Datta Lab
Neuroscientist @Harvard asking how sensation and action are entwined to facilitate cognition. Natural behavior, circuits for scents and movement, curiosity, biological and artificial intelligence
- Reposted by Datta LabNew preprint from our group (collaboration with @sueyeonchung.bsky.social) showing that discriminating odor components within a complex mixture is constrained by neural sensitivity rather than background interference - likely due to sparse representations at the front end.
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- Reposted by Datta Lab🚨Our preprint is online!🚨 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... How do #dopamine neurons perform the key calculations in reinforcement #learning? Read on to find out more! 🧵
- Reposted by Datta LabIf you’re interested in ants, olfaction, gene regulation, or all of the above, here’s a new preprint from the lab for you. It describes an unorthodox mechanism of transcriptional interference by which ant olfactory sensory neurons produce a single functional receptor. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Datta LabMore new science from the lab! Led by @nathancsharris.bsky.social (now at GA State) and PD Priya Dutta. We describe how experience tunes the ratios of functional receptors in a single sensory neuron via coordinating transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms to drive response plasticity.
- Experience-dependent reconfiguration of receptors at a sensory compartment regulates neuronal plasticity biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
- Reposted by Datta LabVery happy about my former mentor Sara Solla having received the Valentin Braitenberg Award for her lifelong contributions to computational neuroscience! Sara will be giving a lecture at the upcoming @bernsteinneuro.bsky.social meeting which you shouldn't miss. bernstein-network.de/en/newsroom/...
- Reposted by Datta LabSome parts of the Drosophila olfactory circuit have evolved more than others, according to a new comparison of two fruit fly species’ connectomes. By @martajhill.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/connectome/c...
- Reposted by Datta LabWell, none of us may ever get funded again but in the meantime, here's some new science! Led by recent PhD Anjali Pandey w/ex-UG Maya Katz. Here we identify an asymmetric molecular mechanism that underlies symmetric context-dependent sensory plasticity in the AWC olfactory neuron pair in C. elegans
- A lateralized sensory signaling pathway mediates context-dependent olfactory plasticity in C. elegans biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
- Reposted by Datta LabOk, reinforcement learning fans: RL is great, but what do we do when there's no obvious reward from the environment? What about perfecting a golf swing or a foxtrot or a musical performance? We may have an answer. A tale of 🐦 🎶 + 🧠. 🧵1/ #bioacoustics #prattle 💬 #neuroai #compneuro
- I am happy to share our new preprint! In this work, we proposed a theory about how zebra finches bootstrap their error signals for self-guided RL via predictive coding 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Datta LabVery cool new paper by @thegulab.bsky.social published in Cell, showing that arterial endothelial coupling via gap junctions determines the speed and spread of vasodilation induced by neuronal activity ! #cerebrovascular #bloodflow #endothelium
- Reposted by Datta Lab1/ Mapping synaptic connectivity between individual neurons is extremely laborious. We developed BRISC, a new method that makes it possible to map inputs onto 100s of neurons in the same animal in a matter of weeks! Led by Alex Becalick and @antblot.bsky.social. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Datta LabThis research has widespread implications for treatments of chronic pain, autistic hypersensitivity, sexual dysfunction, and other ailments. @harvardmed.bsky.social news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
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- Reposted by Datta LabFinally out! 🥳 Our paper showing how a transposable element (TE) insertion can cause developmental phenotypes is now published @natgenet.nature.com 🧬🦠🐁 Below is a brief description of the major findings. Check the full version of the paper for more details: www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02248-5
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- Reposted by Datta LabJust noticed that Stavros has put out another 'solid' paper last month. 🔥 Impressive given what he has to deal with these days. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Datta LabYour brain doesn’t just passively track time ⏳ - it structures it. In @Science.org we show that activity in 🧠 memory circuits (LEC) drifts constantly, but makes sharp jumps at key moments, segmenting life into meaningful events. (1/2) 👉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Datta LabVery happy to see a Transmitter (@thetransmitter.bsky.social) piece on our recent work on estrous cycle modulation of hippocampal structure and function. Thanks to Sydney Wyatt (@sydneywyatt.bsky.social) for covering the work and its context: www.thetransmitter.org/neuroendocri...
- Reposted by Datta LabAnimals’ sniffing drives rhythmic input to the olfactory system. How does this timing contribute to perception, especially beyond first steps of olfactory processing? We tested this using simple closed-loop optogenetics in our new paper: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
- Reposted by Datta LabMy latest Aronov lab paper is now published @Nature! When a chickadee looks at a distant location, the same place cells activate as if it were actually there 👁️ The hippocampus encodes where the bird is looking, AND what it expects to see next -- enabling spatial reasoning from afar bit.ly/3HvWSum
- Reposted by Datta LabHow do brain circuits evolve? We started looking for some answers by using synapse-resolution cross-species comparative connectomics on an entire olfactory circuit 👇 bit.ly/44aVm9E
- Reposted by Datta LabExcited to share our Science paper on HaloDA1.0-the first genetically encoded far-red dopamine sensor! 🥳It enables powerful multiplex imaging in neurons, brain slices, and live animals.🧠🔬 #GRABsensors #Dopamine www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Datta Lab1/ I'm excited to share recent results from my first collaboration with the amazing @anayebi.bsky.social and @leokoz8.bsky.social ! We show how autonomous behavior and whole-brain dynamics emerge in embodied agents with intrinsic motivation driven by world models.
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- Reposted by Datta 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
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- Reposted by Datta LabImpressive study in @nature from my colleague Marcus Stephenson-Jones at UCL in the @sainsburywellcome.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Datta LabSharing a new paper from the lab. This paper, led by Sangyoon Ko, represents a merging of two longstanding research themes in the lab-- adult neurogenesis and systems consolidation. rdcu.be/el18q A short thread follows for those interested. 1/n
- Reposted by Datta Lab🚨Very excited to share a new paper from our lab in Neuron (@cp-neuron.bsky.social) on the influence of the estrous cycle on structural and functional plasticity in the hippocampus: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Thread below 🧠🧪🧵:
- Maps are everywhere in the brain...and finally we've discovered one in the nose! Led by @davidhbrann.bsky.social, we uncovered the logic that specifies the positions of each of the 1,000 sensory neuron subtypes in the nose and aligns their projections to the brain.👇👃see more details below👃👇
- Current models suggest each olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) randomly chooses 1 out of 1000 olfactory receptors (OR) to express, and that ORs are scattered across large regions of the nose. But the nose has a complicated (but beautiful) 3D organization, so its hard to know if there is a receptor map
- Reposted by Datta LabEach worm lab selects a 2-3 letter allele designation. I was coming to Brandeis so I picked 'oy'. I finally have a worm colleague in my Dept - Josh Meisel - who is fabulous btw. I just convinced him to pick 'vey'. Now we need to make a double mutant. (Yes - I am very pleased with myself).
- Reposted by Datta LabThe feeling of a hug comes from the pressure and vibration of millions of nerve endings.
- Reposted by Datta LabCalling all science advocates!! Carlos Brody+ are creating a searchable database of tangible science benefits, and they need you. publicusaresearchbenefits.com They are asking for suggestions - from brief to lengthy. The database is state-searchable, so all 50 states. Please spread the word!
- Reposted by Datta Lab#preprint: We mapped the structure and function of olfactory bulb circuits with in vivo 2-photon microscopy and synchrotron #Xray holographic nanotomography. doi.org/10.1101/2025... @yuxinzhang.bsky.social @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social @apacureanu.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk @esrf.fr
- Reposted by Datta LabAn example of what we in the NIH Intramural program can accomplish. Excited to share our latest paper in close collaboration with Nick Ryba's group. We examined how inflammation transforms representation in somatosensory neurons to cause pain. Lots of surprises here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Datta Lab🦇👂🧠Our first bat paper is out! 🧠👂🦇 How do bats tell navigation from social calls? Led by the fearless Dr. Jenni Lawlor, we used 2P imaging to show that the auditory midbrain encodes categorical primitives. Check it out @natneuro.nature.com: rdcu.be/ehEgz
- Reposted by Datta LabWith Butovsky Lab, we show that silencing TIM-3 in brain-resident immune cells prevents neurodegeneration in a mouse model of #Alzheimer’s disease. Deletion of TIM-3 in microglia enhance phagocytic clearance of toxic amyloid beta. #Immunosky🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Datta LabNew preprint ✍️🚨 ✨Ontogeny of tactile, vocal and kinship dynamics in rat pup huddling -Huddle dynamics develop w/o kinship selectivity -Vocal/internal-state quiets w/ huddling & kin/ touch in yng pups tinyurl.com/y7vhkwjc 👏 @flor-bela.bsky.social @hughtakemoto.bsky.social @kinshiplab.bsky.social
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- Reposted by Datta LabNew preprint out! We developed a behavioural platform for the kinematic analysis of skilled whole body behaviour. Very fun collaboration with Christopher Black, @liamebrowne.bsky.social and Rob Brownstone.
- Ethologically relevant behavioural assay for investigating reach and grasp kinematics during whole-body motor control in mice biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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- Reposted by Datta LabMy BFFL Marco Gallio, @mlcapek.bsky.social, and colleagues just dropped an absolute banger of a paper in @nature.com! The Evanston flylords reveal the molecular and neuronal basis of thermal niche adaptation in drosophilid flies. A must-read! 🔥🔥 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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- Reposted by Datta LabNew 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 Datta LabA two-and-a-half-year-old girl shows no signs of a rare genetic disorder, after becoming the first person to be treated for the motor-neuron condition while in the womb. go.nature.com/41a7Zzj
- Reposted by Datta Lab1/ Our paper appeared in @Nature today! www.nature.com/articles/s41... w/ Fiete Lab and @khonamikail.bsky.social . Explains emergence of multiple grid cell modules, w/ excellent match to data! Novel mechanism for applying across vast systems from development to ecosystems. 🧵👇
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