Visor
VISoR
Learning static and dynamic mappings with local self-supervised plasticity
Animals exhibit remarkable learning capabilities with little direct supervision. Likewise, self-supervised learning is an emergent paradigm in artificial intelligence, closing the performance gap to supervised learning. In the context of biology, self-supervised learning corresponds to a setting where one sense or specific stimulus may serve as a supervisory signal for another. After learning, the latter can be used to predict the former. On the implementation level, it has been demonstrated that such predictive learning can occur at the single neuron level, in compartmentalized neurons that separate and associate information from different streams. We demonstrate the power such self-supervised learning over unsupervised (Hebb-like) learning rules, which depend heavily on stimulus statistics, in two examples: First, in the context of animal navigation where predictive learning can associate internal self-motion information always available to the animal with external visual landmark information, leading to accurate path-integration in the dark. We focus on the well-characterized fly head direction system and show that our setting learns a connectivity strikingly similar to the one reported in experiments. The mature network is a quasi-continuous attractor and reproduces key experiments in which optogenetic stimulation controls the internal representation of heading, and where the network remaps to integrate with different gains. Second, we show that incorporating global gating by reward prediction errors allows the same setting to learn conditioning at the neuronal level with mixed selectivity. At its core, conditioning entails associating a neural activity pattern induced by an unconditioned stimulus (US) with the pattern arising in response to a conditioned stimulus (CS). Solving the generic problem of pattern-to-pattern associations naturally leads to emergent cognitive phenomena like blocking, overshadowing, saliency effects, extinction, interstimulus interval effects etc. Surprisingly, we find that the same network offers a reductionist mechanism for causal inference by resolving the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy.
How evidence synthesis can boost in vivo credibility
As part of the BNA's ongoing Credibility in Neuroscience work, this series of three short webinars will provide neuroscience researchers working in an in vivo setting with tips on how to improve the credibility of their work. Each webinar will be hosted by Emily Sena, member of the BNA's Credibility Advisory Board, with the opportunity for questions.
Embracing variation to boost reproducibility
As part of the BNA's ongoing Credibility in Neuroscience work, this series of three short webinars will provide neuroscience researchers working in an in vivo setting with tips on how to improve the credibility of their work. Each webinar will be hosted by Emily Sena, member of the BNA's Credibility Advisory Board, with the opportunity for questions.
Improving reliability through design and reporting
As part of the BNA's ongoing Credibility in Neuroscience work, this series of three short webinars will provide neuroscience researchers working in an in vivo setting with tips on how to improve the credibility of their work. Each webinar will be hosted by Emily Sena, member of the BNA's Credibility Advisory Board, with the opportunity for questions.
NeurotechEU Summit
Our first NeurotechEU Summit will be fully digital and will take place on November 22th from 09:00 to 17:00 (CET). The final programme can be downloaded here. Hosted by the Karolinska Institutet, the summit will provide you an overview of our actions and achievements from the last year and introduce the priorities for the next year. You will also have the opportunity to attend the finals of the 3 minute thesis competition (3MT) organized by the Synapses Student Society, the student charter of NeurotechEU. Good luck to all the finalists: Lynn Le, Robin Noordhof, Adriana Gea González, Juan Carranza Valencia, Lea van Husen, Guoming (Tony) Man, Lilly Pitshaporn Leelaarporn, Cemre Su, Kaya Keleş, Ramazan Tarık Türksoy, Cristiana Tisca, Sara Bandiera, Irina Maria Vlad, Iulia Vadan, Borbála László, and David Papp! Don’t miss our keynote lecture, success stories and interactive discussions with Ms Vanessa Debiais Sainton (Head of Higher Education Unit, European Commission), Prof. Staffan Holmin (Karolinska Institutet), Dr Mohsen Kaboli (BMW Group, member of the NeurotechEU Associates Advisory Committee), and Prof. Peter Hagoort (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Donders Institute). Would you like to use this opportunity to network? Please join our informal breakout sessions on Wonder.me at 11:40 CET. You will be able to move from one discussion group to another within 3 sessions: NeurotechEU ecosystem - The Associates Advisory Committee: Synergies in cross-sectoral initiatives Education next: Trans-European education and the European Universities Initiatives - Lessons learned thus far. Equality, diversity and inclusion at NeurotechEU: removing access barriers to education and developing a working, learning, and social environment where everyone is respected and valued. You can register for this free event at www.crowdcast.io/e/neurotecheu-summit
Visualizing the multi-scale complexity of the brain
The brain is complex over multiple length-scales, from many protein molecules forming intricate nano-machines in a synapse to many neurons forming interconnected networks across the brain. Unraveling this multi-scale complexity is fundamental to our understanding of brain function and disease. In this lecture, I will introduce advances in visualizing the complex, multi-scale structures in the brain. Emphasis will be on new imaging techniques, including cryo electron tomography and correlative light-electron microscopy that enabled revealing in situ organization of synaptic molecules, and ultra-high speed volumetric imaging method VISoR developed to map brain-wide circuits at subcellular resolution. I will also discuss challenges and opportunities for interdisciplinary research collaboration to analyze and understand the enormous data generated by these cutting-edge technologies.
Ask SAC: Be Neurocurious with Our Mentors!
Through Ask SAC sessions we aim to bridge the gap between our Scientific Advisory Committe and our budding neuroscientists! After completing her Masters in Neuroscience from the University of Manchester, UK and a professional stint at Pfizer, Ritwika joined Reservoir to make a difference in neurology. She develops creative strategies to assist the neurodiverse community and facilitate better healt support functions. Join us, to ask her anything and everything related to a career in neuroscience!
ALBA Session : Bias in Indian STEM
ALBA is organizing a special event on ‘Bias in Indian STEM’ at the online conference NeuroFemIndia 2021. Prof Shubha Tole (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), ALBA Advisor, will be moderating and leading the discussion on biases in Indian STEM academia. The panel will discuss the main biases that women and minorities in India face as they navigate the academic system. This event is part of the NeuroFemIndia Online Conference 2021.
Growing up in Science
Have you ever wondered what your advisor struggled with as a graduate student? What they struggle with now? Growing up in science is a conversation series featuring personal narratives of becoming and being a scientist, with a focus on the unspoken challenges of a life in science. Growing up in Science was started in 2014 at New York University and is now worldwide. This article describes the origin and impact of the series. At a typical Growing up in Science event, one faculty member shares their life story, with a focus on struggles, failures, doubts, detours, and weaknesses. Common topics include dealing with expectations, impostor syndrome, procrastination, luck, rejection, conflicts with advisors, and work-life balance, life outside academia but these topics are always embedded in the speaker’s broader narrative. Cortex Club is hosting its first Growing up in science event! Join us on Friday the 31st July at 4pm for hearing the unofficial story of Dr André Marques-Smith, computational neuroscientist at CoMind (read his official and unofficial story at https://cortexclub.com/event/growing-up-in-science-oxford/). Details to join the talk will be circulated via the mailing list (to join our mailing list, follow the instructions at https://cortexclub.com/join-us/).