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sinanmalik.bsky.social
sinan malik
@sinanmalik.bsky.social
540 followers 650 following 23 posts
RA @juliesemmelhack.bsky.social Lab| systems neuroscience | writes @preLights
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sinanmalik.bsky.social
sinan malik @sinanmalik.bsky.social · May 20
Excited to highlight @emreyaksi.bsky.social lab’s latest work for the @prelights.bsky.social : they’ve uncovered a topographic code in the dorsal raphe that drives flexible sensory–motor decisions in zebrafish, mapping brain dynamics to behavior in stunning detail! 🐟 #zebrafish #systemsneuroscience
prelights.bsky.social
preLights @prelights.bsky.social · May 19
A topographic code for behavioural flexibility?

@sinanmalik.bsky.social wrote a #preLight on work from Emre Yaksi & team mapping dorsal raphe dynamics to sensory-motor decisions in #zebrafish. 🐟 #preprint

Check it out! ⬇️ 👀
prelights.biologists.com/highlights/t...
Topographically organized dorsal raphe activity modulates forebrain sensory-motor computations and adaptive behaviors - preLights
A topographic code for behavioral flexibility? Mapping dorsal raphe dynamics to sensory-motor decisions in zebrafish.
prelights.biologists.com
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sinanmalik.bsky.social
sinan malik @sinanmalik.bsky.social · 3d
My first paper is out!
“Social maintenance masks induced aggression in zebrafish” — research from my internship in the Neuronal Plasticity Group on how social context can suppress aggression. #zebrafishrocks 🐟

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Social maintenance masks induced aggression in zebrafish - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Social maintenance masks induced aggression in zebrafish
www.nature.com
Reposted by sinan malik
katrinvogt.bsky.social
Katrin Vogt @katrinvogt.bsky.social · 12d
How is valence computed in the brain? Check out our new preprint about a single cell that integrates excitatory and inhibitory input across modalities according to valence and impacts behavioral decisions. An exciting collaboration across many labs. Enjoy reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A multisensory, bidirectional, valence encoder guides behavioral decisions
A key function of the brain is to categorize sensory cues as repulsive or attractive and respond accordingly. While we have some understanding of how sensory information is processed in the sensory pe...
www.biorxiv.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
clykken.bsky.social
clykken.bsky.social @clykken.bsky.social · 14d
1/8
How can the brain create countless unique memories using a single, universal metric of space? We’ve been waiting for the answer to this for two decades!
Read it here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Reposted by sinan malik
neurovenki.bsky.social
Venki Murthy @neurovenki.bsky.social · 20d
(edited repost) Thrilled to see our computational work on adaptive shaping of behavior (we call it outcome-based curriculum learning) in PLoS Comp Biol! @wl-tong.bsky.social, @gautamreddy.bsky.social & I formalize curricula in any RL task that can be framed as sequential simple-to-complex behavior.
Adaptive algorithms for shaping behavior
Author summary Animals are commonly trained by ‘shaping’ their behavior using a sequence of simpler tasks towards a complex behavior. Numerous schools of thought have proposed heuristics for shaping b...
journals.plos.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
thetransmitter.bsky.social
The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 22d
In this month’s “Liftoff,” @matthiasnau.bsky.social talks about the importance of making quick decisions as a PI, and @kmcostalab.com shares how lab members being mad at a PI can sometimes be a good thing.

By @franciscorr25.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/liftoff-new-...
Liftoff: New lab alerts
Learn about early-career scientists starting their own labs.
www.thetransmitter.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social
bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 23d
Hierarchical processing of sensory information across topographically organized thalamocortical-like circuits in the zebrafish brain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.15.675867v1
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Reposted by sinan malik
emreyaksi.bsky.social
Emre Yaksi @emreyaksi.bsky.social · 23d
Check out this exciting study led by Anh-Tuan Trinh from our lab, where we investigated how thalamocortical-like circuits in the zebrafish pallium receive, represent, and integrate sensory information:
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Hierarchical processing of sensory information across topographically organized thalamocortical-like circuits in the zebrafish brain
Thalamocortical projections contribute to the spatial organization and functional hierarchies of the mammalian cortex. Primary sensory cortices receive topographically segregated information from firs...
doi.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social
bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 25d
Beyond Locomotion: How Specialized Motor Rhythms Enable Vertebrate Escape from Capture https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.08.674955v1
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Reposted by sinan malik
kanakarajanphd.bsky.social
Kanaka Rajan @kanakarajanphd.bsky.social · 26d
(4/8) Beyond neural predictions, POCO's learned unit embeddings independently reproduce brain region clustering without any anatomical labels.

That means at single-cell resolution across entire brains, POCO mimics biological organization purely from neural activity patterns ✨
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Reposted by sinan malik
kanakarajanphd.bsky.social
Kanaka Rajan @kanakarajanphd.bsky.social · 26d
(1/8) New paper from our team!

Yu Duan & Hamza Chaudhry introduce POCO, a tool for predicting brain activity at the cellular & network level during spontaneous behavior.

Find out how we built POCO & how it changes neurobehavioral research 👇

arxiv.org/abs/2506.14957
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Reposted by sinan malik
mishaahrens.bsky.social
Misha Ahrens @mishaahrens.bsky.social · Sep 8
Preprint -
Excited to present WHOLISTIC, which extends the concept of whole-brain functional imaging to the entire body. Pioneering work by incredibly talented Virginia Ruetten @vmsruetten.bsky.social, this platform reveals whole-organism cellular dynamics in vivo.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Reposted by sinan malik
dparichy.bsky.social
Parichy Lab | Dave Parichy @dparichy.bsky.social · Aug 26
Nemo needs gap junctions, too. New preprint with Marleen Klann, Vincent Laudet, et al. showing anemonefish Snowflake mutant due to E42K substitution in Connexin Gja5b. Found exact same E42K in zebrafish gja5b (= leopard) by ENU, to the nucleotide! Details, inferences: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
gap junction mutant phenotypes in clownfish and zebrafish
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Reposted by sinan malik
apramos.bsky.social
Patricia Ramos @apramos.bsky.social · Sep 1
I am thrilled to share the main result of our work at @nordenlab.bsky.social with @liormoneta.bsky.social and @carldmodes.bsky.social . We bridged DevBiology + theoretical physics to understand how the eye becomes round #morphogenesis #devbio #biophysics #zebrafish www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The Optic cup is actively shape programmed by independently patterned apical forces
During morphogenesis, initially flat tissues often must transition into complex 3D shapes, reminiscent of shape-programmable systems in physics and engineering. One key question in developmental biolo...
www.biorxiv.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
samillingworth.com
Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Sep 6
🐟 Autism, genes and setting

Zebrafish with an autism-linked mutation acted less social in a stressful Styrofoam tank but less so in clear Plexiglass.

This shows how environment can shape social behaviour in genetically predisposed animals.

🔗 www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

#SciComm 🧪
Tiny fish open new horizons for autism research.
This study demonstrated that environment influences autism-like behaviours in genetically predisposed zebrafish. By altering perceived safety and anxiety levels, the study revealed that lack of social...
www.eurekalert.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
guidomeijer.com
Guido Meijer @guidomeijer.com · Sep 3
Extremely proud to have contributed to this monumental effort of recording the entire mouse brain, at cellular resolution, during complex behavior 🧠🐭
intlbrainlab.bsky.social
International Brain Laboratory @intlbrainlab.bsky.social · Sep 3
Two flagship papers from the International Brain Laboratory, now out in ‪@Nature.com‬:
🧠 Brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09235-0
🧠 Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09226-1 +
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Reposted by sinan malik
thetransmitter.bsky.social
The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Sep 3
The mouse brain lights up during decision making, showing widespread activity across both predictable as well as unexpected areas.

By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/decision-mak...
Everything everywhere all at once: Decision-making signals engage entire brain
The findings, gleaned from the most comprehensive map yet of brain activity during decision-making in mice, show that the process is even more distributed than previously thought.
www.thetransmitter.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
azylbertal.bsky.social
Asaph Zylbertal @azylbertal.bsky.social · Sep 3
First sneak peek into SimFish! 🐟
Long in development with @isaacbianco.bsky.social and Sam Pink, our fish-on-chips now captures key aspects of larval #zebrafish sensory processing and motor control.
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liddelowsa.bsky.social
Shane Liddelow @liddelowsa.bsky.social · Sep 3
Great story in the @thetransmitter.bsky.social today by
@callimcflurry.bsky.social. It was fun chatting about @melcooperphd.bsky.social's new research on astrocyte networks.

Read the story here: www.thetransmitter.org/astrocytes/a...

Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Astrocyte networks span large swaths of brain
The networks are plastic, connect brain regions that aren’t connected by neurons and may enable long-distance communication between astrocytes, a new preprint shows.
www.thetransmitter.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social
bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · Sep 2
Zebrafish sleep displays distinct sub-states https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.28.672887v1
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maxshafer.bsky.social
Maxwell Shafer @maxshafer.bsky.social · Aug 28
Now published @natecoevo.nature.com with @annika-nichols.bsky.social, our latest on the evolution of 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 across 𝟲𝟬 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 of cichlid fishes! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
with members of the @schierlab.bsky.social and Salzburger labs, as well as the burgeoning Shafer lab @uoftcellsysbiol.bsky.social
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Reposted by sinan malik
carolineleiwee.bsky.social
Caroline Wee @carolineleiwee.bsky.social · Aug 29
We look forward to hosting you in Singapore 🇸🇬 Beyond the science, there will be great food, opportunities for sightseeing, and a unique banquet experience! ❤️🐟

Feel free to approach us for more details!

@oehlerslab.org @shifengxue.bsky.social Ajay Mathuru Sudipto Roy Yan Chuan etc
izfs.bsky.social
International Zebrafish Society @izfs.bsky.social · Aug 27
Less than a month left to register and submit your abstracts for the 11th SCZI! Submit your abstracts by September 17th for the chance to present your research in Singapore! The 11th SCZI will take place January 14-17, 2026! #zebrafish #fish #PI #Singapore

Learn more: www.izfs.org/education/11...
11th Strategic Conference of Zebrafish Investigators | IZFS - International Zebrafish Society
www.izfs.org
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Reposted by sinan malik
bahllab.bsky.social
Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25
How do brains make decisions when faced with multiple, potentially conflicting cues? In our latest preprint, we show how #zebrafish use an additive strategy and process multiple visual features through anatomically distinct parallel pathways tinyurl.com/mvkn8em9 Thread 👇
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richardfbetzel.bsky.social
Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · Aug 24
This is fucking amazing.
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isaacbianco.bsky.social
Isaac Bianco @isaacbianco.bsky.social · Aug 23
Latest from the lab. Beautiful work from Joanna Lau and a fantastic collaboration with James Fitzgerald.

www.cell.com/current-biol...
Supraspinal commands have a modular organization that is behavioral context specific
Lau et al. use calcium imaging and statistical modeling to comprehensively survey reticulospinal activity during diverse locomotor behaviors. They find that a small set of functional modules act combi...
www.cell.com
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Reposted by sinan malik
antihebbiann.bsky.social
Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · Aug 22
Can't wait to read this preprint from Misha Ahrens and team. Calcium imaging in larval zebrafish, in every cell in the body! Amazing.

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