Alexandra Keinath
@atkeinath.bsky.social
180 followers 190 following 29 posts
Hip, hip, hippocampus! Neuroscientist studying our personal space. Assistant professor at UIC. Head of the Keinath Lab since ‘23. 🏳️‍⚧️ wedobrainstuff.com
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atkeinath.bsky.social
We'll be missing you too, David!
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
denisejcai.bsky.social
What’s better than a one-channel #Miniscope? 🥁 A TWO-CHANNEL Miniscope!

Our new Miniscope2C is a dual-channel, open-source Miniscope that lets you record 2 fluorescent signals simultaneously in freely moving animals.

Read the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

(1/10)
Screenshot of the top of the article, including the title, authors, and abstract.
atkeinath.bsky.social
6\. Really excited about these results and about how this approach can be used in the future! Lots more to do, but I think these comparisons of rep geometry across assays can really help us add more nuance to our understanding of similarities and differences between species (and other comparisons).
atkeinath.bsky.social
5\. Does the difference between these assays depend on the human visual advantage? In another cohort of participants, we demonstrate that masking the visual world with dense fog during retrieval does NOT impact representational geometry or cross-species resemblance. So it’s not just about vision!
atkeinath.bsky.social
4\. Does this depend on the scale of the environment? We repeated our experiment in a room double the size (5x5 vs. 10x10 m). Here, the local impact of deformations scaled up, in turn preserving the rep geometry and cross-species resemblance. So it's not just about scale (at least for the humans)!
atkeinath.bsky.social
3\. The geometry of human memory is similar but not the same as mouse CA1. Instead, it resembles a change-resistant version. CA1 subpopulations with higher firing rates, stability, and spatial specificity look more human-like. Low precision (but not low accuracy) memories look more mouse-like.
atkeinath.bsky.social
2\. We then compare the geometry of these reps to those of mouse CA1 recorded during analogous deformations, leveraging a dataset that @markbrandonlab.bsky.social‬, @jquinnlee.bsky.social‬, and I published recently. (Check out that work if you haven’t already! www.cell.com/neuron/fullt....
www.cell.com
atkeinath.bsky.social
1\. We use immersive VR to characterize the impact of a diverse deformations on human spatial memory. Across 3 experiments of 100+ participants each, we find that deformations induce compounding local distortions in memory.
atkeinath.bsky.social
Gotta make sure your results generalize to mascots! #uic
atkeinath.bsky.social
Super excited to share that one of our outstanding founding undergrad RAs @dahery.bsky.social will be headed to the Kempner postbac program at Harvard to work with @gershbrain.bsky.social after graduation! Congratulations David! You cannot be replaced, and I’m so proud and excited for you!
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
markbrandonlab.bsky.social
How good is your place cell model?

Come benchmark yours against real data - nearly 70K CA1 rate maps in various geometric shapes across weeks - collected and curated in my lab by the great @jquinnlee.bsky.social and @atkeinath.bsky.social
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
wired.com
WIRED @wired.com · Feb 2
If you’ve been wondering what Elon Musk and his lackeys are up to since taking control of the US government, look no further. Our latest story names six 19- to 24-year-olds working with his DOGE organization, which now has access to sensitive federal systems. wrd.cm/4jzpiSN
The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
wrd.cm
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
andyalexander.bsky.social
Shoutout to all the millennial junior faculty who finally got their dream jobs right as the scientific enterprise in the states is functionally dismantled.
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
marisakabas.bsky.social
i think an important thing for people outside the US to understand is that elon musk seized control of the government today and most americans don’t even realize it happened.
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
adamserwer.bsky.social
The campaign against trans rights is also about stripping away everyone’s protections against discrimination, reviving, as Douglass put it “the moral blindness” of those who “persuade themselves that they are safe, though the rights of others may be struck down.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Attack on Trans Rights Won’t End There
Once legal rights begin to fall, they fall for everyone.
www.theatlantic.com
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
hugospiers.bsky.social
🚨 new publication from our lab in @pnas.org !
"Expert navigators deploy rational complexity–based decision precaching for large-scale real-world planning"

Entropy of streets & successor representations explain planning speed

Colab wth Daniel McNamee at Champalimaud

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Map of london with the planned routes of 43 taxi drivers overlaid in yellow lines.
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
mjsdc.bsky.social
Trump is attempting to unilaterally freeze trillions of dollars in federal spending that’s been duly appropriated by Congress. This is completely insane and illegal. He’s seizing unlawful control over the constitutional spending power? Five alarm fire www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion
The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.
www.washingtonpost.com
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
RFkJr is a threat to human health: when the next pandemic hits we need disease tracking (CDC now silenced) and fast vaccine development (which he opposes). If you live in ME, NC, SD, LA, AK, ID, KY or SD call your senators to oppose his confirmation (hearing this Wed.).
(continued, please retweet):
Reposted by Alexandra Keinath
oceanfilly.bsky.social
This is a very scary time for early career scientists like people looking for/who are postdocs and new faculty trying to get funding. Any words of encouragement to share for people in this category?
atkeinath.bsky.social
Can’t wait Andy! Definitely stoked to catch up!
atkeinath.bsky.social
Tough week to be a trans neuroscientist with an immigrant spouse in the US…

… anyway, see y’all at Winter Brain!