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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

IMPRS for Brain and Behavior @imprsbb.bsky.social · Aug 27

📢Apply now! Join our IMPRS for Brain&Behavior to pursue a #PhD in #neuroethology. Learn how brain circuits are linked to interesting animal behaviors!
📅 Deadline: October 31, 2025
🔗 imprs-brain-behavior.mpg.de
#neuroscience #Neuroskyence #neurojobs #sciencejobs #PhDsky #PhDOffers #FundedPhD

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · Sep 5

Woohoo! Congratulations 🎉

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

Venki Murthy @neurovenki.bsky.social · Sep 1

Thrilled to share this work, long time in the making! Carried through creatively by @siddjakes.bsky.social after initial design & piloting by @trackingskills.bsky.social, with help from @trackingactions.bsky.social. Modeling in collaboration with Massimo Vergassola & Nicola Rigolli.

Mice navigate scent trails using predictive policies

Animals actively sense their environment to extract features of interest to guide behaviors. For mammals, odors are prominent environmental features which are sampled by active modulation of sniffing ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

Izumi Fukunaga @ifukunaga.bsky.social · Jun 13

Animals’ sniffing drives rhythmic input to the olfactory system.

How does this timing contribute to perception, especially beyond first steps of olfactory processing?

We tested this using simple closed-loop optogenetics in our new paper: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Decoding olfactory bulb output: A behavioral assessment of rate, synchrony, and respiratory phase coding

Neurogenetics; Behavioral neuroscience; Sensory neuroscience

www.cell.com

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · Jun 11

Fun collaborative work together with the amazing lab of @sophiesteculorum.bsky.social now published!

Sophie Steculorum @sophiesteculorum.bsky.social · Jun 11

📢 🤩Excited to share our latest paper👃🧠! Huge thanks to the amazing first author @janice-bulk.bsky.social‬ and all co-authors, especially @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social and ‪@tobiasackels.bsky.social‬ 🙌! ‬‬
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

A food-sensitive olfactory circuit drives anticipatory satiety - Nature Metabolism

The authors describe a sensory circuit involving the medial septum (MS), where MS glutamatergic neurons integrate food odours to prime satiety and regulate nutrient intake.

www.nature.com

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · May 18

6/6 🧪 A fantastic collaboration with @juliajadeharris.bsky.social, Debanjan Dasgupta, Andrew Erskine & Tom Warner. Many thanks to all involved!
📄 Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
💻 Code: github.com/ackels-lab/Odour_distance_paper

Mice discriminate odour source distance via sub-sniff temporal features of odour plumes

Rodents rely on olfaction to navigate complex environments, particularly where visual cues are limited. Yet how they estimate the distance to an odour source remains unclear. The spatiotemporal dynami...

www.biorxiv.org

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · May 18

5/6 Neural responses were better predicted by rapid temporal fluctuations in the plume than by average concentration. This suggests that the dynamic plume structure serves as a core sensory cue for distance.

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · May 18

4/6 We further used in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging to record mitral and tufted cell activity in the olfactory bulb and found that a subset of neurons showed distance-dependent responses, and that population activity reliably encoded odour source distance.

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · May 18

3/6 These findings show that mammals can extract spatial information from fast, complex odour dynamics, highlighting the role of rapid temporal processing in olfaction.

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · May 18

2/6 Using a wind tunnel and olfactory virtual reality, we presented dynamic plumes with complex airflow structure. Through automated, high-throughput behavioural experiments, mice learned to distinguish near vs. far odour sources.

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · May 18

1/6 Rodents use olfaction to navigate, especially when vision is limited. But how do they estimate the distance to an odour source?
Our new study shows that mice can estimate the distance to an odour source using sub-sniff temporal features in naturalistic odour plumes.

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · May 18

🚨 Preprint alert! 🚨
Can mice estimate the distance to an odour source?
New work led by Cristina Marin and colleagues, jointly supervised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social at the @crick.ac.uk and myself.

Spoiler alert: Yes, they can!

Read the paper here: bit.ly/43A9tF9
Short 🧵 below

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · May 9

A spatial code governs olfactory receptor choice and aligns sensory maps in the nose and brain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.02.651738v1

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

Yuxin Zhang @yuxinzhang.bsky.social · May 1

My PhD project is out as a preprint!
We combined 2P and synchrotron X-ray to understand mouse olfactory bulb circuits, linking physiology to structure in 3 animals!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🙌 @carlesbosch.bsky.social, @apacureanu.bsky.social, @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social, @esrf.fr, @crick.ac.uk

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

Joseph D. Zak @josephdzak.bsky.social · Apr 30

Now in its final form, our recent work on how olfactory transduction currents help ensure sparse sensory coding. Led by a post-bac Kai Clane Belonio and a graduate student, Eyerusalem Haile, this was a group effort by the entire laboratory.

www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...

Amplification of Olfactory Transduction Currents Implements Sparse Stimulus Encoding

Sensory systems must perform the dual and opposing tasks of being sensitive to weak stimuli while also maintaining information content in dense and variable sensory landscapes. This occurs in the olfa...

www.jneurosci.org

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Apr 16

Olfactory neuroscientists have known for a while that their stimuli stink. A new analysis illuminates the extent of the problem.

By @callimcflurry.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/olfaction/sm...

Smell studies often use unnaturally high odor concentrations, analysis reveals

It’s time to fashion olfactory neuroscience stimuli based on odor concentrations in the wild, say study investigators Elizabeth Hong and Matt Wachowiak.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

Kadjita Asumbisa @kasumbisa.bsky.social · Apr 15

Excited to share the sequel to our 2022 paper! In this follow-up, we show that the stable head direction (HD) signals we reported in blind mice rely on stereo olfaction—that is, the comparison of odor info. between the two nostrils.

Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧵highlights below

Stereo olfaction underlies stable coding of head direction in blind mice - Nature Communications

Stereo olfaction involves comparing odor differences between the two nostrils. Here, using neuronal recordings and a behavioral test, the authors demonstrate that blind mice use stereo olfaction to fo...

www.nature.com

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · Apr 7

a man is wearing a tutu and dancing in a park .

ALT: a man is wearing a tutu and dancing in a park .

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

MODOLFOR @modolfor.bsky.social · Mar 28

Tomorrow morning, March 29th at 11:30 am, check out Symposium 31 at #NWG2025 @neurowissg.bsky.social organized by MODOLFOR member Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

MODOLFOR @modolfor.bsky.social · Mar 25

Our Symposium takes place tomorrow at the Sternwarte in Göttingen. We are looking forward to exciting talks from @nawrot.bsky.social, @xenofrog.bsky.social, Lisa Scheunemann, Andre Fiala and Celine Riera. What a great start of the #NWG meeting @neurowissg.bsky.social

MODOLFOR @modolfor.bsky.social · Nov 20

Join us for the MODOLFOR Satellite Symposium on Modulation of Olfaction at the 16th Göttingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society in spring 2025 🐭🐝👃
@neurowissg.bsky.social

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

IMPRS for Brain and Behavior @imprsbb.bsky.social · Mar 24

Meet our IMPRS faculty members at the German Neuroscience Society Meeting in Göttingen this week!

Wed 26th March
12:00 - 13:00: Plenary Lecture, Hall 11
Frank Bradke | Bonn
Mechanisms of axon growth and regeneration

Wed 26th March
Satellite Symposium (Sat2), Historische Sternwarte/Observatorium, Georg-August-University Göttingen
International Symposium Research Unit 5424 (DFG) „Modulation of olfaction“
Chairs: Veronica Egger, Ilona Grunwald Kadow and Silke Sachse | Regensburg, Bonn and Jena

Thursday 27th March
Symposium 14 - Hall 10
Circuits for behavior: cross-species strategies for adaptation and plasticity
Chairs: Graziana Gatto and Jan Gründemann | Köln and Bonn

Friday 28th March
Symposium 24 - Hall 9
Evolution of behavior: from genes to circuits
Chairs: James Lightfoot and Monika Scholz | Bonn

Saturday 29th March
Symposium 31 - Hall 9
From olfaction to emotions
Chairs: Tobias Ackels and Sabine Krabbe | Bonn

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · Mar 7

Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

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Reposted by Tobias Ackels

Thomas Bozza @neuroboz.bsky.social · Mar 6

Check out our review comparing typical experimental to naturally-occurring odor concentrations. You might be surprised.
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Thanks to Matt and Betty for asking me to take part!

Recalibrating Olfactory Neuroscience to the Range of Naturally Occurring Odor Concentrations

Sensory systems enable organisms to detect and respond to environmental signals relevant for their survival and reproduction. A crucial aspect of any sensory signal is its intensity; understanding how...

www.jneurosci.org

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Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · Jan 28

Thanks Gaia 😊

Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · Jan 28

I am deeply grateful for this award, which not only recognizes my work but also reflects the invaluable contributions of my team, mentors, and supporters!

It inspires me to continue working with my lab to deepen our understanding of how we perceive and interpret our environment.

Informationsdienst Wissenschaft - idw @idw-online.de · Jan 28

Mammals smell faster than they breathe: Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Early Career Award 2025 goes to Tobias Ackels @goetheuni.bsky.social @paulstiftung...
weiterlesen

Winner of Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Early Career Award: Tobias Ackels - Copyright Universität Bonn

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