Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
@neurokim.bsky.social
Neuro + AI Research Scientist at DeepMind; Affiliate Professor at Columbia Center for Theoretical Neuroscience.
Likes studying learning+memory, hippocampi, and other things brains have and do, too.
she/her.
Likes studying learning+memory, hippocampi, and other things brains have and do, too.
she/her.
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Researchers are using LLMs to analyze the literature, brainstorm hypotheses, build models and interact with complex datasets. Hear from @mschrimpf.bsky.social, @neurokim.bsky.social, @jeremymagland.bsky.social, @profdata.bsky.social and others.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/machine-lear...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/machine-lear...
How neuroscientists are using AI
Eight researchers explain how they are using large language models to analyze the literature, brainstorm hypotheses and interact with complex datasets.
www.thetransmitter.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Researchers are using LLMs to analyze the literature, brainstorm hypotheses, build models and interact with complex datasets. Hear from @mschrimpf.bsky.social, @neurokim.bsky.social, @jeremymagland.bsky.social, @profdata.bsky.social and others.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/machine-lear...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/machine-lear...
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Our summer program values mentorship as much as scientific skill-building, connecting Africa’s talents with experts in both #academia and #industry. Grateful to @neurokim.bsky.social & @ankahira.bsky.social for inspiring our 2025 cohort. @columbiauniversity.bsky.social @astra-zeneca.bsky.social
July 22, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Our summer program values mentorship as much as scientific skill-building, connecting Africa’s talents with experts in both #academia and #industry. Grateful to @neurokim.bsky.social & @ankahira.bsky.social for inspiring our 2025 cohort. @columbiauniversity.bsky.social @astra-zeneca.bsky.social
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
🧠 How do transformers learn relational reasoning? We trained small transformers on transitive inference (if A>B and B>C, then A>C) and discovered striking differences between learning paradigms. Our latest work reveals when and why AI systems generalize beyond training data 🤖
June 6, 2025 at 2:28 PM
🧠 How do transformers learn relational reasoning? We trained small transformers on transitive inference (if A>B and B>C, then A>C) and discovered striking differences between learning paradigms. Our latest work reveals when and why AI systems generalize beyond training data 🤖
New work on relational reasoning in transformers!
TLDR: Inductive biases of In-Weight and In-Context Learning in transformers are really different for relational reasoning, and pretraining can make a big difference for in-context.
Check out @jessegeerts.bsky.social's thread for more!
TLDR: Inductive biases of In-Weight and In-Context Learning in transformers are really different for relational reasoning, and pretraining can make a big difference for in-context.
Check out @jessegeerts.bsky.social's thread for more!
June 16, 2025 at 10:23 PM
New work on relational reasoning in transformers!
TLDR: Inductive biases of In-Weight and In-Context Learning in transformers are really different for relational reasoning, and pretraining can make a big difference for in-context.
Check out @jessegeerts.bsky.social's thread for more!
TLDR: Inductive biases of In-Weight and In-Context Learning in transformers are really different for relational reasoning, and pretraining can make a big difference for in-context.
Check out @jessegeerts.bsky.social's thread for more!
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
This is fucking insane
JUST IN: International students make up more than a quarter of Harvard University's student body. Harvard says the government's actions, which could cut off a major revenue stream, are "unlawful."
Trump administration revokes Harvard's ability to enroll international students
International students make up more than a quarter of Harvard University's student body. Harvard says the government's actions, which could cut off a major revenue stream, are "unlawful."
www.npr.org
May 23, 2025 at 2:25 AM
This is fucking insane
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
💥 Do we now have all the components necessary to reach #AGI, or are there more discoveries to be made? Can the study of the brain help provide them?
We tackle these questions and more at our Conference on the Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI in sun-soaked Split, Croatia:
www.neuromonster.org
We tackle these questions and more at our Conference on the Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI in sun-soaked Split, Croatia:
www.neuromonster.org
April 24, 2025 at 2:17 PM
💥 Do we now have all the components necessary to reach #AGI, or are there more discoveries to be made? Can the study of the brain help provide them?
We tackle these questions and more at our Conference on the Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI in sun-soaked Split, Croatia:
www.neuromonster.org
We tackle these questions and more at our Conference on the Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI in sun-soaked Split, Croatia:
www.neuromonster.org
Tomorrow is our @cosynemeeting.bsky.social workshop on Graph Neural Networks! From molecules to circuits to biomechanics to reasoning behaviors to social behaviors, neuroscience is rich with geometrically structured data.
Our goal: demystify GNNs, talk opportunities for 🧠
Our goal: demystify GNNs, talk opportunities for 🧠
@cosynemeeting.bsky.social Also! Don’t miss a 💡 insightful tutorial on GNNs for connectomics analysis tomorrow at the workshop! Details here: sites.google.com/bu.edu/gnnwo...
gnnworkshop cosyne2025
It's All Connected!
sites.google.com
March 31, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Tomorrow is our @cosynemeeting.bsky.social workshop on Graph Neural Networks! From molecules to circuits to biomechanics to reasoning behaviors to social behaviors, neuroscience is rich with geometrically structured data.
Our goal: demystify GNNs, talk opportunities for 🧠
Our goal: demystify GNNs, talk opportunities for 🧠
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
@cosynemeeting.bsky.social workshops are almost here! Join GNN workshop w @neurokim.bsky.social and Sam Lewallen to hear @herrsaalfeld.bsky.social head of computation @hhmijanelia.bsky.social present on GNNs for learning structure and function underlying neural assemblies #cosyne2025
March 30, 2025 at 12:55 AM
@cosynemeeting.bsky.social workshops are almost here! Join GNN workshop w @neurokim.bsky.social and Sam Lewallen to hear @herrsaalfeld.bsky.social head of computation @hhmijanelia.bsky.social present on GNNs for learning structure and function underlying neural assemblies #cosyne2025
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Her lab does impressive foundational work on geometric statistics and manifold learning, sure to be an amazing talk! Come for the GNNs, stay for the manifolds! #cosyne2025 @neurokim.bsky.social
March 30, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Her lab does impressive foundational work on geometric statistics and manifold learning, sure to be an amazing talk! Come for the GNNs, stay for the manifolds! #cosyne2025 @neurokim.bsky.social
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
More 🔥🔥 speakers at @cosynemeeting.bsky.social GNN workshop: @ninamiolane.bsky.social who runs the @geometric-intel.bsky.social lab at UCSB. She will take us beyond 🚀🚀 GNNs, presenting a survey of message passing topological neural networks for neuroscience
March 30, 2025 at 10:17 AM
More 🔥🔥 speakers at @cosynemeeting.bsky.social GNN workshop: @ninamiolane.bsky.social who runs the @geometric-intel.bsky.social lab at UCSB. She will take us beyond 🚀🚀 GNNs, presenting a survey of message passing topological neural networks for neuroscience
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Rounding out our speakers @cosynemeeting.bsky.social GNN workshop is @dom-beaini.bsky.social of @mila-quebec.bsky.social and @valenceai.bsky.social. Come hear him tell us how to learn a…MOLECULE! Don’t forget brains 🧠 are made of chemicals ⚗️ and chemicals + graphs = 🫶
March 30, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Rounding out our speakers @cosynemeeting.bsky.social GNN workshop is @dom-beaini.bsky.social of @mila-quebec.bsky.social and @valenceai.bsky.social. Come hear him tell us how to learn a…MOLECULE! Don’t forget brains 🧠 are made of chemicals ⚗️ and chemicals + graphs = 🫶
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Sign these petitions to release detained students:
www.change.org/p/free-mahmo...
www.change.org/p/free-rumey...
www.change.org/p/release-un...
@change.org
www.change.org/p/free-mahmo...
www.change.org/p/free-rumey...
www.change.org/p/release-un...
@change.org
Sign the Petition
Free Mahmoud Khalil. Stop His Unjust Detention.
www.change.org
March 29, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Sign these petitions to release detained students:
www.change.org/p/free-mahmo...
www.change.org/p/free-rumey...
www.change.org/p/release-un...
@change.org
www.change.org/p/free-mahmo...
www.change.org/p/free-rumey...
www.change.org/p/release-un...
@change.org
Beautiful piece about Rumeysa Öztürk, the tufts student who was abducted and detained for political speech, which paints a picture of a warm, compassionate, beloved member of the Tufts community (my alma mater) from those who know her.
as.tufts.edu/epcshd/news-...
as.tufts.edu/epcshd/news-...
Rumeysa Öztürk: Our Student, Teacher, Colleague, and Friend | Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study & Human Development
as.tufts.edu
March 28, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Beautiful piece about Rumeysa Öztürk, the tufts student who was abducted and detained for political speech, which paints a picture of a warm, compassionate, beloved member of the Tufts community (my alma mater) from those who know her.
as.tufts.edu/epcshd/news-...
as.tufts.edu/epcshd/news-...
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Just over a week to #cosyne2025 workshops! Speaker profile number 2 for GNN workshop w/ @neurokim.bsky.social and Sam Lewallen is @kristinmbranson.bsky.social of @hhmijanelia.bsky.social!
Kristin’s lab develops cutting edge machine vision approaches for quantitatively studying animal behavior.
Kristin’s lab develops cutting edge machine vision approaches for quantitatively studying animal behavior.
March 21, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Just over a week to #cosyne2025 workshops! Speaker profile number 2 for GNN workshop w/ @neurokim.bsky.social and Sam Lewallen is @kristinmbranson.bsky.social of @hhmijanelia.bsky.social!
Kristin’s lab develops cutting edge machine vision approaches for quantitatively studying animal behavior.
Kristin’s lab develops cutting edge machine vision approaches for quantitatively studying animal behavior.
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Looking for an exciting fellowship in AI & Neuro, with competitive salary (~£100k)? We got a new position in the lab at Oxford, working with @somnirons.bsky.social and me! 🧪
Our project: encode.pillar.vc/projects/beh...
General info: encode.pillar.vc
#compneuro #neuroai #neuroscience #sciencejobs
Our project: encode.pillar.vc/projects/beh...
General info: encode.pillar.vc
#compneuro #neuroai #neuroscience #sciencejobs
ARIA Opportunity Space: Scalable Neural Interfaces
encode.pillar.vc
March 23, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Looking for an exciting fellowship in AI & Neuro, with competitive salary (~£100k)? We got a new position in the lab at Oxford, working with @somnirons.bsky.social and me! 🧪
Our project: encode.pillar.vc/projects/beh...
General info: encode.pillar.vc
#compneuro #neuroai #neuroscience #sciencejobs
Our project: encode.pillar.vc/projects/beh...
General info: encode.pillar.vc
#compneuro #neuroai #neuroscience #sciencejobs
Want to procedurally generate large-scale relational reasoning experiments in natural language, to study human psychology 🧠 or eval LLMs 🤖?
We have a tool for you! Our latest #ICLR work on long-context/relational reasoning evaluation for LLMs ReCogLab!
github.com/google-deepm...
Thread ⬇️
We have a tool for you! Our latest #ICLR work on long-context/relational reasoning evaluation for LLMs ReCogLab!
github.com/google-deepm...
Thread ⬇️
March 18, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Want to procedurally generate large-scale relational reasoning experiments in natural language, to study human psychology 🧠 or eval LLMs 🤖?
We have a tool for you! Our latest #ICLR work on long-context/relational reasoning evaluation for LLMs ReCogLab!
github.com/google-deepm...
Thread ⬇️
We have a tool for you! Our latest #ICLR work on long-context/relational reasoning evaluation for LLMs ReCogLab!
github.com/google-deepm...
Thread ⬇️
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Also shoutout to @jiaxuanqi.bsky.social, @schreinerdrew.bsky.social, Miles Martinez, @jmxpearson.bsky.social & Rich Mooney—amazing that we independently found complementary results & got to publish them together! Super exciting time for DA + motor learning research! 🎉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Dual neuromodulatory dynamics underlie birdsong learning - Nature
Dopamine release in the basal ganglia of the zebra finch is driven by neurons associated with reinforcement learning and by cholinergic signalling, and tracks performance quality during long-term lear...
www.nature.com
March 17, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Also shoutout to @jiaxuanqi.bsky.social, @schreinerdrew.bsky.social, Miles Martinez, @jmxpearson.bsky.social & Rich Mooney—amazing that we independently found complementary results & got to publish them together! Super exciting time for DA + motor learning research! 🎉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
TL;DR: Natural behavior is learned through dopamine-mediated reinforcement! Tons more cool analyses by Jon Kasdin, Alison Duffy, Nathan Nadler, (me 😉), Adrienne Fairhall, @neurokim.bsky.social & Vikram Gadagkar in the paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... (7/7)
Natural behaviour is learned through dopamine-mediated reinforcement - Nature
Studies in zebra finches show that dopamine has a key role as a reinforcement signal in the trial-and-error process of learning that underlies complex natural behaviours.
www.nature.com
March 17, 2025 at 5:48 PM
TL;DR: Natural behavior is learned through dopamine-mediated reinforcement! Tons more cool analyses by Jon Kasdin, Alison Duffy, Nathan Nadler, (me 😉), Adrienne Fairhall, @neurokim.bsky.social & Vikram Gadagkar in the paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... (7/7)
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Countdown to #COSYNE2025!
Leading up to @cosynemeeting.bsky.social GNN workshop w @neurokim.bsky.social and Sam, allow us to introduce our fabulous speakers, starting with @wesleyqian.bsky.social! Wesley is part of osmo.ai foundling team, using GNNs to digitize smell!
Leading up to @cosynemeeting.bsky.social GNN workshop w @neurokim.bsky.social and Sam, allow us to introduce our fabulous speakers, starting with @wesleyqian.bsky.social! Wesley is part of osmo.ai foundling team, using GNNs to digitize smell!
March 13, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Countdown to #COSYNE2025!
Leading up to @cosynemeeting.bsky.social GNN workshop w @neurokim.bsky.social and Sam, allow us to introduce our fabulous speakers, starting with @wesleyqian.bsky.social! Wesley is part of osmo.ai foundling team, using GNNs to digitize smell!
Leading up to @cosynemeeting.bsky.social GNN workshop w @neurokim.bsky.social and Sam, allow us to introduce our fabulous speakers, starting with @wesleyqian.bsky.social! Wesley is part of osmo.ai foundling team, using GNNs to digitize smell!
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
By studying songbirds, our own Vikram Gadagkar, @neurokim.bsky.social, Jonathan Kasdin and colleagues witnessed the role the brain’s reward machinery plays as the brain naturally learns over time through practice. Learn more!
zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/songbirds-hi...
zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/songbirds-hi...
March 12, 2025 at 4:07 PM
By studying songbirds, our own Vikram Gadagkar, @neurokim.bsky.social, Jonathan Kasdin and colleagues witnessed the role the brain’s reward machinery plays as the brain naturally learns over time through practice. Learn more!
zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/songbirds-hi...
zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/songbirds-hi...
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Not in my name.
If you are a Jewish university affiliate and want to express that cuts to university research do not protect Jews and do not address anti-semitism, consider signing here:
forms.gle/prnRbq69a6YN...
If you are a Jewish university affiliate and want to express that cuts to university research do not protect Jews and do not address anti-semitism, consider signing here:
forms.gle/prnRbq69a6YN...
Open letter in response to federal funding cuts at Columbia
On March 7th, the Trump administration announced the immediate cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University. This includes funding from the Departm...
forms.gle
March 11, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Not in my name.
If you are a Jewish university affiliate and want to express that cuts to university research do not protect Jews and do not address anti-semitism, consider signing here:
forms.gle/prnRbq69a6YN...
If you are a Jewish university affiliate and want to express that cuts to university research do not protect Jews and do not address anti-semitism, consider signing here:
forms.gle/prnRbq69a6YN...
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
Calling all @cosynemeeting.bsky.social attendees!
@neurokim.bsky.social, Sam Lewallen and I are organizing a 🔥🔥 workshop on graph approaches to neuroscience, including graph neural networks!
For info see sites.google.com/bu.edu/gnnwo...
@neurokim.bsky.social, Sam Lewallen and I are organizing a 🔥🔥 workshop on graph approaches to neuroscience, including graph neural networks!
For info see sites.google.com/bu.edu/gnnwo...
March 8, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Calling all @cosynemeeting.bsky.social attendees!
@neurokim.bsky.social, Sam Lewallen and I are organizing a 🔥🔥 workshop on graph approaches to neuroscience, including graph neural networks!
For info see sites.google.com/bu.edu/gnnwo...
@neurokim.bsky.social, Sam Lewallen and I are organizing a 🔥🔥 workshop on graph approaches to neuroscience, including graph neural networks!
For info see sites.google.com/bu.edu/gnnwo...
March 7, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
🚨 Neuromatch Academy Course Applications are OPEN for 2025!! 🚨
Get your application in early to be a student or teaching assistant for this year’s courses!
Applications are due Sunday, March 23.
Apply & learn more: neuromatch.io/courses/
#mlsky #compneurosky #ai #climatesolutions #ScienceEdu 🧪
Get your application in early to be a student or teaching assistant for this year’s courses!
Applications are due Sunday, March 23.
Apply & learn more: neuromatch.io/courses/
#mlsky #compneurosky #ai #climatesolutions #ScienceEdu 🧪
February 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
🚨 Neuromatch Academy Course Applications are OPEN for 2025!! 🚨
Get your application in early to be a student or teaching assistant for this year’s courses!
Applications are due Sunday, March 23.
Apply & learn more: neuromatch.io/courses/
#mlsky #compneurosky #ai #climatesolutions #ScienceEdu 🧪
Get your application in early to be a student or teaching assistant for this year’s courses!
Applications are due Sunday, March 23.
Apply & learn more: neuromatch.io/courses/
#mlsky #compneurosky #ai #climatesolutions #ScienceEdu 🧪
Reposted by Kim Stachenfeld, PhD
⚡️ Excited to introduce ZAPBench, our #ICLR2025 spotlight: The Zebrafish Activity Prediction Benchmark measures progress in predicting neural activity within an entire vertebrate brain (70k+ neurons!)
Explore interactive visualizations, datasets, code + paper: google-research.github.io/zapbench
🧠🧪
Explore interactive visualizations, datasets, code + paper: google-research.github.io/zapbench
🧠🧪
ZAPBench
ZAPBench evaluates how well different models can predict the activity of over 70,000 neurons in a novel larval zebrafish dataset.
google-research.github.io
March 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
⚡️ Excited to introduce ZAPBench, our #ICLR2025 spotlight: The Zebrafish Activity Prediction Benchmark measures progress in predicting neural activity within an entire vertebrate brain (70k+ neurons!)
Explore interactive visualizations, datasets, code + paper: google-research.github.io/zapbench
🧠🧪
Explore interactive visualizations, datasets, code + paper: google-research.github.io/zapbench
🧠🧪