Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · 2d

Connectomics is in an incredible exciting phase — it really feels like we are seeing breakthroughs every few months, now.

This is built on decades of hard work and creative thinking, of course. Still, it is difficult not to feel as if even greater things are in the air.

Greg Jefferis @jefferis.bsky.social · 3d

Exciting news for #drosophila #connectomics and #neuroscience enthusiasts: the Drosophila male central nervous system connectome is now live for exploration. Find out more at the landing page hosted by our Janelia FlyEM collaborators www.janelia.org/project-team....

Male CNS Connectome

A team of researchers has unveiled the complete connectome of a male fruit fly central nervous system —a seamless map of all the neurons in the brain and nerve cord of a single male fruit fly and the ...

www.janelia.org

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · 7d

E11's self-correcting neuron barcoding technology PRISM is getting us closer to scalable connectomics — this will enable connectomics research we've been dreaming of for decades 🌈🧠🔬

Andrew Payne @andrewcpayne.bsky.social · 7d

E11 Bio is excited to unveil PRISM technology for mapping brain wiring with simple light microscopes. Today, brain mapping in humans and other mammals is bottlenecked by accurate neuron tracing. PRISM uses molecular ID codes and AI to help neurons trace themselves.

Read more: e11.bio/blog/prism

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · 16d

The Molecular Brain Mapping group at the MRC-LMB is hiring! 🌈🧠

I'm looking for people who are excited about developing multimodal analysis and visualization tools to capture the "hidden connectome," in a highly intersectional environment exploring ideas in meta-science.

mrc.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

Imaging Data Engineer - Neurobiology - Dr Sven Truckenbrodt - LMB 2697 - Medical Research Council

Location: Cambridge. Vacancy: Imaging Data Engineer - Neurobiology - Dr Sven Truckenbrodt - LMB 2697. Closing Date: 09/10/2025, 23:55

mrc.tal.net

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · 16d

The Molecular Brain Mapping group at the MRC-LMB is hiring! 🌈🧠

I'm looking for people who are excited about revealing the many molecular layers of the "hidden connectome" with expansion microscopy, in a highly intersectional environment exploring ideas in meta-science.

mrc.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

Postdoctoral Scientist - Neurobiology - Dr Sven Truckenbrodt - LMB 2698 - Medical Research Council

Location: Cambridge. Vacancy: Postdoctoral Scientist - Neurobiology - Dr Sven Truckenbrodt - LMB 2698. Closing Date: 09/10/2025, 23:55

mrc.tal.net

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · 23d

This is why I really appreciate Katalin Karikó's "Breaking Through" — her account is full of hardship.

Most fascinating: her love for science and unquenchable curiosity never fade from her account — the hardship is the point, not something she ever let hold her back.

Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 23d

Life in academia according to autobiographies of Nobel laureates

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · 23d

Vielen Dank! Freu mich drauf dass wir uns bald in Göttingen bei der Expansion Microscopy Konferenz wieder treffen werden 🙂

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · 23d

The cat is officially out of the bag!

The LMB is home to a unique community of outstanding connectomics scientists — I'm so excited about adding my own molecular and expansion microscopy expertise to the mix!

This is going to be the most exciting journey of my scientific career — more soon! 🌈🧠

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.bsky.social · 23d

LMB welcomes @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social as a new Group Leader in our Neurobiology Division!
Sven will develop molecular brain mapping, harnessing expansion microscopy & molecular biology methods to better understand the neural basis of behaviour.
www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/the-lmb-welc... #LMBNews

Photograph of Sven Truckenbrodt wearing lab coat in laboratory setting.

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Aug 14

It is concerning how much fundamental scientific infrastructure is at the whim of, ultimately, disinterested third-party funders.

I don't know how to solve this, but scientific independence should become a movement. We need long-term stability.

www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...

Exclusive: Harvard University lays off fly database team

The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.

www.thetransmitter.org

Reposted by Sven Truckenbrodt

Izzy Jayasinghe @ijayas.bsky.social · Aug 13

Many of you in #AcademicBsky in the northern hemisphere might not know the dire state of Australian academia. This essay by Andrew Dean is a fair snapshot of the state of the sector.

Thinking today especially of academics in some Aus unis facing mass job cuts ~ 3,000 jobs on the chopping block now.

Dropping out, burning out, tuning out • Andrew Dean

Nobody’s happy about the state of Australian universities, but a seasoned academic has some remedies

insidestory.org.au

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Aug 13

I'd hate to lose Google Scholar because the whole Google ecosystem is just so prevalent and convenient. But I do think we have plenty of alternatives and fallback solutions — arguably, Google Scholar it may not even be the best aggregator/search for academics and manuscripts right now.

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Aug 13

The "Am I a joke to you?" meme with Semantic Scholar as a heading.

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Reposted by Sven Truckenbrodt

Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · Jul 29

🚀 Today we're launching the 'Night Science Institute', a non-for-profit organization to lead a cultural shift in science! You may say we're dreamers 😉, but we think we're not the only ones. Perhaps today you will join us to make the Day Science and Night Science parts of the process live as one!

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Jul 17

A rare opportunity to work directly with the inventor of LICONN at Janelia!

Mojtaba is pushing the frontier of the exciting new field of molecular connectomics, which promises to change how we map the brain.

If you want to understand the brain and build the technology to do so, get in contact!

mojtabart.bsky.social @mojtabart.bsky.social · Jul 17

🧠 Excited by synapse-level brain mapping? Join us at a world-class institute to build molecular tools based on our new #LICONN work — and push the frontier of #MolecularConnectomics. Let’s decode the brain, one synapse at a time.

hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

Research Specialist - Tavakoli Lab

Primary Work Address: 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, 20147 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is a pio...

hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Jul 10

What you describe there indeed sounds awful. I think that's what could make an in-house writer so valuable, though — you get the direct interaction and ability to do collaborative work. The authors of the article makes exactly that point, too — in contrast to outsourcing to an agency, for example.

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Jul 10

I agree with you! This is not just a valid worry — it's a necessary one!

In practice, however, I have found that collaborative writing (and thinking!) can enhance the product without relinquishing accountability.

I feel this way both from my experience in science and creative writing.

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Jul 10

It seems we are thinking about very different things, here. You are talking about ghostwriting. That's not the same as working with a writer. If a collaborator or a student contributes ideas and writing to a grant, that must be acknowledged. Same with any other arrangement.

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Jul 10

I don't know, I think we are similar. You don't want to outsource your writing, and I don't want to outsource my writing, either — I love writing!

I just don't see why it's problematic to do that. I think there's many valid ways of being a scientist.

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Jul 10

I don't quite follow why this is problematic. I know a lot of people who would love doing that job. I once considered applying for just such an in-house writer position, myself.

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Jun 15

Woodstock.Bio2 in Prague and the woods of Bohemia was super fun!

I tried to capture the smile of @chaichinta.bsky.social as best I could in this blind drawing game xD

Two scientists hold up blindly executed drawings of each other.

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Jun 2

ERC Starting Grant window will be moved from 2–7 years after PhD to 0–10 years! 🥳

This is obviously great but also slightly bizarre... I'm currently too old for an ERC Starting Grant but will be young enough again by 2027 — thank you for planning on making me feel young again in my late 30s, ERC 😆

European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · Jun 2

Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC?

From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:

• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)

More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes

With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

europa.eu

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Reposted by Sven Truckenbrodt

E11 Bio @e11bio.bsky.social · May 29

E11 Bio is launching Volara: an open-source Python library for block-wise processing of large volumetric microscopy datasets! 🧪🔬

Volara features block-wise task abstractions, making scalable image processing more accessible, robust, and repeatable.

Read more: e11.bio/blog/volara

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · May 26

I personally like Synaptophysin for this purpose. The manuscripts below might be good resources — both compile data on localization and behavior of dozens of GFP-tagged synaptic proteins.

www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

A comparative analysis of the mobility of 45 proteins in the synaptic bouton | The EMBO Journal

image image Live imaging reveals global protein dynamics in the synaptic bouton, providing a first visualization of overall protein motion in the synapse and showing connections between various prote...

www.embopress.org

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · May 25

I see the debate around THAT "research is becoming less disruptive" paper has reignited.

Many reject its findings on the basis of flawed metrics. And, fair point.

But this paper is not the only clue. I'm surprised there aren't more scientists who feel the truth of this in their bones.

Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Apr 25

This is one of those reviews where I kept thinking for some time "damn, I wish there was a good round-up of the extant literature..." — well, now we have one :D

Very well curated resource on combining expansion microscopy and optical super-resolution techniques!

Ricardo Henriques @henriqueslab.bsky.social · Apr 25

🚨🔬💗Whether investigating cell organelles or mapping proteins, together with Victor Puelles's lab we lay a roadmap for selecting optimal #ExM and #SuperResolution #microscopy combinations. Daria Aristova and Dominik Kylies review with amazing co-authors

pubs.aip.org/aip/apr/arti...

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Sven Truckenbrodt @sventruckenbrodt.bsky.social · Mar 25

Maybe the most underestimated accelerator of research is sustaining a phase of deliberation before diving into a project.

Once a project is started, it takes on a life of its own that makes course corrections difficult — and stopping pretty much impossible.

So we better chose the project wisely.

a close up of a woman 's face with a serious expression

Alt: gif of the Kombucha Girl meme

media.tenor.com