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Reposted by Takaki Komiyama

Simons Foundation @simonsfoundation.org · Aug 12

A new @nature.com study from Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain investigator @takakikomiyama.bsky.social finds that as mice learn a complex movement, the pathway from the motor thalamus to the motor cortex rewires itself to drive the movement: www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/08/11/h... #science

How a Tiny Brain Region Helps You Learn Complex Movements, One Neuron at a Time

How a Tiny Brain Region Helps You Learn Complex Movements, One Neuron at a Time on Simons Foundation

www.simonsfoundation.org

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Jun 20

Our new paper is out in Science.

We identified a subgroup of cholinergic neurons that mediate sensory modality-specific attention. They change their funcitonal properties within secs of behavioral context change.

Congrats to Bin for the great thesis, and the team!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cholinergic feedback for modality- and context-specific modulation of sensory representations

The brain’s ability to prioritize sensory information is crucial for adaptive behavior, yet its mechanisms remain unclear. We investigated basal forebrain cholinergic neurons modulating olfactory bulb...

www.science.org

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Jun 1

Congrats Julie!!

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · May 23

In June 2001, I arrived in SFO with a suitcase, a student visa, and disproportionate dreams.

My life since has been nothing but a dream.

My heart is with the international students in the US today.

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · May 9

Thanks Jonathan!

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · May 8

Thank you!

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · May 8

Thank you!

Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · May 8

Our paper is out in Nature.

By examining various inputs to the motor cortex during learning, we found that thalamic inputs learn to activate the cortical neurons encoding the movement being learned.

Tour de force by Assaf in collab with Felix and Marcus. Congrats!

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

Motor learning refines thalamic influence on motor cortex - Nature

Imaging and optogenetics in mice provide insight into the interplay between the primary motor cortex and the motor thalamus during learning, showing that thalamic inputs have a key role in the executi...

www.nature.com

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Apr 21

A very thoughtful Perspective on our recent paper by Ayelén Groisman and Johannes Letzkus. Thank you!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Dendritic arbors structure memories

Synapses on different dendritic domains store distinct types of information

www.science.org

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Apr 21

Thank you Athena!

Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Apr 18

Thank you!

Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Apr 17

Our new paper is out in Science.

What is the synaptic plasticity rule in the brain, we asked. It turns out there are multiple, even within individual neurons.

Congrats Jake!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Distinct synaptic plasticity rules operate across dendritic compartments in vivo during learning

Synaptic plasticity underlies learning by modifying specific synaptic inputs to reshape neural activity and behavior. However, the rules governing which synapses will undergo different forms of plasti...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Takaki Komiyama

Irina Dudanova @irinadudanova.bsky.social · Feb 9

How do different cortical neuron types contribute to circuit dysfunction in #Huntington’s disease?

Check out our new collaborative study with @takakikomiyama.bsky.social, spearheaded by Sonja Blumenstock, now out as a preprint.

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

Optogenetic restoration of neuron subtype-specific cortical activity ameliorates motor deficits in Huntington′s Disease mice

Huntington′s disease (HD) is a devastating movement disorder without a current cure. Although the monogenic basis of HD is well-defined, the complex downstream effects that underlie behavioral symptom...

www.biorxiv.org

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Feb 10

Our new paper shows that targeted stimulation of a subtype of cortical inhibitory neurons can ameliorate motor deficits in Huntington’s disease mice. A great collab with @irinadudanova.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Optogenetic restoration of neuron subtype-specific cortical activity ameliorates motor deficits in Huntington′s Disease mice

Huntington′s disease (HD) is a devastating movement disorder without a current cure. Although the monogenic basis of HD is well-defined, the complex downstream effects that underlie behavioral symptom...

www.biorxiv.org

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Jan 7

It was a very long journey and they persisted with an unwavering determination. All while processing their own grief of losing a close friend. This is a victory for all of us.

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Jan 7

I could not be more proud of the team led by Qiyu that went through her data file by file and scripts line by line to recover the data, confirmed her analysis, performed many new analyses, and repeated the experiments to reproduce the results.

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Jan 7

663 days since the senseless tragedy that took An, we present a manuscript that reports some of the discoveries that she left us.

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

Targeted stimulation of motor cortex neural ensembles drives learned movements

During the execution of learned motor skills, the neural population in the layer 2/3 (L2/3) of the primary motor cortex (M1) expresses a reproducible spatiotemporal activity pattern. It is debated whe...

www.biorxiv.org

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Dec 20

Is there a known mechanism that silences and unsilences LTP?

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Dec 20

IMO one of the most exciting studies I’ve seen recently. Trial-level unmasking of memory-specific functional connectivity

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

Intermittent rate coding and cue-specific ensembles support working memory - Nature

By recording large populations of neurons in behaving monkeys using newly developed silicon probes, we show that intermittent periods of memorandum-specific spiking coexist with synaptic mechanis...

www.nature.com

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Nov 29

Bragging by quoting anonymous reviewer: "The paper is well written. The results are presented clearly and are interpreted directly and accurately. The introduction is excellent. ... I wish all papers read as nicely as this one."

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Nov 29

Our new paper out in Science Advances. A population code in the retrosplenial cortex explains the discrepancy between animal behavior and standard RL models. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Nov 14

Our new paper out in @NatureNeuro. We uncovered the roles of orbitofrontal cortex in distinct aspects of meta-reinforcement learning. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Meta-reinforcement learning via orbitofrontal cortex - Nature Neuroscience

The authors show that neural activity and synaptic plasticity in the orbitofrontal cortex mediate multiple timescales of reinforcement learning (RL) for meta-RL, which parallels a form of meta-RL in a...

www.nature.com

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Nov 11

PSA to SfN attendees— the metro now goes between Dulles and downtown DC

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Nov 8

Our recent collab paper. Reanalysis of our previous data from a functional connectome perspective identified hub neurons that remain the center of functional reorganization during learning. Congrats Saber, Rudi et al.!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Rewiring Dynamics of Functional Connectomes during Motor-Skill Learning

The brain’s functional connectome continually rewires throughout an organism’s life. In this study, we sought to elucidate the operational principles of such rewiring in mouse primary motor cortex...

www.tandfonline.com

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Takaki Komiyama @takakikomiyama.bsky.social · Nov 8

Excited to be speaking at this SfN satellite meeting on Saturday evening
mbns.bruker.com/acton/fs/blo...

mbns.bruker.com

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