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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 8h

New PhD program: the Max Planck Artificial Intelligence Network is.mpg.de/news/new-max...

New Max Planck Artificial Intelligence Network Starts Call for Applications for its Ph.D. Program

The Max Planck Artificial Intelligence Network is a Ph.D. Program that provides doctoral researchers with fully funded Ph.D. fellowships and a pool of outstanding faculty comprising directors and inde...

is.mpg.de

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

Will try to be there!!

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

Thanks Silivia! Yes we added a second batch of data since the Laterality conference and roughly doubled the sample size

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

Thanks Cedric! Yes it was among genes identified in GWAS studies of human brain asymmetry that we found most evidence for asymmetrical expression in the mouse brain - more than among genes from the larger Xenium mouse brain standard panel. Encouraging!

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

Many congratulations to first authors Dannielle Houwing and @meng-yun.bsky.social and thanks to @maxplanck.de @mpi-nl.bsky.social @dondersinst.bsky.social @profsimonfisher.bsky.social @grandjeanlab.bsky.social and others not on bluesky !! 7/7

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

It looks like mice can be useful for understanding some aspects of human brain asymmetry, although differences of gene expression between hemispheres were small. Future studies of e.g. mouse genetic knockouts would need adequate sample sizes to overcome this 6/7

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

In mouse auditory cortex, various microtubule-associated genes showed evidence for subtle left-right differences. Again the human versions have been linked to brain asymmetry or handedness in previous large-scale studies www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 5/7

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

... corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 was differently expressed in the left and right mouse hippocampus, and also to an extent in auditory cortex. We previously found that the human version of this gene is associated with structural brain asymmetry www.nature.com/articles/s41... 4/7

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

... so we focused on these two brain structures in slices from 31 adult mouse brains using Xenium, a method to detect single mRNA molecules and place them in cellular context. We found that ... 3/7

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

In most humans, language and hand motor control are lateralized to the left hemisphere. Altered brain asymmetry can be found in some psychiatric conditions. Mice also have asymmetries of brain function, in the hippocampus and auditory cortex... 2/7

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · 27d

New @maxplanck.de study: We looked for left-right differences of gene expression and cell-type abundances in the brains of MICE 🐭using Xenium @10xgenomics.bsky.social. Possible clues to how functional brain asymmetry is supported !! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Short thread below ⬇️

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · Sep 9

𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻-𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
Spatially distributed and regionally unbound cellular resolution brain-wide processing loops in mice
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀?
Dynamical processing winding through most brain regions.
Looks like a must read.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence

Spatially distributed and regionally unbound cellular resolution brain-wide processing loops in mice

Until recently, it has been possible to examine activity in the brain globally through regional averaging or locally at cellular resolution. These studies characterized regions as functionally homogen...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Steve Smith @fmrib-steve.bsky.social · Aug 22

Latest processing of UK Biobank brain imaging data - now with 82,000 usable first-scan datasets. Correlating brain IDPs with 13,000 non-imaging variables gives a rich manhattan-stye plot. 324,000 Bonferroni-significant associations.

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Armin Raznahan @bogglerapture.bsky.social · Aug 18

Emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution academic.oup.com/cercor/artic...

The emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution

Abstract. Human evolution involved major anatomical transformations, including a rapid increase in brain volume over the last 2 million years. Examination

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Zhiqiang Sha (X: @sha_zhiqiang) @zhiqiangsha.bsky.social · Aug 11

💥🧠🧬Finally out!! Our new paper on the overlapping genetic basis of brain structures and psychiatric disorders has been published in Nature Mental Health. The full list of shared genetic loci is also available online. Thank you so much, Aaron and all co-authors.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

The overlapping genetic architecture of psychiatric disorders and cortical brain structure - Nature Mental Health

This study highlights sex differences in major depressive disorder using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Findings suggest hormonal fluctuations influence onset, emphasizing the ne...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · Aug 4

Integrating and interpreting brain maps | doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

Imaging and recording technologies make it possible to map multiple biological features of the brain. How can these features be conceptually integrated into a coherent understanding of brain structure and function? ⤵️

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · Jul 24

Fascinating study suggests that left-right differences in the fly brain arise from asymmetrical twist of neurons www.biorxiv.org/node/4751792... Might also be true for human brains as we suggested here www.nature.com/articles/s41... after implicating microtubules in human structural brain asymmetry

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Cedric Boeckx @cedricboeckx.bsky.social · Jul 24

Terrific new preprint charting structural brain asymmetry across the human lifespan
By @aarona-b.bsky.social and collaborators 🧪🧠

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Charting structural brain asymmetry across the human lifespan

Lateralization is a fundamental principle of structural brain organization. In vivo imaging of brain asymmetry is essential for deciphering lateralized brain functions and their disruption in neurodev...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Megan Dennis @mydennis.bsky.social · Jul 21

Check out our latest work co-led by @dcsoto.bsky.social and @jmuribescr.bsky.social identifying hundreds of human duplicated gene families using the new T2T-CHM13 assembly, with a focus on those potentially contributing to brain evolution 🧪: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lTQtL7PXu...

authors.elsevier.com

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · Jul 4

Nobel prize winner loses Dutch nationality...

nltimes.nl

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Donders Institute @dondersinst.bsky.social · Jun 27

🎥🌍 Over 1,000 neuroscience talks now free on YouTube and published at @apertureohbm.bsky.social. 🧠 “Now anyone, anywhere can binge-watch brain science like a box set,” says @stephforkel.bsky.social:

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

@alfiewearn.bsky.social @sitek.bsky.social @sofievalk.bsky.social

Global access to brain science: OHBM launches channel with 1,000+ talks | Radboud University

What if you could journey back in time to hear world-leading neuroscientists present the ideas that shaped today's brain science? A new open-access initiative led by researchers from the Donders Insti...

www.ru.nl

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · Jun 23

Plus, we've begun to uncover how DNA variants contribute to connectivity of language circuits in the human brain, via largescale genomic analyses of resting-state functional neuroimaging data. Check out this @commsbio.nature.com paper by @jsamelink.bsky.social @clydefrancks.bsky.social & co. 🧬🧠🧪7/n

Imaging genetics of language network functional connectivity reveals links with language-related abilities, dyslexia and handedness - Communications Biology

Common and rare genetic variants, as well as polygenic scores of dyslexia and handedness are associated with the functional brain language network and hemispheric differences within this network, shed...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · Jun 25

Ending the thread with one last illustration of novel avenues opened up by genomics of language-/reading-related traits. In a recent Science Advances paper, @clydefrancks.bsky.social's lab identified associations of dyslexia-disposing DNA variants with various aspects of human brain structure. 🧬🧠8/8

Distinct impact modes of polygenic disposition to dyslexia in the adult brain

Genetic disposition to dyslexia is associated with brain structure in the general population.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Clyde Francks

Rósa S. Gísladóttir @rosagisladottir.bsky.social · Jun 18

I'm so excited to see this online now in TRENDS IN GENETICS: Advancing GWAS of Human Communication. I review latest developments in genetics of speech and language and highlight opportunities for research on genetics and evolution of human communication.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lHgMcQbJF...

authors.elsevier.com

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Clyde Francks @clydefrancks.bsky.social · Jun 10

Many congratulations to former member of my research group @zhiqiangsha.bsky.social , now setting up his own group in South Carolina! ⬇️

Zhiqiang Sha (X: @sha_zhiqiang) @zhiqiangsha.bsky.social · Jun 9

👇👇🧠🧬My new lab is hiring an imaging-genetics Postdoc, exploring how genetic factors (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics) and environmental factors (e.g., early life stress) influence brain development, psychopathology, and neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism). I am happy to take any questions.

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