Pluta Lab

To understand how the brain works, the brain must be working. We study active touch in a naive yet earnest struggle to solve the brain.

[Pluta Lab @LabPluta]

~30 years of research in non-behaving animals argue that bilateral touch integration likely occurs downstream of primary somatosensory cortex. We reveal the state- and task-dependent logic that unlocks communication between S1s through the corpus callosum. https://t.co/9F50Kt7QkJ

[Alex Naka @gottapatchemall]

My colleagues at Science published their work on a photovoltaic device for vision restoration in NEJM today

The device, "PRIMA", has made it possible for some legally blind patients to do things like read and play the crossword again

[Randy Bruno @TheBrunoCortex]

The 38th Barrels Meeting
November 13–14, 2025
(just before #SfN)
UC San Diego

Registrants may submit requests for short talks and poster presentations.

Invited speaker list and registration link in replies ⬇️

[Ian Antón Oldenburg @ianOldenburg]

The Oldenburg lab is looking for a postdoc! If you want to use holographic optogenetics to answer questions about neural codes let me know. We like shooting lasers and thinking about movement.
https://t.co/v16jkOacqy

[Nature Neuroscience @NatureNeuro]

Bilateral integration in somatosensory cortex is controlled by behavioral relevance

@LabPluta @HayagreevKeri @Hyein_Park_

https://t.co/dkSdgXo5zK

[Hayley Bounds @HayleyBounds]

Very excited to share my PhD project, out today in Neuron! Check out the thread below for my best attempt at a high-level summary.
https://t.co/9qoC86L34y

[Earl K. Miller @MillerLabMIT]

New paper!
Cognitive independence and interactions between cerebral hemispheres
https://t.co/V2CXbagkli
#neuroscience

[Pluta Lab @LabPluta]

@MillerLabMIT Thanks, Earl! It brings me real satisfaction to see this long overdue piece in the whisker system puzzle come to fruition. Suma's implementation of the LNP model was on point. It amazes me how well SC neurons predict movements - past, present, and future!

[Earl K. Miller @MillerLabMIT]

Neurons just keep mixing their selectivity.
Whisking and locomotion are jointly represented in superior colliculus neurons
https://t.co/gibYd481tH
#neuroscience

[Pluta Lab @LabPluta]

@bsauerbrei1 Gait is modified by sensory feedback only at certain phases of limb movement?

[Pluta Lab @LabPluta]

@mousejesus @kwanalexc @ItsClaraLiao @NIH @NIMHgov @Nature But can mice make corrective tongue movements while tripping on shrooms?!

[Pluta Lab @LabPluta]

@gottapatchemall IT cells are just there for structural support.

[Pluta Lab @LabPluta]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[Yuqi Liu @YuqiLiu95703261]

Super excited to share this new preprint, a project since I was with @ProfJaredMedina and in collaboration with @JeffMYau, @cogscimon, and H. Branch Coslett. We studied motor and somatosensory reorganization in two cases in which left S1 was severely damaged but M1 was intact.

[Raven Baxter, Ph.D. @ravenscimaven]

They meant transgender mice. Exactly what they said. Not transgenic mice.

[The Transmitter @_TheTransmitter]

We must learn to showcase the practical significance of basic research, demonstrating how seemingly arcane investigations yield transformative applications, writes @tonyzador.
https://t.co/ubDna7R5zo

[Ana Inacio @ana_rita_inacio]

I am thrilled to share my postdoc work from the Soohyun Lee Lab, https://t.co/iEF9fpTBuZ. Huge thanks to the awesome PI Soohyun Lee and collaborators Yuan Zhao, Ka Chun Lam, @fpereira, and Charles R Gerfen.

[Sen. Lisa Murkowski @lisamurkowski]

This week started with administration officials refusing to acknowledge that Russia started the war in Ukraine. It ends with a tense, shocking conversation in the Oval Office and whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine. I know foreign policy is not for the faint of heart, but right now, I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.

[Ann L. Jennerich, MD MS ATSF @aclong111]

NIH study sections are being canceled or postponed at the last minute, wasting countless hours of scientists' time and delaying critical research funding. This instability threatens scientific progress and patient care. @NIH needs to fix this - fast. #NIHStudySection

@theNCI @nih_nhlbi @NIHFunding @NIHDirector

[Anita Devineni @BrainsExplained]

I'm quoted in this article on how NIH is still blocked from funding new grants.
This sabotage makes no sense. Nearly every medicine or treatment you've ever received has roots in NIH-funded research, and every $1 of NIH spending generates $2.46 in returns.
https://t.co/rBygM2Mtdm

[The Transmitter @_TheTransmitter]

A large portion of grants awarded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health cannot be funded for the foreseeable future because of an indefinite hold on submissions to the Federal Register, according to an email reviewed by The Transmitter.
By @avaskham
https://t.co/X77uE19e0J