in 2012.
This week I will be defending my PhD from the
@yttrilab.bsky.social at @cmu.edu @the-cnbc.bsky.social
Date: Friday, September 26th
Time: 2:30 pm eastern
If you are interested in the Zoom option, please reach out.
#neuroskyence
This week I will be defending my PhD from the
@yttrilab.bsky.social at @cmu.edu @the-cnbc.bsky.social
Date: Friday, September 26th
Time: 2:30 pm eastern
If you are interested in the Zoom option, please reach out.
#neuroskyence
September 23, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I started studying neuroscience back in 2012.
This week I will be defending my PhD from the
@yttrilab.bsky.social at @cmu.edu @the-cnbc.bsky.social
Date: Friday, September 26th
Time: 2:30 pm eastern
If you are interested in the Zoom option, please reach out.
#neuroskyence
This week I will be defending my PhD from the
@yttrilab.bsky.social at @cmu.edu @the-cnbc.bsky.social
Date: Friday, September 26th
Time: 2:30 pm eastern
If you are interested in the Zoom option, please reach out.
#neuroskyence
Thank you so much to @lauragrima.bsky.social for presenting her recent preprint today at @the-cnbc.bsky.social @cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
Super cool science and design
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Super cool science and design
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
A global dopaminergic learning rate enables adaptive foraging across many options
In natural environments, animals must efficiently allocate their choices across multiple concurrently available resources when foraging, a complex decision-making process not fully captured by existin...
www.biorxiv.org
August 21, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Thank you so much to @lauragrima.bsky.social for presenting her recent preprint today at @the-cnbc.bsky.social @cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
Super cool science and design
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Super cool science and design
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Mark Nicholas
Why do we go downstairs when we hear a scary noise at night?
New #preprint by postdoc Kati Rothenhoefer shows how novelty seeking & explore-exploit decision making in #macaques resolves curiosity about whether choices will lead to appetitive or aversive outcomes.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New #preprint by postdoc Kati Rothenhoefer shows how novelty seeking & explore-exploit decision making in #macaques resolves curiosity about whether choices will lead to appetitive or aversive outcomes.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Dissociable effects of curiosity and hedonic valence on reinforcement learning
Curiosity and exploration support learning and adaptive decision-making in uncertain environments. While these processes are sensitive to motivational context, it remains unclear how outcome valence s...
www.biorxiv.org
June 27, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Why do we go downstairs when we hear a scary noise at night?
New #preprint by postdoc Kati Rothenhoefer shows how novelty seeking & explore-exploit decision making in #macaques resolves curiosity about whether choices will lead to appetitive or aversive outcomes.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New #preprint by postdoc Kati Rothenhoefer shows how novelty seeking & explore-exploit decision making in #macaques resolves curiosity about whether choices will lead to appetitive or aversive outcomes.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Mark Nicholas
Neuroscience peeps!
There is an amazing opportunity opening up at CMU!
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
@cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
@cmuscience.bsky.social
@cmu.edu
There is an amazing opportunity opening up at CMU!
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
@cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
@cmuscience.bsky.social
@cmu.edu
Director | Isaacson, Miller
www.imsearch.com
June 17, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Neuroscience peeps!
There is an amazing opportunity opening up at CMU!
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
@cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
@cmuscience.bsky.social
@cmu.edu
There is an amazing opportunity opening up at CMU!
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
@cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social
@cmuscience.bsky.social
@cmu.edu
Reposted by Mark Nicholas
🚀 We are excited to share that bombcell is now available in Python! 🐍 Automatically sort your units into good/MUA/noise/non-somatic using quality metrics and interpretable & adjustable classification thresholds.
pip install and play around with our toy dataset:
🔗 github.com/Julie-Fabre/...
pip install and play around with our toy dataset:
🔗 github.com/Julie-Fabre/...
GitHub - Julie-Fabre/bombcell: Automated quality control, curation and neuron classification of spike-sorted electrophysiology data
Automated quality control, curation and neuron classification of spike-sorted electrophysiology data - Julie-Fabre/bombcell
github.com
June 13, 2025 at 6:55 PM
🚀 We are excited to share that bombcell is now available in Python! 🐍 Automatically sort your units into good/MUA/noise/non-somatic using quality metrics and interpretable & adjustable classification thresholds.
pip install and play around with our toy dataset:
🔗 github.com/Julie-Fabre/...
pip install and play around with our toy dataset:
🔗 github.com/Julie-Fabre/...
Reposted by Mark Nicholas
Forelimb movement control at the basal ganglia - brainstem interface!
Happy to finally share this work from me and @harsh-kanodia.bsky.social with Silvia Arber!
@biozentrum.unibas.ch @fmiscience.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy to finally share this work from me and @harsh-kanodia.bsky.social with Silvia Arber!
@biozentrum.unibas.ch @fmiscience.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Dynamic basal ganglia output signals license and suppress forelimb movements - Nature
Basal ganglia output neurons fire dynamically in bidirectional and movement-specific patterns to license forelimb movements.
www.nature.com
May 28, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Forelimb movement control at the basal ganglia - brainstem interface!
Happy to finally share this work from me and @harsh-kanodia.bsky.social with Silvia Arber!
@biozentrum.unibas.ch @fmiscience.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy to finally share this work from me and @harsh-kanodia.bsky.social with Silvia Arber!
@biozentrum.unibas.ch @fmiscience.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Mark Nicholas
Tim Verstynen, Interim Director of the NI, has been awarded the 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship! 👏
Awarded annually to "trailblazing artists and scholars," Tim will be inducted into the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows on June 2.
Read more about his upcoming "exploration of exploration."
🌎 ⬇️
Awarded annually to "trailblazing artists and scholars," Tim will be inducted into the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows on June 2.
Read more about his upcoming "exploration of exploration."
🌎 ⬇️
CMU Neuroscientist Has Big Plans for Guggenheim Fellowship - Neuroscience Institute - Carnegie Mellon University
Timothy Verstynen has always been fascinated by how organisms explore their environments — from the human quest to map the surfaces of distant planets to the itty-bitty journeys of single-celled bacte...
www.cmu.edu
May 27, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Tim Verstynen, Interim Director of the NI, has been awarded the 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship! 👏
Awarded annually to "trailblazing artists and scholars," Tim will be inducted into the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows on June 2.
Read more about his upcoming "exploration of exploration."
🌎 ⬇️
Awarded annually to "trailblazing artists and scholars," Tim will be inducted into the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows on June 2.
Read more about his upcoming "exploration of exploration."
🌎 ⬇️
Reposted by Mark Nicholas
🚨New lab preprint alert!🚨
Grab a drink, sit down, and let me walk you through the moment-by-moment process of how information loops through basal ganglia circuits during a decision.
(Link at the end of the thread)
1/9
Grab a drink, sit down, and let me walk you through the moment-by-moment process of how information loops through basal ganglia circuits during a decision.
(Link at the end of the thread)
1/9
March 24, 2025 at 7:29 PM
🚨New lab preprint alert!🚨
Grab a drink, sit down, and let me walk you through the moment-by-moment process of how information loops through basal ganglia circuits during a decision.
(Link at the end of the thread)
1/9
Grab a drink, sit down, and let me walk you through the moment-by-moment process of how information loops through basal ganglia circuits during a decision.
(Link at the end of the thread)
1/9
Having learned from Carl both as an undergraduate and graduate student, I continually go back to my notes and the topics studied in his course to help me think about concepts in cognitive neuroscience.
Thank you, Carl
Thank you, Carl
Carl Olson, Professor of the Neuroscience Institute at CMU, died Nov. 23, 2024. Carl was a renowned neuroscientist who provided insights into fundamental issues in the neural basis of cognition. Read more about Carl's life and legacy in his published obituary. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
March 20, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Having learned from Carl both as an undergraduate and graduate student, I continually go back to my notes and the topics studied in his course to help me think about concepts in cognitive neuroscience.
Thank you, Carl
Thank you, Carl
Super proud of this work and as I finish up my #PhD studies I am actively looking for a #postdoc position.
I am interested in studying learning and value-based decision making and how cortical and subcortical areas contribute to complex behavior
tinyurl.com/LesionsOfM1
#neuroskyence
I am interested in studying learning and value-based decision making and how cortical and subcortical areas contribute to complex behavior
tinyurl.com/LesionsOfM1
#neuroskyence
In an effort to bring #neuroskyence to @bsky.app I wanted to share our recent paper in Neuron
tinyurl.com/LesionsOfM1
@markolas.bsky.social and I asked what forelimb M1 contributes to striatal and behavioral dynamics using joystick tasks and CFA lesions
@cmuscience.bsky.social @the-cnbc.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/LesionsOfM1
@markolas.bsky.social and I asked what forelimb M1 contributes to striatal and behavioral dynamics using joystick tasks and CFA lesions
@cmuscience.bsky.social @the-cnbc.bsky.social
Motor cortex is responsible for motoric dynamics in striatum and the execution of both skilled and unskilled actions
Nicholas and Yttri find that in the absence of motor cortex, the stratum alone is
not capable of producing goal-directed behavior. Lesions of motor cortex also produce
a freezing of gait-like behavior...
tinyurl.com
February 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Super proud of this work and as I finish up my #PhD studies I am actively looking for a #postdoc position.
I am interested in studying learning and value-based decision making and how cortical and subcortical areas contribute to complex behavior
tinyurl.com/LesionsOfM1
#neuroskyence
I am interested in studying learning and value-based decision making and how cortical and subcortical areas contribute to complex behavior
tinyurl.com/LesionsOfM1
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Mark Nicholas
It's a little surreal that this paper is finally out. My last paper from my PhD and likely my last mouse neuro publication ever!
Ft. @ahmarilab.bsky.social @piantadosisean.bsky.social
If you're into mouse behavior, optogenetics, and calcium imaging, here's this 🐀🔦🔬
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Ft. @ahmarilab.bsky.social @piantadosisean.bsky.social
If you're into mouse behavior, optogenetics, and calcium imaging, here's this 🐀🔦🔬
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Dissociable roles of central striatum and anterior lateral motor area in initiating and sustaining naturalistic behavior
Corbit et al. studied patterns of activity in corticostriatal circuits during naturally
occurring complex behavior in mice. In contrast to models in which cortex leads striatum,
these findings suggest...
www.cell.com
January 30, 2025 at 10:29 PM
It's a little surreal that this paper is finally out. My last paper from my PhD and likely my last mouse neuro publication ever!
Ft. @ahmarilab.bsky.social @piantadosisean.bsky.social
If you're into mouse behavior, optogenetics, and calcium imaging, here's this 🐀🔦🔬
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Ft. @ahmarilab.bsky.social @piantadosisean.bsky.social
If you're into mouse behavior, optogenetics, and calcium imaging, here's this 🐀🔦🔬
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Thanks to @antofala.bsky.social and @harsh-kanodia.bsky.social of @biozentrum.bsky.social for presenting at our journal club on some really cool SNr/brainstem activity during skilled reaching
#neuroskyence
#neuroskyence
December 17, 2024 at 5:21 PM
Thanks to @antofala.bsky.social and @harsh-kanodia.bsky.social of @biozentrum.bsky.social for presenting at our journal club on some really cool SNr/brainstem activity during skilled reaching
#neuroskyence
#neuroskyence