This paper changed my life
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Neuroscientists respond to a set of questions to reflect on a paper that profoundly influenced their career and how they think about their research.
This paper changed my life: Bradley Dickerson on how a 1940s fly neuroanatomy paper influences his research to this day
This classic paper by zoologist John Pringle describes the haltere—a small structure in flies that plays a crucial role in flight control. It taught me to think about circuits and behavior as greater than the sum of their parts.
This paper changed my life: Bradley Dickerson on how a 1940s fly neuroanatomy paper influences his research to this day
This classic paper by zoologist John Pringle describes the haltere—a small structure in flies that plays a crucial role in flight control. It taught me to think about circuits and behavior as greater than the sum of their parts.
This paper changed my life: Marino Pagan recalls a decision-making study from four titans in the field
Valerio Mante and David Sussillo, along with their mentors Krishna Shenoy and Bill Newsome, revealed the complexity of neural population dynamics and the power of recurrent neural networks.
This paper changed my life: Marino Pagan recalls a decision-making study from four titans in the field
Valerio Mante and David Sussillo, along with their mentors Krishna Shenoy and Bill Newsome, revealed the complexity of neural population dynamics and the power of recurrent neural networks.
This paper changed my life: Shane Liddelow on two papers that upended astrocyte research
A game-changing cell culture method developed in Ben Barres’ lab completely transformed the way we study astrocytes and helped me build a career studying their reactive substates.
This paper changed my life: Shane Liddelow on two papers that upended astrocyte research
A game-changing cell culture method developed in Ben Barres’ lab completely transformed the way we study astrocytes and helped me build a career studying their reactive substates.
This paper changed my life: Stephanie Palmer on the ties between human speech and birdsong—and her ‘informal life coach’
A groundbreaking review by Allison Doupe, who was Palmer’s mentor, and Patricia Kuhl helped shape the field’s understanding of the neural and evolutionary dynamics of speech.
This paper changed my life: Stephanie Palmer on the ties between human speech and birdsong—and her ‘informal life coach’
A groundbreaking review by Allison Doupe, who was Palmer’s mentor, and Patricia Kuhl helped shape the field’s understanding of the neural and evolutionary dynamics of speech.
This paper changed my life: Bill Newsome reflects on a quadrilogy of classic visual perception studies
The 1970s papers from Goldberg and Wurtz made ambitious mechanistic studies of higher brain functions seem feasible.
This paper changed my life: Bill Newsome reflects on a quadrilogy of classic visual perception studies
The 1970s papers from Goldberg and Wurtz made ambitious mechanistic studies of higher brain functions seem feasible.
This paper changed my life: ‘A massively parallel architecture for a self-organizing neural pattern recognition machine,’ by Carpenter and Grossberg
This paper taught me that we can use mathematical modeling to understand how neural networks are organized—and led me to a doctoral program in the department led by its authors.
This paper changed my life: ‘A massively parallel architecture for a self-organizing neural pattern recognition machine,’ by Carpenter and Grossberg
This paper taught me that we can use mathematical modeling to understand how neural networks are organized—and led me to a doctoral program in the department led by its authors.
This paper changed my life: ‘Histone demethylation mediated by the nuclear amine oxidase homolog LSD1,’ from the Shi Lab
This paper defined key rules of epigenomic regulation and shaped how I study chromatin plasticity as a mechanism for experience-dependent changes in the brain.
This paper changed my life: ‘Histone demethylation mediated by the nuclear amine oxidase homolog LSD1,’ from the Shi Lab
This paper defined key rules of epigenomic regulation and shaped how I study chromatin plasticity as a mechanism for experience-dependent changes in the brain.
This paper changed my life: ‘Spontaneous cortical activity reveals hallmarks of an optimal internal model of the environment,’ from the Fiser Lab
Fiser’s work taught me how to think about grounding computational models in biologically plausible implementations.
This paper changed my life: ‘Spontaneous cortical activity reveals hallmarks of an optimal internal model of the environment,’ from the Fiser Lab
Fiser’s work taught me how to think about grounding computational models in biologically plausible implementations.
This paper changed my life: ‘Response of hippocampal synapses to natural stimulation patterns,’ by Dobrunz and Stevens
The work demonstrated how to effectively combine controlled in-vitro experiments and the messiness of natural brain patterns.
This paper changed my life: ‘Response of hippocampal synapses to natural stimulation patterns,’ by Dobrunz and Stevens
The work demonstrated how to effectively combine controlled in-vitro experiments and the messiness of natural brain patterns.
This paper changed my life: ‘Selective erasure of a fear memory’ from the Josselyn Lab
This groundbreaking 2009 paper set a foundation for the types of memories researchers could manipulate and inspired my own approach to science.
This paper changed my life: ‘Selective erasure of a fear memory’ from the Josselyn Lab
This groundbreaking 2009 paper set a foundation for the types of memories researchers could manipulate and inspired my own approach to science.
Explore more from The Transmitter
INSAR takes ‘intentional break’ from annual summer webinar series
The International Society for Autism Research cited a need to “thoughtfully reimagine” its popular online program before resuming it in 2026.
INSAR takes ‘intentional break’ from annual summer webinar series
The International Society for Autism Research cited a need to “thoughtfully reimagine” its popular online program before resuming it in 2026.
Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order
Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.
Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order
Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.
How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)
Shane Liddelow and his collaborators identified the factors that transform astrocytes from their helpful to harmful form. Their work is a great choice if you want to teach students about glial cell types, cell culture, gene expression or protein measurement.
How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)
Shane Liddelow and his collaborators identified the factors that transform astrocytes from their helpful to harmful form. Their work is a great choice if you want to teach students about glial cell types, cell culture, gene expression or protein measurement.