Michael Goard
Associate Professor of Neuroscience at UC Santa Barbara. I study neural circuits underlying sensation, decision making, and spatial navigation.
- Reposted by Michael GoardWhen a brain researcher solved a logistical problem by going rogue, the idea proved remarkably infectious. By @lyrebard.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
- Reposted by Michael GoardI’m very happy to share the latest from my lab published in @Nature Hippocampal neurons that initially encode reward shift their tuning over the course of days to precede or predict reward. Full text here: rdcu.be/eY5nh
- Reposted by Michael Goard📣 Our lab is hiring a full-time RA/lab manager! Join us in beautiful Santa Barbara to study the neural bases of affect-cognition interactions using fMRI and brain stimulation. Great stepping stone to a PhD in cognitive/affective neuro 🧠🐬🏖️ Apply by Jan 22: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF03048
- Researchers using microprisms: I am planning to place a custom order from FST for 1.5 mm wide diamond knives with a 30 deg point (similiar to finescience.com/en-US/diamon... but with a 1.5mm wide blade), but there is a minimum lot number. Anyone else interested in purchasing one? Let me know!
- (this size microknife is very useful for making incisions prior to implanting larger prisms - 1mm or larger)
- Reposted by Michael GoardWhat is the computational role of dendritic excitations? Byung Hun Lee and team mapped voltage dynamics throughout the dendritic trees of CA1 pyramidal neurons in mice navigating in virtual reality. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Michael GoardWant to track the dynamics of estrogen in the brain across long periods of time? New paper as part of very fun collab with team UCLA Ed Van Veen and Steph Correa! We use a specialized optical reporter and show that this is possible and actually very easy! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Michael GoardOur lab is hoping to hire a long-term lab manager / research associate to help with admin tasks and neuroscience experiments (3-year minimum commitment). bilh.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...
- Reposted by Michael GoardExcited to share my first PhD preprint! “How human aging disrupts the head direction network: evidence from VR experiments and mechanistic models” We investigated why our sense of direction becomes less stable as we age. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/ thread 🧵
- Reposted by Michael GoardHearing a rumor that NIH/HHS may now plan to retaliate against other Bethesda Declaration signers. I am one, but it’s not about me: we have been speaking out because of the ongoing damage to US medical research, cancer and Alzheimer’s research. As @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put well: 1/
- Reposted by Michael GoardThrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #blueprint 1/7
- Reposted by Michael GoardSix of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S. Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world. www.nobelprize.org
- Reposted by Michael GoardExciting news: #UCSB physicists John Martinis and Michel Devoret have been awarded the 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics. They were lauded for work that, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, "revealed quantum physics in action." Full story: ow.ly/TH7K50X7ULp
- Reposted by Michael GoardWith the power of the people behind it, the California legislature just passed the Menopause Care Equity Act. This is history in the making—finally addressing a health gap that touches millions of women. Now, it’s down to one signature. @governor.ca.gov, the pen is in your hand. 🖊️
- Reposted by Michael Goard🧠✨ Women in Neuroscience History: The Pioneers Who Changed Everything Incredible stories of 11 women who revolutionized brain science, often against impossible odds. Meet trailblazers of sleep research, memory science, neuroplasticity, and neurosurgery — from Maria Manasseina to May-Britt Moser 🧠
- Reposted by Michael GoardThrilled to share that our work is now published in Science! ✨ We found a preference for visual objects in the mouse spatial navigation system where they dynamically refine head-direction coding. In short, objects boost our inner compass! 🧭 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧵1/
- Reposted by Michael GoardFollowing up: searching for the distribution of estrogen receptors in the brain, I realized the Allen Brain Atlas is male only. How is it possible that something this fundamental is still missing?
- Reposted by Michael GoardI still get chills Meet Mike *30+ years severe depression *first hospitalized @ 13y *20 meds *3 rounds of ECT *2 near-fatal suicide attempts Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE see videos, read paper, follow thread doi.org/10.31234/osf...
- Reposted by Michael GoardOur latest profile just dropped! Dr. Emily Jacobs (@emilyjacobs.bsky.social) studies how hormonal fluctuations influence the brain. Follow the link below to listen to the full interview! www.storiesofwin.org/profiles/202... #WomenInNeuroscience #StoriesOfWiN
- Reposted by Michael GoardExcited to announce that my lab has moved to UC Berkeley Dept of Neuroscience and Dept of Statistics! I will be continuing to collaborate with colleagues and students in TX at UT Austin and Baylor College of Medicine, and will start new collabs in the Bay. Will be taking new grad students this fall!
- Reposted by Michael GoardI’m excited to share my final co-first author paper from my postdoc in Dan Dombeck's lab! We explored how behavior, senses, and neurons influence how much information in the brain changes over time. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #science #research #neuroscience #hippocampus #placecells
- Took a break from worrying about funding to do some climbing in Squamish! (Elowen’s first multi-pitch)
- Reposted by Michael GoardA new study led by @timothysit.bsky.social reveals that different layers of mouse V1 integrate visual and non-visual signals differently. Activity is dominated by vision (or spontaneous fluctuations) in L2/3 and by movement in L5. This leads to different geometries. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Michael GoardCan your AI beat a mouse? Mice still outperform our best computing machines in some ways. One way is robust visual processing. 10 years ago I decided to work on HARD behavior driven by COMPLEX visual processing. And that risk is paying off now. #neuroAI 1/n
- Reposted by Michael GoardThe FY26 budget will devastate our innovation driven economy. A summary in 3 parts... Part 1 - The White House vision for dismantling science, as described in one simple plot, means slashing budgets of NIH, NASA, NSF & going back 25 years (or more). joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/the-white-...
- Very 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 Michael GoardRiddle: When is an "optical invariant" is not so invariant? How can you get a larger field-of-view for free? No change in resolution or scan speed. No more stitching needed! For #MicroscopyMonday here's a new preprint to check out. 1/9
- Reposted by Michael GoardNow out in @natcomms.nature.com: Mice and monkeys spontaneously shift through comparable cognitive states - and it's written all over their faces! (1/7) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Michael GoardThere are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
- Reposted by Michael GoardWe’re international students at Harvard. We’re afraid to write this. But we have to speak up. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
- Huge congrats, Will! Can't wait to see the work from your lab!
- Reposted by Michael GoardOnline now:
- 🚨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 🧠🧪🧵:
- 1/8: Building on classic work (e.g., Woolley et al., J Neurosci, 1990), we used longitudinal two-photon imaging across the estrous cycle in transgenic mice in order to measure spine morphology, dendritic integration, and population activity in CA1 neurons.
- 2/8: Using implanted microperiscopes, we were able to track individual apical dendrite segments across multiple estrous cycles. We found a pronounced increase in spine density during proestrus (high estradiol stage) followed by a rapid decline during estrus (low estradiol stage).
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View full threadAnd a huge congrats to bluesky-less lead author and soon-to-be PhD Nora Wolcott. Nora was the driving force behind this project, and it couldn’t have happened without her. She’s moving to Harvard soon to start her postdoc with Bob Datta, can’t wait to see what she does next!
- Reposted by Michael GoardJoin us in beautiful Santa Barbara! We're hiring a full-time junior specialist/research technician to play a central role in data collection & analysis of brain imaging studies of pregnancy & menopause. Learn more & apply at: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02974 Or help us spread the word 💫
- Reposted by Michael Goard🚨New paper from the Epp and Sargin Labs!🚨 We identified early sex- and region-specific impairments to parvalbumin interneurons (PV-INs) during Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) pathogenesis www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Simplified highlights below: 🧵/15
- Reposted by Michael Goard🚨new paper alert Blind mice use stereo olfaction, comparing smells between nostrils, to maintain a stable sense of direction. Blocking this ability disrupts their internal compass. Kudos to @kasumbisa.bsky.social! Another cool chapter of the Trenholm-Peyrache collab😉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Michael GoardPublished an op-ed for @cnn.com: “Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger.” A personal reflection on what’s at stake as science funding gets slashed. I’d be grateful if you could amplify both in and beyond the science world. www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...
- Reposted by Michael GoardOur latest study identifies a specific cell type and receptor essential for psilocybin’s long-lasting neural and behavioral effects 🍄🔬🧠🧪 Led by Ling-Xiao Shao and @ItsClaraLiao Funded by @NIH @NIMHgov 📄 Read in @nature.com - www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/12
- Reposted by Michael GoardCheck out our new paper, that reveals both the striking generality of cortical circuit organization, but also what we think are key differences in the scales of local excitatory and inhibitory networks across cortical areas. www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
- Reposted by Michael Goard
- Reposted by Michael Goard“[T]his is a moment to speak publicly about why universities matter. They promote public health, economic growth and national security. They are the largest employers in some regions. They are an unmatched, if imperfect, engine of upward mobility that can alter the trajectory of entire families.”
- Strong column from @nytimes.com editorial board. “The people who are attacking higher education are talking nonstop,” said Holden Thorp. “And the people leading higher education are not saying very much.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/o...
- New "version of record" of our article on the effect of robust within-module grid cell variability on spatial coding in @elife.bsky.social. Check out @wtredman.bsky.social's explainer thread below:
- Excited to have our paper “Robust variability of grid cell properties within individual grid modules enhances encoding of local space” out in @elife.bsky.social! Fun collab with co-first author @s-acosta.bsky.social, Xue-Xin Wei, & @michaelgoard.bsky.social elifesciences.org/articles/100... 1/
- Reposted by Michael Goard1/12 How do animals build an internal map? In our new paper, we tracked thousands of mouse CA1 neurons over days/weeks as they learned a VR navigation task. @nspruston.bsky.social & co-1st author @johanwinn.bsky.social Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw_4... Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Michael GoardNeuropixels and Optogenetics are delighted to announce the birth of Neuropixels Opto Combining high-resolution electrophysiology and optogenetics Today in bioRxiv 960 sites, 28 emitters, 2 colors By Lakunina, @karolinazsocha.bsky.social, Ladd, et al www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/2)
- Reposted by Michael GoardNew preprint from the lab: Disrupted spatial and contextual memory encoding in the hippocampus of 5xFAD mice precedes cognitive impairment. Yimei Li, Mary Ann Go, Hualong Zhang, Simon Schultz. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Michael GoardPerfect periodicity in grid cells would make decoding locations degenerate in large spaces. Slight distortions in grid patterns, as observed in vivo, solve this problem, enabling precise spatial navigation. Final version of the manuscript is now available 👇 elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
- Early morning panel on Spatial Perception, Memory, and Navigation today @ 7:30am in the Pyramid Peak room! #wcbr
- Reposted by Michael GoardThe antidote for despair is action ❤️ * Dial (202) 224-3121 * Enter zip code * Leave voicemail * Say “My name is ___, I’m a constituent in [town]. (If clinician/scientist, say so) “The NIH freeze harms research and patients and must be lifted immediately.” Be brief. Staffers tally all calls. Go! ✅
- Reposted by Michael GoardWikipedia is one of the last major bastions of verified information. Which, of course, is why the oligarchs want to destroy it. You can donate to them here. donate.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...
- Reposted by Michael GoardAttention! Zong lab is recruiting!! Two Ph.D and postdoc positions in neuroscience 🧠 are available!! Apply if you are strongly interested in applying cutting-edge @TheMini2P 🔬 for frontier systems neuroscience studies!!!! www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
- The opportunity: Spend 3-4 years in the @weijianzong.bsky.social working side by side with Nobel Laureates & other brilliant professionals in the international research environment at Kavli, located in the heart of beautiful Trondheim.
- Reposted by Michael GoardHappy head direction cell day y’all! On this day, 41 years ago, Jim Ranck recorded the first “HD cell” in his Brooklyn lab in 1984. Jim shared the news with the world at SFN that year, showing a video of the cell’s firing on a TV he somehow acquired and brought to his poster… (1/3)
- Proud papa moment: Elowen finished her first year of bouldering competition with 2nd place in the Region (Southern California, Nevada, Utah, and Hawaii). So cool to see her improvement over the last year!
- Shaky cam video of a tough send that helped her clinch a spot on the podium:
- ...and thanks to her coaches at the Santa Barbara Rock Gym!
- Reposted by Michael GoardHello BlueSky. One of our cofounders, Linde Jacobs, is profiled in The New York Times today. It’s a moving snapshot of what an FTD family goes through. Help us fight for therapies that can cure dementia for under 60s. #ftd #aftd #dementia #tau #alzheimers #mapt www.nytimes.com/2024/12/22/h...
- Reposted by Michael GoardBuilding egocentric models of local space from retinal input www.cell.com/current-biol... #neuroscience
- Very interesting thread, though sadly an excellent example of Brandolini’s law
- Reposted by Michael Goard[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Michael GoardWhat an honor to join the White House Conference on Women’s Health Research and celebrate the incredible gains made over the past year. I am ever optimistic that progress will continue to accelerate at break-neck speed & across sectors.
- Reposted by Michael GoardOne year ago, we launched the Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative and what a year it’s been! From groundbreaking research to building a community of motivated and brilliant people, we’re proud to champion women’s brain health for generations to come.
- Reposted by Michael GoardI'm pleased to announce that the Version of Record of our eLife paper, "Pan-cortical 2-photon mesoscopic imaging and neurobehavioral alignment in awake, behaving mice" (Vickers and McCormick, 2024) is now available at: elifesciences.org/articles/94167 (94167.3, VOR).
- Reposted by Michael Goard🚨New(ish) preprint In mice, visual objects are encoded in the navigation syst, not much in the visual cx, certainly because they are used for orientation. This new version now includes cool comp work from @dlevenstein.bsky.social using @kenmiller.bsky.social's SSNs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
