Michael Lin, MD PhD
@michaelzlin.bsky.social
Harvard → UCLA → HMS → UCSD → Associate Prof. of Neurobiology & Bioengineering at Stanford → Molecules, medicines, & SARSCoV2. Bad manners blocked.
The Lin Lab is excited to bring voltage imaging to #SfN2025!
On Tuesday we'll present new ASAP sensors for spikes and subthreshold potentials, showing how even simple equipment can record multi-unit electrical activity "at the speed of thought"
See you in San Diego @sfn.org!
On Tuesday we'll present new ASAP sensors for spikes and subthreshold potentials, showing how even simple equipment can record multi-unit electrical activity "at the speed of thought"
See you in San Diego @sfn.org!
November 15, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Head-mounted 2-photon miniscope voltage imaging!
Weijian Yang's group at UC Davis sped up 2p scanning by multiplexing to achieve 400-Hz voltage imaging of ~20 neurons, using ASAP4e
These are the first freely moving single-cell voltage recordings as far as I know.
URL: www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Weijian Yang's group at UC Davis sped up 2p scanning by multiplexing to achieve 400-Hz voltage imaging of ~20 neurons, using ASAP4e
These are the first freely moving single-cell voltage recordings as far as I know.
URL: www.cell.com/cell-reports...
High-speed neural imaging with multiplexed miniaturized two-photon microscopy
Zhang et al. develop two types of multiplexed miniaturized two-photon microscopes
(M-MINI2Ps) that increase imaging speed via beam multiplexing while preserving spatial
resolution and demonstrate thei...
www.cell.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Head-mounted 2-photon miniscope voltage imaging!
Weijian Yang's group at UC Davis sped up 2p scanning by multiplexing to achieve 400-Hz voltage imaging of ~20 neurons, using ASAP4e
These are the first freely moving single-cell voltage recordings as far as I know.
URL: www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Weijian Yang's group at UC Davis sped up 2p scanning by multiplexing to achieve 400-Hz voltage imaging of ~20 neurons, using ASAP4e
These are the first freely moving single-cell voltage recordings as far as I know.
URL: www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
A pan-KRAS inhibitor and its derived degrader elicit multifaceted anti-tumor efficacy in KRAS-driven cancers www.cell.com/cancer-cell...
November 5, 2025 at 3:15 PM
A pan-KRAS inhibitor and its derived degrader elicit multifaceted anti-tumor efficacy in KRAS-driven cancers www.cell.com/cancer-cell...
Was up until 5:30 am writing a grant, then up again at 730 for another full day to finish it today. Now done! 🎉
As academics know, it's not one job. It might be 4. With funding rates at 5%, grant-writing is 1 full-time job. Then there's letters, reviews, committee work, teaching — endless deadlines
As academics know, it's not one job. It might be 4. With funding rates at 5%, grant-writing is 1 full-time job. Then there's letters, reviews, committee work, teaching — endless deadlines
November 6, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Was up until 5:30 am writing a grant, then up again at 730 for another full day to finish it today. Now done! 🎉
As academics know, it's not one job. It might be 4. With funding rates at 5%, grant-writing is 1 full-time job. Then there's letters, reviews, committee work, teaching — endless deadlines
As academics know, it's not one job. It might be 4. With funding rates at 5%, grant-writing is 1 full-time job. Then there's letters, reviews, committee work, teaching — endless deadlines
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
Excited to share our latest @nature.com: How does naloxone (Narcan) stop an opioid overdose? We determined the first GDP-bound μ-opioid receptor–G protein structures and found naloxone traps a novel "latent” state, preventing GDP release and G protein activation.💊🧪 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 5, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Excited to share our latest @nature.com: How does naloxone (Narcan) stop an opioid overdose? We determined the first GDP-bound μ-opioid receptor–G protein structures and found naloxone traps a novel "latent” state, preventing GDP release and G protein activation.💊🧪 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
My daughter made a series of Halloween cats using air clay. Can you recognize them all?
October 21, 2025 at 7:12 PM
My daughter made a series of Halloween cats using air clay. Can you recognize them all?
Had the pleasure of visiting Prague as part of an advisory commission for the Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Biotechnology. Got to check out exciting science and the impressive ultra-high resolution MS machine.
Great to see people working hard to expand knowledge, with public support too!
Great to see people working hard to expand knowledge, with public support too!
September 30, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Had the pleasure of visiting Prague as part of an advisory commission for the Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Biotechnology. Got to check out exciting science and the impressive ultra-high resolution MS machine.
Great to see people working hard to expand knowledge, with public support too!
Great to see people working hard to expand knowledge, with public support too!
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
I cannot overstate how remarkable it is that under GOP rule, US federal health regulations have been captured by fringe crackpots who espouse views that the vast majority of the US public—and nearly 100% of health professionals—reject.
Gift link:
Gift link:
Kennedy’s Vaccine Panel Votes to Limit Access to Covid Shots
www.nytimes.com
September 20, 2025 at 4:18 AM
I cannot overstate how remarkable it is that under GOP rule, US federal health regulations have been captured by fringe crackpots who espouse views that the vast majority of the US public—and nearly 100% of health professionals—reject.
Gift link:
Gift link:
First clouds over Stanford since spring
September 11, 2025 at 1:30 AM
First clouds over Stanford since spring
I think having an arbitrary threshold for statistical significance does more harm than good. It creates artificially black or white conclusions (there was a significant difference or not, with the word significant often omittted leading to bad misunderstandings) when knowledge is actually all gray.
August 28, 2025 at 3:44 PM
I think having an arbitrary threshold for statistical significance does more harm than good. It creates artificially black or white conclusions (there was a significant difference or not, with the word significant often omittted leading to bad misunderstandings) when knowledge is actually all gray.
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
“A legitimate PhD-level expert in anything,” they said.
“Show me a diagram of the US presidents since FDR, with their names and years in office under their photos,” I said.
“Show me a diagram of the US presidents since FDR, with their names and years in office under their photos,” I said.
August 8, 2025 at 6:54 PM
“A legitimate PhD-level expert in anything,” they said.
“Show me a diagram of the US presidents since FDR, with their names and years in office under their photos,” I said.
“Show me a diagram of the US presidents since FDR, with their names and years in office under their photos,” I said.
And now the 3rd paper this week using ASAP-family voltage indicators in mice to look at fast neuronal activity.
In this case, collaborators Jiannis Taxidis and Peyman Golshani used ASAP3 to record spiking in PV and SST interneurons in the hippocampus.
Published yesterday in @natneuro.nature.com
In this case, collaborators Jiannis Taxidis and Peyman Golshani used ASAP3 to record spiking in PV and SST interneurons in the hippocampus.
Published yesterday in @natneuro.nature.com
Voltage imaging in mouse hippocampus reveals that interneurons sharpen memory encoding-activity by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of pyramidal neuron sensory representations during working memory
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Voltage imaging reveals hippocampal inhibitory dynamics shaping pyramidal memory-encoding sequences - Nature Neuroscience
Using voltage imaging, the authors show that interneurons in the hippocampus sharpen memory-encoding-activity by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of pyramidal neuron sensory representations during...
www.nature.com
July 24, 2025 at 9:55 PM
And now the 3rd paper this week using ASAP-family voltage indicators in mice to look at fast neuronal activity.
In this case, collaborators Jiannis Taxidis and Peyman Golshani used ASAP3 to record spiking in PV and SST interneurons in the hippocampus.
Published yesterday in @natneuro.nature.com
In this case, collaborators Jiannis Taxidis and Peyman Golshani used ASAP3 to record spiking in PV and SST interneurons in the hippocampus.
Published yesterday in @natneuro.nature.com
A negative side-effect of technological abundance is that it does not train people to deal with resource-limited conditions. Growing up with the easy ability to produce productivity outputs, people lose appreciation for, and ability to identify, creative and economically resourceful solutions.
July 20, 2025 at 7:57 PM
A negative side-effect of technological abundance is that it does not train people to deal with resource-limited conditions. Growing up with the easy ability to produce productivity outputs, people lose appreciation for, and ability to identify, creative and economically resourceful solutions.
Two voltage imaging studies in two days using ASAP fluorescent indicators.
First, visualizing electrical brain waves with ASAP3, in Cell. Free link below. Though recorded by EEG for 100 years, how brain waves arise from different neuron types has been unclear.
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
First, visualizing electrical brain waves with ASAP3, in Cell. Free link below. Though recorded by EEG for 100 years, how brain waves arise from different neuron types has been unclear.
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
authors.elsevier.com
July 17, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Two voltage imaging studies in two days using ASAP fluorescent indicators.
First, visualizing electrical brain waves with ASAP3, in Cell. Free link below. Though recorded by EEG for 100 years, how brain waves arise from different neuron types has been unclear.
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
First, visualizing electrical brain waves with ASAP3, in Cell. Free link below. Though recorded by EEG for 100 years, how brain waves arise from different neuron types has been unclear.
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
New powerful article up in the New York Times on cancelled and delayed grants
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Here Are the Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled or Delayed by Trump (Gift Article)
Some cuts have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye.
www.nytimes.com
June 4, 2025 at 3:01 PM
New powerful article up in the New York Times on cancelled and delayed grants
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Received a 2% (top 2%) score on a NIH R21 grant last fall, and it won't get funded.
This decision was made before the new administration, actually, showing that NIH has not lived up to its mission to fund the best science for a while. It's only going to get worse now with the budget cuts.
This decision was made before the new administration, actually, showing that NIH has not lived up to its mission to fund the best science for a while. It's only going to get worse now with the budget cuts.
June 3, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Received a 2% (top 2%) score on a NIH R21 grant last fall, and it won't get funded.
This decision was made before the new administration, actually, showing that NIH has not lived up to its mission to fund the best science for a while. It's only going to get worse now with the budget cuts.
This decision was made before the new administration, actually, showing that NIH has not lived up to its mission to fund the best science for a while. It's only going to get worse now with the budget cuts.
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
We had a tremendous conversation about these NIH cuts at @americanprogress.bsky.social with @hardeepsinghmd.bsky.social + @michaelzlin.bsky.social + @cdmenefee.bsky.social + @thehowie.bsky.social that was as timely in early April as it is today
www.americanprogress.org/events/resea...
www.americanprogress.org/events/resea...
Research in Ruin: Slashing the NIH Will Stifle Development of Lifesaving Medical Treatments and Harm the Economy
Please join the Center for American Progress for the next in a series of virtual events highlighting the impact that DOGE’s cuts are having on the lives of everyday Americans; this event will focus on...
www.americanprogress.org
May 29, 2025 at 2:51 PM
We had a tremendous conversation about these NIH cuts at @americanprogress.bsky.social with @hardeepsinghmd.bsky.social + @michaelzlin.bsky.social + @cdmenefee.bsky.social + @thehowie.bsky.social that was as timely in early April as it is today
www.americanprogress.org/events/resea...
www.americanprogress.org/events/resea...
Academia has turned into industry, in that grants and papers are awarded based on measurable productivity metrics. The use of each dollar granted is increasingly scrutinized and costs are driven down through competition.
Being an academic feels like running a mom-and-pop CRO sometimes.
Being an academic feels like running a mom-and-pop CRO sometimes.
May 15, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Academia has turned into industry, in that grants and papers are awarded based on measurable productivity metrics. The use of each dollar granted is increasingly scrutinized and costs are driven down through competition.
Being an academic feels like running a mom-and-pop CRO sometimes.
Being an academic feels like running a mom-and-pop CRO sometimes.
If you're interested in optical reporting of neuronal activity, and can get to Venice, there are a couple of spots left at the Neuroscience School of Advanced Studies in Neurophotonics, 5/31 to 6/7.
www.neurosas.org/advanced-cou...
www.neurosas.org/advanced-cou...
May 9, 2025 at 2:55 PM
If you're interested in optical reporting of neuronal activity, and can get to Venice, there are a couple of spots left at the Neuroscience School of Advanced Studies in Neurophotonics, 5/31 to 6/7.
www.neurosas.org/advanced-cou...
www.neurosas.org/advanced-cou...
It's Star Wars day, so what am I doing?
Submitting two papers, of course
Submitting two papers, of course
May 4, 2025 at 9:35 PM
It's Star Wars day, so what am I doing?
Submitting two papers, of course
Submitting two papers, of course
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
Our new paper is out in Science.
What is the synaptic plasticity rule in the brain, we asked. It turns out there are multiple, even within individual neurons.
Congrats Jake!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
What is the synaptic plasticity rule in the brain, we asked. It turns out there are multiple, even within individual neurons.
Congrats Jake!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Distinct synaptic plasticity rules operate across dendritic compartments in vivo during learning
Synaptic plasticity underlies learning by modifying specific synaptic inputs to reshape neural activity and behavior. However, the rules governing which synapses will undergo different forms of plasti...
www.science.org
April 17, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Our new paper is out in Science.
What is the synaptic plasticity rule in the brain, we asked. It turns out there are multiple, even within individual neurons.
Congrats Jake!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
What is the synaptic plasticity rule in the brain, we asked. It turns out there are multiple, even within individual neurons.
Congrats Jake!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
A very thoughtful Perspective on our recent paper by Ayelén Groisman and Johannes Letzkus. Thank you!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Dendritic arbors structure memories
Synapses on different dendritic domains store distinct types of information
www.science.org
April 21, 2025 at 9:53 PM
A very thoughtful Perspective on our recent paper by Ayelén Groisman and Johannes Letzkus. Thank you!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
Carl Sagan was prescient.
April 16, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Carl Sagan was prescient.
Alan Garber for President
(or any other person with a good heart and good brains willing to stand up for the rule of law... you know, traditional American qualities)
(or any other person with a good heart and good brains willing to stand up for the rule of law... you know, traditional American qualities)
April 15, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Alan Garber for President
(or any other person with a good heart and good brains willing to stand up for the rule of law... you know, traditional American qualities)
(or any other person with a good heart and good brains willing to stand up for the rule of law... you know, traditional American qualities)
Reposted by Michael Lin, MD PhD
Where do things stand with the Abrego Garcia case, and where will they go from here?
Via "One First," I look at the ridiculousness of the government's position and behavior; the options available to Judge Xinis; and the case's (mounting) broader ramifications:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/143-the-st...
Via "One First," I look at the ridiculousness of the government's position and behavior; the options available to Judge Xinis; and the case's (mounting) broader ramifications:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/143-the-st...
143. The State of Play in the Abrego Garcia Case
The Trump administration isn't defying the letter of Thursday's Supreme Court ruling. But it's daring the federal courts to take much more aggressive steps to block its immigration policies.
www.stevevladeck.com
April 15, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Where do things stand with the Abrego Garcia case, and where will they go from here?
Via "One First," I look at the ridiculousness of the government's position and behavior; the options available to Judge Xinis; and the case's (mounting) broader ramifications:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/143-the-st...
Via "One First," I look at the ridiculousness of the government's position and behavior; the options available to Judge Xinis; and the case's (mounting) broader ramifications:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/143-the-st...