Matt Smear
@mattsmear.bsky.social
Associate professor, University of Oregon
Follows your nose
Follows your nose
Pinned
Matt Smear
@mattsmear.bsky.social
· Nov 22
Sniffing helps animals identify smells and connect them to places and events, but noses can’t sense time or place.
How do brains connect odors with internal models of the world?
Our preprint suggests that the olfactory bulb participates in this connection.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How do brains connect odors with internal models of the world?
Our preprint suggests that the olfactory bulb participates in this connection.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The human brain modulates sniffs according to fine-grained perceptual features of odours
rdcu.be/eP16z
rdcu.be/eP16z
The human brain modulates sniffs according to fine-grained perceptual features of odours
Nature Human Behaviour - Sagar et al. show that human sniff behaviour is sensitive to the perceptual characteristics of the odour being detected.
rdcu.be
November 15, 2025 at 7:03 AM
The human brain modulates sniffs according to fine-grained perceptual features of odours
rdcu.be/eP16z
rdcu.be/eP16z
Reposted by Matt Smear
#Oregon: Just months after the historic removal of four major dams on the Klamath River, scientists and tribal leaders are stunned by what they’re seeing—salmon are returning in far greater numbers, and much faster, than anyone expected. www.activenorcal.com/salmon-are-s...
Salmon Are Surging Far Beyond Expectations After Klamath River Dam Removal
Just months after the historic removal of four major dams on the Klamath River, scientists and tribal leaders are stunned by what they’re seeing—salmon are returning in far greater numbers, and much f...
www.activenorcal.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:13 AM
#Oregon: Just months after the historic removal of four major dams on the Klamath River, scientists and tribal leaders are stunned by what they’re seeing—salmon are returning in far greater numbers, and much faster, than anyone expected. www.activenorcal.com/salmon-are-s...
Reposted by Matt Smear
Our latest profile is here! Dr. Susana Lima studies mate selection and female sexual behavior. Follow the link below to learn more!
#StoriesOfWiN #WomenInNeuroscience
www.storiesofwin.org/profiles/202...
#StoriesOfWiN #WomenInNeuroscience
www.storiesofwin.org/profiles/202...
Dr. Susana Lima — Stories of WiN
studies mate selection and female sexual behavior
www.storiesofwin.org
October 16, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Our latest profile is here! Dr. Susana Lima studies mate selection and female sexual behavior. Follow the link below to learn more!
#StoriesOfWiN #WomenInNeuroscience
www.storiesofwin.org/profiles/202...
#StoriesOfWiN #WomenInNeuroscience
www.storiesofwin.org/profiles/202...
Reposted by Matt Smear
DOI is not up yet, but this is the link:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Head-direction cells as a neural compass in bats navigating outdoors on a remote oceanic island
Animals and humans rely on their navigation skills to survive. However, spatial neurons in the brain’s “navigation circuit” had not previously been studied under real-world conditions. We conducted an...
www.science.org
October 16, 2025 at 6:07 PM
DOI is not up yet, but this is the link:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Matt Smear
New tenure track faculty position in glia and/or neurovascular coupling! Please come join us!
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30864
#neurosky #neuroskyence #glia #neurojobs
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30864
#neurosky #neuroskyence #glia #neurojobs
University of Oregon, Department of Human Physiology
Job #AJO30864, Assistant/Associate Professor of Human Physiology with a Glia and Neurovascular focus, Department of Human Physiology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, US
academicjobsonline.org
October 15, 2025 at 5:40 PM
New tenure track faculty position in glia and/or neurovascular coupling! Please come join us!
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30864
#neurosky #neuroskyence #glia #neurojobs
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30864
#neurosky #neuroskyence #glia #neurojobs
Reposted by Matt Smear
If you've been hearing a lot about "AI Scientists" and wondered how much is real, how much is hype, and what's possible, so have I. So I spent some time thinking about it and this came out.
open.substack.com/pub/ubadah/p...
open.substack.com/pub/ubadah/p...
October 13, 2025 at 2:01 AM
If you've been hearing a lot about "AI Scientists" and wondered how much is real, how much is hype, and what's possible, so have I. So I spent some time thinking about it and this came out.
open.substack.com/pub/ubadah/p...
open.substack.com/pub/ubadah/p...
October 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Matt Smear
Very excited and proud to share my postdoctoral research with @neurrriot.bsky.social looking at the context-specific encoding of social behavior 💃🕺 in hormone-sensitive, large-scale brain networks in mice!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky 🧪
1/12
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky 🧪
1/12
September 25, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Very excited and proud to share my postdoctoral research with @neurrriot.bsky.social looking at the context-specific encoding of social behavior 💃🕺 in hormone-sensitive, large-scale brain networks in mice!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky 🧪
1/12
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky 🧪
1/12
Reposted by Matt Smear
A POSTDOCTORAL POSITION ON THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT: We are recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to work on a Neurobiology in Changing Ecosystems (NiCE) award from NSF and the Kavli Foundation (www.kavlifoundation.org/news/kavli-a...).
Kavli and NSF Announce New Grant Awards to Advance Neurobiology in…
An initiative to explore how nervous systems function and evolve in dynamic natural environments
www.kavlifoundation.org
September 19, 2025 at 12:09 AM
A POSTDOCTORAL POSITION ON THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT: We are recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to work on a Neurobiology in Changing Ecosystems (NiCE) award from NSF and the Kavli Foundation (www.kavlifoundation.org/news/kavli-a...).
Reposted by Matt Smear
The BioE department at the @uoknightcampus.bsky.social is hiring 2 complementary TTF neuroengineering positions!
We're looking for someone with expertise in experimental & translational neuroengineering and someone else with expertise in computational & data-science neuroengineering.
#neurosky
We're looking for someone with expertise in experimental & translational neuroengineering and someone else with expertise in computational & data-science neuroengineering.
#neurosky
September 10, 2025 at 6:54 PM
The BioE department at the @uoknightcampus.bsky.social is hiring 2 complementary TTF neuroengineering positions!
We're looking for someone with expertise in experimental & translational neuroengineering and someone else with expertise in computational & data-science neuroengineering.
#neurosky
We're looking for someone with expertise in experimental & translational neuroengineering and someone else with expertise in computational & data-science neuroengineering.
#neurosky
Reposted by Matt Smear
Fluorescent proteins can now act as qubits 🤯
This opens the door for single cell MRI in vivo and highly localized sensors that map magnetic fields, temperature gradients, etc. Insane.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This opens the door for single cell MRI in vivo and highly localized sensors that map magnetic fields, temperature gradients, etc. Insane.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A fluorescent-protein spin qubit - Nature
An optically addressable fluorescent-protein spin qubit is realized using enhanced yellow fluorescent protein; the qubit can be coherently controlled at liquid-nitrogen temperatures and the spin detec...
www.nature.com
September 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Fluorescent proteins can now act as qubits 🤯
This opens the door for single cell MRI in vivo and highly localized sensors that map magnetic fields, temperature gradients, etc. Insane.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This opens the door for single cell MRI in vivo and highly localized sensors that map magnetic fields, temperature gradients, etc. Insane.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Matt Smear
“If everything is everywhere, why have distinct areas? Here we show that the function of a brain area is more related to how different types of information are combined (formatted) in neural representations than merely whether that information is present.”
New results for a new year! “Linking neural population formatting to function” describes our modern take on an old question: how can we understand the contribution of a brain area to behavior?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧠👩🏻🔬🧪🧵
#neuroskyence
1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧠👩🏻🔬🧪🧵
#neuroskyence
1/
Linking neural population formatting to function
Animals capable of complex behaviors tend to have more distinct brain areas than simpler organisms, and artificial networks that perform many tasks tend to self-organize into modules (1-3). This sugge...
www.biorxiv.org
September 7, 2025 at 4:32 PM
“If everything is everywhere, why have distinct areas? Here we show that the function of a brain area is more related to how different types of information are combined (formatted) in neural representations than merely whether that information is present.”
“Instead of a joker to occasionally confuse the student of behavior, nonsensory activities appear in every fall of the cards and must make up a large share of the deck. Neurophysiologically, it may even become a problem to account for any consistent effect of a specific stimulus."
Donald Hebb (1949)
Donald Hebb (1949)
September 4, 2025 at 7:13 PM
“Instead of a joker to occasionally confuse the student of behavior, nonsensory activities appear in every fall of the cards and must make up a large share of the deck. Neurophysiologically, it may even become a problem to account for any consistent effect of a specific stimulus."
Donald Hebb (1949)
Donald Hebb (1949)
Reposted by Matt Smear
Speaking with 20+ years of experience, I strongly believe that if these guys had done their experiment in primate instead of mouse, they would have gotten exactly the same results.
E.g.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
E.g.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Choice-relevant information transformation along a ventrodorsal axis in the medial prefrontal cortex - Nature Communications
Choice-relevant computations across the medial prefrontal cortex differ only quantitatively between areas. Here the authors suggest these computations may be organized along a functional gradient.
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Speaking with 20+ years of experience, I strongly believe that if these guys had done their experiment in primate instead of mouse, they would have gotten exactly the same results.
E.g.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
E.g.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Matt Smear
We watched mice follow scent trails drawn on an “endless” treadmill. By manipulating trail geometry/statistics, perturbing mouse nose & brain, and modeling behavior with a Bayesian framework, we show that mice use predictive (rather than reactive) strategies.
September 1, 2025 at 7:07 PM
We watched mice follow scent trails drawn on an “endless” treadmill. By manipulating trail geometry/statistics, perturbing mouse nose & brain, and modeling behavior with a Bayesian framework, we show that mice use predictive (rather than reactive) strategies.
Reposted by Matt Smear
We’re searching for a Developmental Neuroscientist! Building on UO’s rich tradition in the field, we’re excited to welcome the next scientist to carry it forward.
The University of Oregon is searching for an Assistant Professor with a focus on Developmental Neuroscience. We are excited to have you come join us - apply!
Application information can be found at: careers.uoregon.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Application information can be found at: careers.uoregon.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Current Opportunities | UO HR Website
careers.uoregon.edu
August 20, 2025 at 3:47 PM
We’re searching for a Developmental Neuroscientist! Building on UO’s rich tradition in the field, we’re excited to welcome the next scientist to carry it forward.
August 27, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Matt Smear
Latest from the lab. Beautiful work from Joanna Lau and a fantastic collaboration with James Fitzgerald.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Supraspinal commands have a modular organization that is behavioral context specific
Lau et al. use calcium imaging and statistical modeling to comprehensively survey
reticulospinal activity during diverse locomotor behaviors. They find that a small
set of functional modules act combi...
www.cell.com
August 23, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Latest from the lab. Beautiful work from Joanna Lau and a fantastic collaboration with James Fitzgerald.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
We’re searching for a Developmental Neuroscientist! Building on UO’s rich tradition in the field, we’re excited to welcome the next scientist to carry it forward.
The University of Oregon is searching for an Assistant Professor with a focus on Developmental Neuroscience. We are excited to have you come join us - apply!
Application information can be found at: careers.uoregon.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Application information can be found at: careers.uoregon.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Current Opportunities | UO HR Website
careers.uoregon.edu
August 20, 2025 at 3:47 PM
We’re searching for a Developmental Neuroscientist! Building on UO’s rich tradition in the field, we’re excited to welcome the next scientist to carry it forward.
Reposted by Matt Smear
Proud to share Kai Clane Belonio’s latest work in our lab. Kai showed that induced-depression decreases behavioral tolerance of aversive odorants as well as increases in neuroinflammation in sensory affective areas. Also contributing are @nervenkidd.bsky.social and Eyerusalem Haile.
Neuroinflammation in Olfactory Circuits Underlies Odor Hypersensitivity in a Rodent Model of Depression https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.14.670114v1
August 20, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Proud to share Kai Clane Belonio’s latest work in our lab. Kai showed that induced-depression decreases behavioral tolerance of aversive odorants as well as increases in neuroinflammation in sensory affective areas. Also contributing are @nervenkidd.bsky.social and Eyerusalem Haile.
the psychophysicist’s “noise” is an experimental subject’s ________ ?
Ramanujan Srinath collected & analyzed many data sets including Amy Ni’s, Yunlong (Draco) Xu & Brent Doiron modeled, & Doug did a causal experiment. The key is: when noise and signal come from the same circuit (they must!), then smart, flexible decisions have a strong relationship with noise. 4/
August 15, 2025 at 5:36 PM
the psychophysicist’s “noise” is an experimental subject’s ________ ?
maybe “noise” isn’t the best word for it?
@ramanujan-s.bsky.social and a fantastic team of coauthors figured out a resolution: we propose that correlated variability isn’t noise that corrupts a signal or something to ignore. It reflects the activity in the population that is read out to guide behavior. 3/
August 15, 2025 at 5:32 PM
maybe “noise” isn’t the best word for it?
Reposted by Matt Smear
Hmm: Correlated variability in sensory neurons (how much responses fluctuate together) is related to behavior: it’s modulated by attention, learning, & motivation and related to individual decisions. But because it's low-D, in theory its effect on behavior should be small. What’s up with that? 2/
a husky puppy is laying on the floor with its tongue out and wearing a blue collar .
ALT: a husky puppy is laying on the floor with its tongue out and wearing a blue collar .
media.tenor.com
August 15, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Hmm: Correlated variability in sensory neurons (how much responses fluctuate together) is related to behavior: it’s modulated by attention, learning, & motivation and related to individual decisions. But because it's low-D, in theory its effect on behavior should be small. What’s up with that? 2/
Reposted by Matt Smear
Ramanujan Srinath collected & analyzed many data sets including Amy Ni’s, Yunlong (Draco) Xu & Brent Doiron modeled, & Doug did a causal experiment. The key is: when noise and signal come from the same circuit (they must!), then smart, flexible decisions have a strong relationship with noise. 4/
August 15, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Ramanujan Srinath collected & analyzed many data sets including Amy Ni’s, Yunlong (Draco) Xu & Brent Doiron modeled, & Doug did a causal experiment. The key is: when noise and signal come from the same circuit (they must!), then smart, flexible decisions have a strong relationship with noise. 4/