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Christos Constantinidis

@cconstan.bsky.social

2.1K followers 1.1K following 150 posts

Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience. Neural basis of cognition, cognitive development, deep brain stimulation. https://lab.vanderbilt.edu/constantinidis-lab/home/

lab.vanderbilt.edu

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · Nov 14

Review article: Timescales of learning in prefrontal cortex

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Timescales of learning in prefrontal cortex - Nature Reviews Neuroscience

The prefrontal cortex is critical for working memory, over a timescale of seconds. In this Review, Miller and Constantinidis examine how the prefrontal cortex facilitates the integration of memory sys...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Christos Constantinidis

Neuroengineering @neuroengineering.bsky.social · 3d

Precision Neuroscience published their high-density ECoG in Nature Biomed. Eng.

The startup shows a 1,024-channel grid implanted through a cortical slit in pigs, and intraoperative neural recordings and stimulation in five humans at sub-mm resolution.

#neuroskyence @precisionneuro.bsky.social

Minimally invasive implantation of scalable high-density cortical microelectrode arrays for multimodal neural decoding and stimulation - Nature Biomedical Engineering

A 1,024-channel microelectrode array is delivered to the brain cortex via a minimally invasive incision in the skull and dura, and allows recording, stimulation and neural decoding across large portions of the brain in porcine models and human neurosurgical patients.

www.nature.com

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 7d

US government shutdown

loki giving a thumbs up and saying `` you had one job '' .

ALT: loki giving a thumbs up and saying `` you had one job '' .

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Christos Constantinidis

Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 11d

In reporting this piece on the new trial for a Huntington's treatment, I was struck by one thing in particular:

The joy.

One of my sources wept for joy. He has spent his entire career studying this disease, he said it was the happiest day. www.sciencenews.org/article/hunt...

Huntington's progression slowed by experimental gene therapy

An experimental gene therapy slowed Huntington’s by up to 75 percent in a small clinical trial. While not a cure, it may give patients longer lives.

www.sciencenews.org

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Reposted by Christos Constantinidis

hakwan lau @hakwan.bsky.social · Apr 20

is anyone working on cortical waves (traveling, rotational, etc) looking for a faculty position? we'll soon be hiring in Korea, at our center where multiple labs (ephys, optical imaging, human neuroimaging) are interested in collaborating w/ theoreticians

pls DM/email for informal inquiries

🧠📈 🧠💻

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 18d

Poorly conceived, vaguely worded, abruptly imposed. There is going to be a total mess in the landscape of H1 visa holders, including foreign postdocs and professors in the US.

Gergely Orosz @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com · 18d

Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.

One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 20d

Open positions in Vanderbilt BME!

Reposted by Christos Constantinidis

Michael Okun @michaelokun.bsky.social · 22d

Five year outcomes for Vercise deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson's disease are in, and they look very good. Specific features: independent control of each contact, rechargeable batteries, directional leads to steer current and MRI compatibility. @parkinsondotorg.bsky.social

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 28d

I wouldn't really call this good news, but better than the alternative of NIH not spending its appropriated budget

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 28d

Updated update

I downloaded the data from NIH Reporter too soon. The large end of the month update had not occurred.

Here are the results as of this morning.

NIH grants management staff have been busy making awards.

1/2

A graph of NIH funding to date showing a substantial increase in the rat of funding in the last month.

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

Feel free to use and disseminate NERV! (10/10)

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

Kyle is graduating this year. I expect great things from him! (9/10)

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

Code is available in Github: (8/10) github.com/kylecoutray/...

GitHub - kylecoutray/NERV: Neuro-Experimental Runtime for Vanderbilt [NERV]: A Unity-Based Framework for Rapid Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution

Neuro-Experimental Runtime for Vanderbilt [NERV]: A Unity-Based Framework for Rapid Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution - kylecoutray/NERV

github.com

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

We have already been using it in human and animal experiments! (7/10)

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

Benchmarking confirmed excellent real-time control of stimulus presentation and alignment with behavior. (6/10)

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

The development workflow is illustrated below (5/10)

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

Kyle put together a very impressive environment that allows rapid prototyping of tasks even for non-experienced programmers, while offering flexibility for those who want to customize task design more fully. (4/10)

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

A talented undergraduate student who spent the summer in my lab, Kyle Coutray (not in BlueSky), undertook the challenge to bring us to the 21st century. Behold Neuroscience Experimental Runtime by Vanderbilt (NERV) written in C# and using the Unity engine. (3/10)

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

Presenting stimuli and synchronizing task and behavioral events with neural activity has always been a challenge. We have been using a MATLAB based software for quite a while, but it was obvious that it had reached the end of its useful life. (2/10)

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 29d

New (methods) preprint from the lab!
NERV: A Comprehensive Framework for Rapid, Reproducible, and Hardware-Synchronized Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution (1/10)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

NERV: A Comprehensive Framework for Rapid, Reproducible, and Hardware-Synchronized Neuroscience Experiment Design and Execution

Background: Behavioral neuroscience experiments require precise stimulus control, millisecond timing, hardware integration, and robust data provenance. Increasing use of 3D environments and multimodal...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Christos Constantinidis

Psychonomic Society @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social · Aug 28

Need to control visual similarity in your experiments? A new open database by Robbins and colleagues @michaelhout.bsky.social @haywardgodwin.bsky.social, published in #psynomBRM, maps similarity among 1,200 objects in 20 categories using MDS—validated & ready to use.

Resources for Research

This section provides brief summaries of selected resources for research that have been published in journals of the Psychonomic Society, typically Behavior Research Methods. These resources consis…

wp.me

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Reposted by Christos Constantinidis

Steve W. C. Chang @stevewcchang.bsky.social · Aug 20

Very timely and insightful OpEd by Prof. Cory Miller on WSJ. It lays out an important point - Advanced AI cannot be developed in a vacuum without understanding the sophisticated machines we have in our brains.
www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...

Opinion | The Future of AI Lies in Monkeys, Not Microchips

Neuroscience research on primates will help us learn how to build an efficient thinking machine.

www.wsj.com

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · Aug 28

I had never heard of Niche before. But if it ranks Vanderbilt in the top 10 universities in the US, it must be legit.

www.niche.com/colleges/sea...

www.niche.com

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · Aug 21

Public service announcement: Turn off generative AI features in Adobe Acrobat

helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/usin...

helpx.adobe.com

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Reposted by Christos Constantinidis

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · Aug 20

“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time rather than his current ability to kill by the thousands. Why is it that killing a single person is seen as murder but killing masses is excused if you are a politician?”

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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · Aug 21

Was that a dig at ChatGPT?

Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · Aug 19

Very true

Daniel Lakens @lakens.bsky.social · Aug 15

An abbreviation (ABB) in a journal article (JA) or Grant Application (GA) is rarely worth the words it saves. Every ABB requires cognitive resources (CR) and at my age by the time I'm halfway through a JA or GA I no longer have the CR to remember what your ABB stood for.