Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · Aug 4

Hippocampal replay meets dopamine in the talented @mimijanssen.bsky.social’s first preprint from the lab!

Miriam Janssen @mimijanssen.bsky.social · Aug 4

Hung-tu Chen, Nicolas Tritsch, Matt van der Meer, and I have submitted a new preprint (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) in which we use simultaneous hippocampal ephys and ventral striatal (VS) fiber photometry to establish a link between sharp-wave ripples (SWRs) and VS dopamine (DA) in mice. (1/9)

Ventral Striatal Dopamine Increases following Hippocampal Sharp-Wave Ripples

Leading theories suggest that hippocampal replay drives offline learning through coupling with an internal teaching signal such as ventral striatal dopamine (DA); however, the relationship between hip...

www.biorxiv.org

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · Jul 9

Great to hear! Congratulations to all involved, looking forward to following your work!

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Reposted by Matthijs van der Meer

CogCompNeuro @cogcompneuro.bsky.social · May 29

Can't make it to Amsterdam for CCN2025? Join a local meetup!

Watch the livestream with colleagues at institutions worldwide. On our website we host a map with existing meetups near you & you can also register to host your own!

📍 View meetups & register: 2025.ccneuro.org/local-meetups/

Local Meetups

2025.ccneuro.org

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 30

Feel free to DM or email me your questions ([email protected]) if you're interested -- I look forward to hearing from you!

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 30

Current NIH- and NSF-funded projects in the lab focus on what determines the content of hippocampal replay, and on how replay interacts with downstream reward signals in the ventral striatum to support flexible behavior. Check out some of our recent work here: scholar.google.com/citations?hl...

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 30

We are looking for a research assistant/lab manager to join the lab! A supportive, collaborative environment where you can learn neural recording with Neuropixels, optogenetics, fiber photometry, and neural data analysis.

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Reposted by Matthijs van der Meer

Bryan Roth @zenbrainest.bsky.social · May 27

Conclusion: of the 7 major classes of ‘novel’ psychiatric drugs, the potential therapeutic actions of 6 were discovered using animal models of drug action.
zendudest.substack.com/p/why-animal...

Why animal models are useful for CNS drug discovery: Part 2

Animal models predict activity of novel psychiatric medications

zendudest.substack.com

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 26

This is awesome, thanks for sharing!

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 22

Beautiful work!

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 22

Very nice! What program/what students can take these practicals? Is there a syllabus available?

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 16

Congrats, Leyla!!

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 16

This was already awesome before I read the word “evacuated”! Curious to learn how that phase of the study worked. Fire alarm??

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 15

See you there!!

Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 13

highly recommend!

Helen Barron @helencbarron.bsky.social · May 13

*** Come join us !! We are recruiting !! ***
How does the brain generate beliefs that go beyond direct experience? How do these mechanisms go awry in psychosis?

The Barron lab tinyurl.com/bdf4drjf @MRCBNDU @NDCNOxford are recruiting a new postdoc tinyurl.com/ut4vbwt4 to work in mouse models

Barron Group | mrcbndu

Our group investigates how cells and circuits in the brain work together to perform computations that support memory. Using a wide range of technical approaches, we investigate how these computations ...

tinyurl.com

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · May 8

Welcome Fred! We’re so lucky to have you!

Fred Callaway @fredcallaway.bsky.social · May 7

Despite the world being on fire, I can't help but be thrilled to announce that I'll be starting as an Assistant Professor in the Cognitive Science Program at Dartmouth in Fall '26. I'll be recruiting grad students this upcoming cycle—get in touch if you're interested!

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Reposted by Matthijs van der Meer

Kate Jeffery @katejj.bsky.social · May 8

Brain/behaviour people - come to beautiful Scotland - we are recruiting in psychology and neuroscience across all grades! Closes May 12. Details below, and please re-post 🙏

www.nature.com/naturecareer...

More about us here: www.gla.ac.uk/schools/psyc...

#neuroskyence #neurojobs

Professor, Senior Lecturer/Lecturer and Lecturer posts - Glasgow City (GB) job with University of Glasgow | 12838283

University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences School of Psychology & Neuroscience Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience/Psy...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Matthijs van der Meer

Carlos Brody @carlosbrody.bsky.social · May 7

we're crowd-sourcing a searchable repository of tangible benefits stemming from federally-funded research. Come enjoy the great stories; or send in an idea; or volunteer to join the team.

publicusaresearchbenefits.com

please share and re-share so we get more great stories in there!

Searchable database of tangible benefits that federally-funded research gave us.

A crowd-sourced site. Health and Well-being. National Security. Prosperity.

publicusaresearchbenefits.com

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Reposted by Matthijs van der Meer

Eliza Bliss-Moreau @eblissmoreau.bsky.social · May 4

The NIH move to restrict animal research is a bad one and not just about health - it's about national security.

More here:
medium.com/@eblissmorea...

This will kill us: restricting animal research

Tuesday, as my lab gathered to celebrate the completion of one of our big studies, the National Institutes of Health announced that they…

medium.com

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Reposted by Matthijs van der Meer

Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · May 2

I am so heartened to this seriously AWESOME #SaveNSF website go up today!!!!

Has a take action toolkit with:

1. Press outreach templates
2. Social media toolkit
3. Elected official outreach
4. Talking points

Check it out and share widely!!!! Likely more to come.

www.savensf.com

Welcome to Save The U.S. National Science Foundation
A Girl Looking at a Physics Model
TAKE ACTION
Save NSF is a coalition of concerned scientists and allies who are working to save funding for scientific grants through the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Our mission is to support and advocate for the continuation of vital research and innovation in various scientific fields. NSF funding is critical to this work.

Join us in our endeavor to ensure a sustainable future for scientific exploration and discovery.

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Reposted by Matthijs van der Meer

Dr. Suzanne Le Menestrel @drsl.bsky.social · May 2

The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.

www.spencer.org/grant_types/...

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program

In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

www.spencer.org

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · Apr 25

Wonderful news, congratulations!!

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · Apr 25

Amazing! Congratulations— looking forward to hearing about the exciting and important work you have planned!!

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · Mar 30

“Planning has value in units of cheese” — @nathanieldaw.bsky.social at #CNS2025

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Reposted by Matthijs van der Meer

Anna Schapiro @annaschapiro.bsky.social · Mar 27

Check out the amazing lineup we have for the Sunday 10am Symposium at CNS on the Cognitive Functions of Replay: Matthijs van der Meer, Nathaniel Daw, and Helen Barron 🤩@mvandermeer.bsky.social @nathanieldaw.bsky.social @helencbarron.bsky.social

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Matthijs van der Meer @mvandermeer.bsky.social · Mar 27

New opinion paper in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social with Dan Bendor, where we argue that rodent studies provide only marginal support for the idea that replay supports real-time decisions (e.g. planning). Fictive learning and memory tagging are more consistent w/evidence. www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

Awake replay: off the clock but on the job

Hippocampal replay is widely thought to support two key cognitive functions: online decision-making and offline memory consolidation. In this review, we take a closer look at the hypothesized link bet...

www.cell.com

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