Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
@virati.bsky.social
Reverse Neuroengineer. Health AI ← Control Theory. Community Matters. vineet.tiruvadi.net
Research Fellow @harvardmed @bwh. Prev: @emorysom @gatech @hume_ai
Research Fellow @harvardmed @bwh. Prev: @emorysom @gatech @hume_ai
Some loose thoughts about control theoretic neuromodulation
virati.github.io/blog/posts/c...
virati.github.io/blog/posts/c...
Neuromodulation is Control Theoretic - Ramblings
What does that mean and imply? Neuromodulation is applied control theory - it always has been. Arguably, it always will be - the goal is to control a state or symptom of a patient in their context 1.
...
virati.github.io
November 13, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Some loose thoughts about control theoretic neuromodulation
virati.github.io/blog/posts/c...
virati.github.io/blog/posts/c...
Deep Brain Stimulation Has Always Been Closed-Loop
Avoiding inefficient and ineffective engineering
medium.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
How does the brain decide? 🧠
Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.
After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.
rdcu.be/eGUrv
Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.
After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.
rdcu.be/eGUrv
Transitions in dynamical regime and neural mode during perceptual decisions - Nature
Simultaneous recordings were made of hundreds of neurons in the rat frontal cortex and striatum, showing that decision commitment involves a rapid, coordinated transition in dynamical regime and neura...
www.nature.com
September 17, 2025 at 8:12 PM
How does the brain decide? 🧠
Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.
After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.
rdcu.be/eGUrv
Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.
After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.
rdcu.be/eGUrv
"if something doesn't tell you the answer, it doesn't tell you anything" spot the issue there.
September 8, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"if something doesn't tell you the answer, it doesn't tell you anything" spot the issue there.
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
The misleading manifold?
The current debate (decoding vs causal relevance)
and a toy example I gave in the thread below
got me thinking about a related issue: how decoding may reflect structure more than function.
🧵 1/5
The current debate (decoding vs causal relevance)
and a toy example I gave in the thread below
got me thinking about a related issue: how decoding may reflect structure more than function.
🧵 1/5
These, and other, studies show that you can decode task-related signals from many brain areas.
But wouldn't we need causal manipulations to conclude that the brain "uses" them?
For example, maybe we can decode equally well from two areas. But, only one impacts behaviour when inactivated.
But wouldn't we need causal manipulations to conclude that the brain "uses" them?
For example, maybe we can decode equally well from two areas. But, only one impacts behaviour when inactivated.
September 8, 2025 at 1:44 PM
The misleading manifold?
The current debate (decoding vs causal relevance)
and a toy example I gave in the thread below
got me thinking about a related issue: how decoding may reflect structure more than function.
🧵 1/5
The current debate (decoding vs causal relevance)
and a toy example I gave in the thread below
got me thinking about a related issue: how decoding may reflect structure more than function.
🧵 1/5
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
The real question is: what should children and students learn? Math, spelling, reading, and especially reasoning! The goal of education isn't to spit out as much text as possible.
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
September 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The real question is: what should children and students learn? Math, spelling, reading, and especially reasoning! The goal of education isn't to spit out as much text as possible.
The two main pillars of my research vision: Control Theory, and Reverse Engineering.
September 5, 2025 at 11:12 PM
The two main pillars of my research vision: Control Theory, and Reverse Engineering.
a doodle from dissertation #happylaborday
September 1, 2025 at 4:29 PM
a doodle from dissertation #happylaborday
A Healthy Academia is a Low Pass Filter. Not aspiring to track the hype on an hour-by-hour basis is kind of our job.
July 11, 2025 at 4:40 PM
A Healthy Academia is a Low Pass Filter. Not aspiring to track the hype on an hour-by-hour basis is kind of our job.
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!
May 23, 2025 at 5:56 PM
All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!
So, how are feeling about the NIH prioritizing human subjects research? www.nih.gov/news-events/...
NIH to prioritize human-based research technologies
New initiative aims to reduce use of animals in NIH-funded research.
www.nih.gov
April 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM
So, how are feeling about the NIH prioritizing human subjects research? www.nih.gov/news-events/...
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
I believe this (friendly piece) aligns with your question about the absurdity of reducing strong emotions & compulsions to happenings in the brain. Bonus: it captures a diversity of researcher perspectives about the best ways to think about it.
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
What, if anything, makes mood fundamentally different from memory?
To better understand mood disorders—and to develop more effective treatments—should we target the brain, the mind, the environment or all three?
www.thetransmitter.org
April 27, 2025 at 7:26 PM
I believe this (friendly piece) aligns with your question about the absurdity of reducing strong emotions & compulsions to happenings in the brain. Bonus: it captures a diversity of researcher perspectives about the best ways to think about it.
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
I'd put these on the NeuroAI vision board:
@tyrellturing.bsky.social's Deep learning framework
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@tonyzador.bsky.social's Next-gen AI through neuroAI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@adriendoerig.bsky.social's Neuroconnectionist framework
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@tyrellturing.bsky.social's Deep learning framework
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@tonyzador.bsky.social's Next-gen AI through neuroAI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@adriendoerig.bsky.social's Neuroconnectionist framework
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
April 28, 2025 at 11:15 PM
I'd put these on the NeuroAI vision board:
@tyrellturing.bsky.social's Deep learning framework
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@tonyzador.bsky.social's Next-gen AI through neuroAI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@adriendoerig.bsky.social's Neuroconnectionist framework
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@tyrellturing.bsky.social's Deep learning framework
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@tonyzador.bsky.social's Next-gen AI through neuroAI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@adriendoerig.bsky.social's Neuroconnectionist framework
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
Let it be known that I too will accept $2 billion in funding on the promise that I will not release anything until I have created God.
pivot-to-ai.com/2025/03/06/i...
pivot-to-ai.com/2025/03/06/i...
Ilya Sutskever, ex-OpenAI, gets $2b funding not to release anything until he has ‘super intelligence’
Ex-OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever’s new startup Safe Superintelligence just closed another funding round. For $2 billion, Sutskever promises not to release any product at all until SSI has develop…
pivot-to-ai.com
March 22, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Let it be known that I too will accept $2 billion in funding on the promise that I will not release anything until I have created God.
pivot-to-ai.com/2025/03/06/i...
pivot-to-ai.com/2025/03/06/i...
The main NeuroAI vision is anchored in the "big data" approach of LLM/NLP - even as it's becoming increasingly unclear whether LLM/NLP even works as anything but a language mimic.
Mimicry is not what neuroscience was every aiming for...
Mimicry is not what neuroscience was every aiming for...
April 28, 2025 at 10:19 PM
The main NeuroAI vision is anchored in the "big data" approach of LLM/NLP - even as it's becoming increasingly unclear whether LLM/NLP even works as anything but a language mimic.
Mimicry is not what neuroscience was every aiming for...
Mimicry is not what neuroscience was every aiming for...
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
been saying it for a while but anything about "Ai replacing employees" is a marketing exercise, and if I'm honest I lump in most AI safety conversations with it, because they never seem concerned with the actual harms. It's all so cynical.
I do wish it was better understood by now—especially by folks in the media—that these "warnings" from large AI corporations in fact function as "advertisements"
www.axios.com/2025/04/22/a...
www.axios.com/2025/04/22/a...
Exclusive: Anthropic warns fully AI employees are a year away
Managing those AI identities will require companies to completely reassess their cybersecurity strategies.
www.axios.com
April 22, 2025 at 5:27 PM
been saying it for a while but anything about "Ai replacing employees" is a marketing exercise, and if I'm honest I lump in most AI safety conversations with it, because they never seem concerned with the actual harms. It's all so cynical.
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
I’m hearing that some MOSAIC fellows are not only losing their grants (and for some in the postdoc phase their livelihoods), but also that their LRPs are now being cancelled. To have this population of scientists be targeted in such a manner should be unacceptable to everyone 😤
April 22, 2025 at 12:51 PM
I’m hearing that some MOSAIC fellows are not only losing their grants (and for some in the postdoc phase their livelihoods), but also that their LRPs are now being cancelled. To have this population of scientists be targeted in such a manner should be unacceptable to everyone 😤
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
My PhD student's NSF grant was terminated today. Her dissertation investigates why air pollution monitoring, metrics, and regulations don't properly capture the harms experienced by marginalized communities--esp in the most polluted Detroit neighborhoods. She and I are happy to talk with press etc.
NSF Award Search: Award # 2240343 - Constructing Credible Knowledge and Expertise in Air Pollution Regulation and Monitoring: The Problem of Quantification Lock
www.nsf.gov
April 21, 2025 at 8:41 PM
My PhD student's NSF grant was terminated today. Her dissertation investigates why air pollution monitoring, metrics, and regulations don't properly capture the harms experienced by marginalized communities--esp in the most polluted Detroit neighborhoods. She and I are happy to talk with press etc.
The brain is a massive tangle, so it's always welcome when we can simplify the challenge of understanding it.
One of the best steps to simplify: anchor in *patients* and *physician* dynamics.
One of the best steps to simplify: anchor in *patients* and *physician* dynamics.
April 21, 2025 at 7:34 PM
The brain is a massive tangle, so it's always welcome when we can simplify the challenge of understanding it.
One of the best steps to simplify: anchor in *patients* and *physician* dynamics.
One of the best steps to simplify: anchor in *patients* and *physician* dynamics.
How would you answer the question: "What do Physicians Do?"
April 18, 2025 at 7:51 PM
How would you answer the question: "What do Physicians Do?"
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
INCREDIBLE opinion by Wilkinson refusing to stay Judge Xinis's orders in the Abrego Garcia case, condemning DOJ's arguments as "shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
April 17, 2025 at 7:07 PM
INCREDIBLE opinion by Wilkinson refusing to stay Judge Xinis's orders in the Abrego Garcia case, condemning DOJ's arguments as "shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Vineet Tiruvadi, MD, PhD
How does the brain integrate information from new experiences while preserving established memories? Have a look at our latest preprint,
"Experience reorganizes content-specific memory traces in macaques" 🧵
🧪🧠🤖👩🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
"Experience reorganizes content-specific memory traces in macaques" 🧵
🧪🧠🤖👩🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Experience reorganizes content-specific memory traces in macaques
Memory formation requires neural activity reorganization during experience that persists in sleep. How these processes promote learning while preserving established memories remains unclear. We record...
www.biorxiv.org
April 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
How does the brain integrate information from new experiences while preserving established memories? Have a look at our latest preprint,
"Experience reorganizes content-specific memory traces in macaques" 🧵
🧪🧠🤖👩🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
"Experience reorganizes content-specific memory traces in macaques" 🧵
🧪🧠🤖👩🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I want to coin the term "meta-medicine" as an alternative to "healthcare economics" since the latter is so tightly linked to the US-specific implementation of healthcare.
April 12, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I want to coin the term "meta-medicine" as an alternative to "healthcare economics" since the latter is so tightly linked to the US-specific implementation of healthcare.
I love working with applied mathematicians.
April 12, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I love working with applied mathematicians.