Andrew Leifer (@[email protected])
@AndrewLeifer
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Investigating neural dynamics of worm behavior @Princeton. Assistant Professor of @PrincetonPhys & @PrincetonNeuro
Princeton, NJ
Joined December 2009
@NIH_CommonFund @Princeton Thank you @NIH & @NIH_CommonFund for this support and recognition. Most importantly thanks to the lab for their awesome work. And thanks to the twitter folk for their kind words of encouragement! Big congrats to @sd_kocher, @alaurenoconnell and the other awardees!
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Join me 2 ET June 11 for an @APSphysics webinar with Andrea Liu, Sidney Nagel and Chris Lynn about how scientists can speak up for the rights of scientists, the independence of our institutions and the rule of law. Register:
Science is built on public trust, federal funding, and academic freedom. All of these are currently being eroded, but what can we do? Join us for an online panel on "Being a Voice for Science" (June 11, 2-3pm ET). Info and registration:
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Science is built on public trust, federal funding, and academic freedom. All of these are currently being eroded, but what can we do? Join us for an online panel on "Being a Voice for Science" (June 11, 2-3pm ET). Info and registration:
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New op-ed in @Nature: The Trump administration's assault on freedoms and the rule of law is an existential threat to US science. We urge scientists to speak out in defense of freedoms, not just funding. With Andrea Liu @Penn and Sidney Nagel of @UChicago
nature.com
Nature - Curtailment of freedoms and disregard for the rule of law in the United States is destroying the ability of science to serve the nation’s, and the world’s, interests. Researchers can take...
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By mapping and manipulating nearly 140,000 neurons in the fruit fly brain, PNI's @MurthyLab, @AndrewLeifer, @SebastianSeung, and David Tank aim to uncover how the brain’s wiring diagram drives neural activity, thanks to a $1.2M Keck Foundation grant.
pni.princeton.edu
Team to build on the fruit fly’s newly mapped “connectome” and develop innovative tools for measuring and manipulating every neuron in real time
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This week’s BioE lunch and learn features Sophie Dvali from @AndrewLeifer’s lab on “Investigating Neural Signal Propagation in C.elegans”…
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Super excited to update that our (@AndrewLeifer @francescorandi @sandpkum @DvaliSophie ) TWISP story is now published in #Genetics
@GeneticsGSA #FunConn #TWISP : a transgenic worm for interrogating signal propagation in Caenorhabditis elegans.
academic.oup.com
Abstract. Genetically encoded optical indicators and actuators of neural activity allow for all-optical investigations of signaling in the nervous system.
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Full-disclosure: there are also two supplementary figures in addition to the single maintext figure.
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Congrats to authors Wayan Gauthey, Francesco Randi @francescorandi, Anuj Sharma @aksharma_118 and Sandeep Kumar @sandpkum.
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Immobilized worms exhibit stereotyped neural oscillations often called manifolds. We wondered: are they internally generated? Gauthey shows that bright light commonly used for imaging is sufficient to evoke the oscillations and that a known light-sensitive pathway contributes.
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New single-figure paper out @CurrentBiology : Light evokes stereotyped global brain dynamics in C. elegans by first author Wayan Gauthey. https://t.co/CKyICFW8nh
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fantastic, Andy!
Our signal propagation atlas of C. elegans is now out in @Nature! We measure the network’s response to optogenetic stimulation of each neuron in the head, one at a time-- over 23,000 neuron pairs. Congrats to @francescorandi @aksharma_118 & @DvaliSophie. https://t.co/DshzdEXz4P
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what a spectacular achievement: "... we systematically measure signal propagation in 23,433 pairs of neurons across the head of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by direct optogenetic activation and simultaneous whole-brain calcium imaging."
Our signal propagation atlas of C. elegans is now out in @Nature! We measure the network’s response to optogenetic stimulation of each neuron in the head, one at a time-- over 23,000 neuron pairs. Congrats to @francescorandi @aksharma_118 & @DvaliSophie. https://t.co/DshzdEXz4P
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The worm is a uniquely powerful playground to understand the interplay between a neural network’s structure, transcriptome and function and we are excited to help contribute a new piece, signal propagation, to the puzzle.
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Our measurements also provide an empirically grounded method of running simple simulations to predict the network’s response to arbitrary stimulation, in this interactive web app here: https://t.co/XqJOVsdpLG
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The signal propagation atlas itself is a resource for the C. elegans community to help make sense of individual circuits and behaviors. It can also be browsed interactively online and compared to the connectome here: https://t.co/nFltOvgh1H
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These findings may help inform our understanding of new connectomes coming online in flies and other organisms.
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We found several instances of wireless signaling, including on fast timescales: peptides released extrasynaptically travel across the milieu to bind other neurons. Extrasynaptic peptidergic signaling is not new, but we argue its role in neural dynamics may be underappreciated.
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We find some interesting surprises. Eg. a connectome-constrained model of neural dynamics often poorly predicts our measured responses, because: 1) the connectome is ill-suited to constrain all parameters needed for accurate prediction & 2) neurons also signal “wirelessly.”
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Our signal propagation atlas of C. elegans is now out in @Nature! We measure the network’s response to optogenetic stimulation of each neuron in the head, one at a time-- over 23,000 neuron pairs. Congrats to @francescorandi @aksharma_118 & @DvaliSophie. https://t.co/DshzdEXz4P
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