Yuval Nir
@labnir.bsky.social
93 followers 27 following 39 posts
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labnir.bsky.social
Proud and delighted to deliver the keynote presentation at “Sleep Down Under 2025” Adelaide, organized by the Australasian Sleep Association #SleepDownUnder
Reposted by Yuval Nir
oyiz.bsky.social
Excited to share our latest paper - now out in @science.org - we showed how oxytocin modulates maternally-directed behavior in young mice (P15).
labnir.bsky.social
and to alumni and colleagues for valuable feedback and inputs Hanna Hayat, Yaniv Sela, @innaslutsky.bsky.social
@oyiz.bsky.social

🙏
labnir.bsky.social
(6/6)

✨ Take-home: LC neurons are not a single unitary arousal system.

LC→PRN brainstem pathway is critical for sound-evoked awakening

Thanks to team 🙌 led by amazing
@nmatosevich.bsky.social , Noa Regev, U. Kimchi, N. Zelinger,
@SinaKabaha Amit Marmelstein @noamgabay.bsky.social
labnir.bsky.social
(5/6)

What happens if you silence LC synapses?

Using an optoGPCR (PdCO), we found that shutting down LC→PRN boosts sigma power and deepens NREM sleep. Silencing both PRN + BF was even more effective.
labnir.bsky.social
(4/6)

Timing is everything ⏱️

Optogenetic activation showed that sound-evoked awakening depends on which LC neurons are active AND when they fire - synchrony with the sound is key.
labnir.bsky.social
(3/6)

Here’s the twist: only the LC→PRN pathway shows a fast NE surge when sounds are played during sleep.

That rapid signal predicts whether the sound will wake the mouse.
labnir.bsky.social
(2/6)

Not all LC pathways are the same 👀

We compared LC projections to the basal forebrain (BF) and to the brainstem pontine reticular nucleus (PRN).
They turned out to be partially distinct populations.
labnir.bsky.social
🚨 New paper alert! 🚨(1/6)

Excited to share our work, out now in Science Advances

We show that a rapid norepinephrine surge along a brainstem pathway (LC→PRN) is a key driver of sound-evoked awakenings
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
An early surge of norepinephrine along brainstem pathways drives sensory-evoked awakening
The locus coeruleus has a specialized pathway to the brainstem that controls sound-evoked awakening from sleep.
www.science.org
labnir.bsky.social
Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning:

Congratulations to my colleagues Rony Paz, Ido Strauss, Firas Fahoum for landing this exciting paper in Nature!

rdcu.be/eCJLb
Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning
Nature - Human exploration is driven by two distinct neural mechanisms, a valence-independent rate signal and a valence-dependent global noise signal.
rdcu.be
Reposted by Yuval Nir
omersharon.bsky.social
No one ever steps in the same movie twice. Anticipatory gaze 👁️ indicate episodic memory seconds before an event occurs. 🧠🐾 Very robust effects across both natural and crafted movies, and of course, after sleep! 😴. Out today in Communication Psychology:
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Check it out!
Anticipatory eye gaze as a marker of memory - Communications Psychology
Anticipatory eye movements during repeated movie viewing reveal when and what is remembered. Gaze patterns correlate with explicit reports, offering a method to detect memory for events without verbal...
www.nature.com
labnir.bsky.social
Had a brilliant time at #SXSWLondon Corundum Neuroscience panel discussing the future of sleep - issues ranging from monitoring health, through unique interventions, recording EEG via earbuds, to disengaging from ruminations falling asleep & lucid dreaming w/ Caroline Lustenberger, Simon Bachmann