Behavioral neuroscience research often requires substantial financial investment in specialized equipment and software, creating barriers for new investigators and limiting the flexibility of established laboratories. This study explores how 3D printing and machine learning can be combined to reduce startup and operational costs while maintaining research quality. Using 3D printing, we designed and manufactured a mouse T-maze and elevated plus maze to assess cognition and anxiety-like behaviors in male mice. These custom-built mazes demonstrated comparable efficacy with commercial alternatives while offering greater affordability, scalability, and customization. To complement the hardware, we integrated machine learning for automated tracking and analysis of mouse behavior, achieving accuracy equivalent to commercial solutions or experienced human scoring at significantly reduced cost. By combining 3D printing with machine learning, our approach significantly lowers financial barriers for new investigators...

Childhood epilepsy is a challenging and often devastating condition. A significant proportion of children experience drug-resistant seizures, which have a substantial impact on their quality of life. For these patients, surgical therapeutic removal of the epileptogenic brain tissue may be necessary. This procedure also provides a unique opportunity to characterize human epileptic neurons and the mechanisms of ictogenesis in vitro. A recent study (Kushner et al., 2025) takes advantage of postoperative tissue to investigate the role of distinct neuronal subtypes in mediating epileptic activity in the context of pediatric epilepsy. A review of epilepsy surgeries reveals that 25% of cases are pediatric (Blumcke et al., 2017). Among these patients, 40% exhibit malformations of cortical development (MCD), including focal cortical dysplasia, hemimegaloencephaly, and tuberous sclerosis complex. In recent years, studies in both rodents and humans have examined the specific roles of different cell types and corti...

Current research strives to investigate cognitive processes under natural conditions. Virtual reality and EEG are promising techniques combining naturalistic settings with close experimental control. However, many questions and technical challenges remain, e.g., are saccade onsets a suitable replacement of fixation onsets as key events in continuous gaze trajectories ( [Amme et al., 2024][1]), and consequently, can VR capture differences across different stimulus categories associated with varying saccade durations? To address both questions, we investigate the N170 face effect in humans (14 males, 19 females, zero diverse) using a free-viewing and free-movement immersive VR study that contained houses, various background stimuli, and, notably, static and moving pedestrians to study face perception under naturalistic conditions. Our results show that aligning trials to saccade onsets leads to more well-defined ERPs than fixation onsets, especially for the P100 component, demonstrating that saccade-onset ER...

Why we need neuro-psychiatric monitoring and registries during the Global Pandemic There is a growing awareness of COVID-19-associated CNS dysfunction likely caused by SARS-CoV-2 direct or indirect CNS invasion. This raises the possibility of a neuro-phenotype of COVID-19 with acute and delayed neuro-psychiatric effects. To this end, a few groups are advocating for prospective trials to monitor the evolution of neurologic symptoms associated with COVID-19 as well as the establishment of International COVID-19 Neurologic Registries. There are multiple potential benefits to neuro-psych registries and clinical trials.

Four years ago, in my second year of graduate school, I wrote about coping with failure as a graduate student. I was frustrated I couldn’t answer scientific questions because I was spending all of my time trying to get basic techniques to work. Since then, I continued to experience disappointment, both in and out of the lab. I’ve recently been reflecting on what I would now tell my younger self, and I’m sharing those thoughts in the hope that they might help someone else. Let yourself grieve. When we experience disappointment, there’s a sharp emotional response. That response has to pass before we can evaluate what happened and decide what to do next. The first few times we’re disappointed, it takes a long time to process and dispel our negative feelings. Eventually, we begin to heal from disappointment faster. We can’t force rational processes onto emotion – emotions happen in their own time, through a system older and deeper than our executive functioning. But we can understand how our own feelings work and create space for them to happen and to minimize the damage they inflict on our lives. That can mean taking an afternoon or day to sulk after a frustrating experiment or “not discussed” grant application. The pain will eventually subside, and then you can think. And each time, with each disappointment, the cycle will get shorter.

Recent studies in the field of neuroscience illustrate the importance of creativity across our life spans. Using examples such as ballet lessons before kindergarten, band practice in college, and music therapy following a stroke, among others, this Public Advocacy Forum panel explore how and why the arts influence us so deeply and how we can use creativity to be healthier and more productive throughout our lives.

After watching the video below, join us February 10th at 1:00pm for a live chat on the Neuronline Community and learn about the ways you can incorporate more sustainable practices in your work, and ask your questions on how to help move the field towards an environmentally friendly framework This special interest event from the FENS (Federation of European Neuroscience Societies) 2020 Virtual Forum offered an opportunity to discuss what scientists can do to adopt a more sustainable model for life sciences. The organizers presented the results of a small survey performed among neuroscientists and their research institutes to trigger discussion and start identifying solutions regarding the environmental footprint of the life science community. A panel of academics, activists, and life science industry representatives, among others, shared their viewpoints and experiences implementing concrete actions towards an environmentally friendly life science framework. Learn more and check out the conversations in the video (above or below). Organized by FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence (FKNE).

This playlist walks through the entire process of deciding when to write, how to write, and where to publish your manuscript. Verity Brown, editor-in-chief of Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, discusses many helpful tips and tricks that these videos can help any neuroscientist learn new things about getting published.

Material below summarizes the article, Vibrational Detection of Odorant Functional Groups by Drosophila Melanogaster, published on October 26, 2017, in eNeuro and authored by Klio Maniati, Katherine-Joanne Haralambous, Luca Turin, and Efthimios M.C. Skoulakis. We are interested in tests that could help decide between the vibrational theory of odor and the lock-and-key theory, a controversial question in the field of olfaction. Is odor character of a molecule determined by its shape or its vibrations? In a shape theory, the smell of an odorant is encoded in the shape of the odorant molecule, which in turn determines the receptors in which it fits. This is a lock-and-key theory: the shapes of both locks and keys matter to the pattern of receptor activation. Picture a thought experiment in which the shapes of the olfactory receptor binding sites are all altered, while leaving wiring identical to the brain. The receptor activation pattern will be different, and therefore odorants will be perceived to have a different smell or odor character.

Lionel Rodriguez is a neuroscience PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins. In this interview, Lionel discusses dealing with implicit bias and imposter syndrome. As a Gay, Latinx scientist, he also gives his hopes for the future of approaching discussions of equitable treatment and inclusion of historically marginalized communities in STEM.