Matt Smear
@mattsmear.bsky.social
1.2K followers 440 following 95 posts
Associate professor, University of Oregon Follows your nose
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mattsmear.bsky.social
Sniffing helps animals identify smells and connect them to places and events, but noses can’t sense time or place.

How do brains connect odors with internal models of the world?

Our preprint suggests that the olfactory bulb participates in this connection.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Matt Smear
endoeartha.bsky.social
Very excited and proud to share my postdoctoral research with @neurrriot.bsky.social looking at the context-specific encoding of social behavior 💃🕺 in hormone-sensitive, large-scale brain networks in mice!

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

#neuroskyence #compneurosky 🧪
1/12
Reposted by Matt Smear
pwashlab.bsky.social
A POSTDOCTORAL POSITION ON THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT: We are recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to work on a Neurobiology in Changing Ecosystems (NiCE) award from NSF and the Kavli Foundation (www.kavlifoundation.org/news/kavli-a...).
Kavli and NSF Announce New Grant Awards to Advance Neurobiology in…
An initiative to explore how nervous systems function and evolve in dynamic natural environments
www.kavlifoundation.org
mattsmear.bsky.social
falling rent free in our head
Reposted by Matt Smear
rachelbedfordphd.bsky.social
The BioE department at the @uoknightcampus.bsky.social is hiring 2 complementary TTF neuroengineering positions!

We're looking for someone with expertise in experimental & translational neuroengineering and someone else with expertise in computational & data-science neuroengineering.

#neurosky
Reposted by Matt Smear
dlevenstein.bsky.social
“If everything is everywhere, why have distinct areas? Here we show that the function of a brain area is more related to how different types of information are combined (formatted) in neural representations than merely whether that information is present.”
marlenecohen.bsky.social
New results for a new year! “Linking neural population formatting to function” describes our modern take on an old question: how can we understand the contribution of a brain area to behavior?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧠👩🏻‍🔬🧪🧵
#neuroskyence
1/
Linking neural population formatting to function
Animals capable of complex behaviors tend to have more distinct brain areas than simpler organisms, and artificial networks that perform many tasks tend to self-organize into modules (1-3). This sugge...
www.biorxiv.org
mattsmear.bsky.social
Full text of
"The Organization Of Behavior:
A Neuropsychological Theory"

archive.org/stream/in.er...
archive.org
mattsmear.bsky.social
“Instead of a joker to occasionally confuse the student of behavior, nonsensory activities appear in every fall of the cards and must make up a large share of the deck. Neurophysiologically, it may even become a problem to account for any consistent effect of a specific stimulus."
Donald Hebb (1949)
Reposted by Matt Smear
neurovenki.bsky.social
We watched mice follow scent trails drawn on an “endless” treadmill. By manipulating trail geometry/statistics, perturbing mouse nose & brain, and modeling behavior with a Bayesian framework, we show that mice use predictive (rather than reactive) strategies.
Reposted by Matt Smear
mattsmear.bsky.social
We’re searching for a Developmental Neuroscientist! Building on UO’s rich tradition in the field, we’re excited to welcome the next scientist to carry it forward.
drzebrafish.bsky.social
The University of Oregon is searching for an Assistant Professor with a focus on Developmental Neuroscience. We are excited to have you come join us - apply!
Application information can be found at: careers.uoregon.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Current Opportunities | UO HR Website
careers.uoregon.edu
mattsmear.bsky.social
#internationaldogday
mattsmear.bsky.social
We’re searching for a Developmental Neuroscientist! Building on UO’s rich tradition in the field, we’re excited to welcome the next scientist to carry it forward.
drzebrafish.bsky.social
The University of Oregon is searching for an Assistant Professor with a focus on Developmental Neuroscience. We are excited to have you come join us - apply!
Application information can be found at: careers.uoregon.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Current Opportunities | UO HR Website
careers.uoregon.edu
Reposted by Matt Smear
josephdzak.bsky.social
Proud to share Kai Clane Belonio’s latest work in our lab. Kai showed that induced-depression decreases behavioral tolerance of aversive odorants as well as increases in neuroinflammation in sensory affective areas. Also contributing are @nervenkidd.bsky.social and Eyerusalem Haile.
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social
Neuroinflammation in Olfactory Circuits Underlies Odor Hypersensitivity in a Rodent Model of Depression https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.14.670114v1
mattsmear.bsky.social
the psychophysicist’s “noise” is an experimental subject’s ________ ?
marlenecohen.bsky.social
Ramanujan Srinath collected & analyzed many data sets including Amy Ni’s, Yunlong (Draco) Xu & Brent Doiron modeled, & Doug did a causal experiment. The key is: when noise and signal come from the same circuit (they must!), then smart, flexible decisions have a strong relationship with noise. 4/
mattsmear.bsky.social
maybe “noise” isn’t the best word for it?
marlenecohen.bsky.social
@ramanujan-s.bsky.social and a fantastic team of coauthors figured out a resolution: we propose that correlated variability isn’t noise that corrupts a signal or something to ignore. It reflects the activity in the population that is read out to guide behavior. 3/
Reposted by Matt Smear
marlenecohen.bsky.social
Hmm: Correlated variability in sensory neurons (how much responses fluctuate together) is related to behavior: it’s modulated by attention, learning, & motivation and related to individual decisions. But because it's low-D, in theory its effect on behavior should be small. What’s up with that? 2/
a husky puppy is laying on the floor with its tongue out and wearing a blue collar .
ALT: a husky puppy is laying on the floor with its tongue out and wearing a blue collar .
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Matt Smear
marlenecohen.bsky.social
Ramanujan Srinath collected & analyzed many data sets including Amy Ni’s, Yunlong (Draco) Xu & Brent Doiron modeled, & Doug did a causal experiment. The key is: when noise and signal come from the same circuit (they must!), then smart, flexible decisions have a strong relationship with noise. 4/
mattsmear.bsky.social
Advertise your account with a GIF
Reposted by Matt Smear
eeschenberg.bsky.social
Psychedelics are serotonergic drugs...

Right?!?

Well, think again and embrace the complexity revealed by @zenbrainest.bsky.social et al testing 41 compounds in 318 receptors: "psychedelics have potent and efficacious actions at nearly every serotonin, dopamine, and adrenergic receptor."
Reposted by Matt Smear
antihebbiann.bsky.social
Proposal recommended for funding! Which means we have a fresh, 3-year-funded position available for a computational postdoc interested in studying dynamics of social interactions in rats, with simultaneous Neuropixels data to follow 🐀🐀🐀

Proper job ad pending, but email me if interested!