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María José Castro Gómez

@mjcastrogomez.bsky.social
527 followers 780 following 35 posts

Neuroscience graduate student at McGill University

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Reposted by María José Castro Gómez
Fetal, Infant, & Toddler Neuroimaging Group—FIT’NG @fitngin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
📅 Mark your calendars!! 📢 FIT'NG 2027 will take place September 14-15, 2027 in 📌 Minneapolis, Minnesota. Join colleagues from around the world for two days of programming, networking, and connection in the heart of the Twin Cities. 🔜 More details on submissions and registration coming soon!
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Reposted by María José Castro Gómez
Jonathan Peelle @jpeelle.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I ran a trainee-focused workshop today on "your online academic presence"—slides here in case they are useful for anyone else! jpeelle.github.io/online-acade...
## Start here

As an academic you should have:

1. A personal website with a stable URL
2. A completed LinkedIn profile
3. A Google Scholar profile (as soon as you have 1 publication)

Whether it's worth going beyond these depends on your personal goals.
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Damien Fair @drdamienfair.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The HBCD Study Data Release 2.1 is here 👇🏾 3,500+ children followed from pregnancy through early childhood: MRI, dMRI, resting-state fMRI, EEG, biospecimens incl. genetics, wearables, and rich behavioral + environmental data. New in 2.1: Olink inflammation markers + the ERICA assessment.
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Catherine Lebel @catherinealebel.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Thanks to sponsorship from @hotchkissbrain.bsky.social , ACHRI, and UAlberta Medicine & Dentistry, we are keeping our early bird registration rates for a few more weeks!
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Springer @springer.springernature.com · 22/07/2026
🧠💡 Inter-individual variability of neurotransmitter receptor and transporter density in the human brain. Explore how this #OpenAccess study from 'Brain Structure and Function' maps variation across neurotransmitter systems and what it means for understanding the human brain. bit.ly/4bGuJgb
Inter-individual variability of neurotransmitter receptor and transporter density in the human brain
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Die Sankoré-Schriften @sankoreschriften.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Scientists identify five ages of the human brain over a lifetime #neuroskyence
cam.ac.uk
Scientists identify five ages of the human brain over a lifetime
Four major turning points around ages nine, 32, 66 and 83 create five broad eras of neural wiring over the average human lifespan.
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Reposted by María José Castro Gómez
Aliza Brzezinski-Rittner @albrzez.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
It’s out! 🎉 Check our paper “Intracranial volume: To adjust or not to adjust? It is not a matter of if, but how” 🧠. We wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of different methods to adjust for total intracranial volume (TIV) to remove its effect on sex differences in aging trajectories. 1/11
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Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneurosci.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Aliza Brzezinski-Rittner, Mahsa Dadar, et al: Intracranial volume: To adjust or not to adjust? It is not a matter of if, but how doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 24/04/2026
Researchers writing about their work frequently rely on clichés. Yet, little is known about how such clichés affect
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Steven Meisler @stevenmeisler.com · 19/04/2026
Diffusion MRI (dMRI) is a powerful tool to study white matter maturation. In our new preprint, we process and distribute a new resource of >24,000 ABCD dMRI scans using open source tools! We then evaluate how methods shape inferences about development. 🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneurosci.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Diana C. Pacyga, Kyle S. Burger, et al: Sex-specific associations of gestational age at birth and birth size with early life within-network brain connectivity: An exploratory study doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
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Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives @hbhlmcgill.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Researchers + trainees: level up your neuroimaging work! HBHL is hosting a Knowledge Exchange event on integrating SDoH into imaging pipelines with real examples and new tools you can use immediately. @mcgill.ca 📅 May 18, @canacn.bsky.social Meeting | 🍽️ Lunch included Register: mcgill.ca/x/5xG
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Fetal, Infant, & Toddler Neuroimaging Group—FIT’NG @fitngin.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
📢 Late-breaking poster submissions for FIT’NG 2026 are open. 👉 If you’re going to ICIS (@infantstudies.bsky.social), why not submit to FIT’NG, which begins the day after! 📝 Work presented at FIT’NG will reach our rich community of neuroscientists studying early brain development. #FITNG26 #ICIS26
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International Society for Tractography @tractography.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
🏔️ Announcing IST 2026 in the Canadian Rockies! The 2nd annual meeting of the International Society for Tractography is happening this fall. Following Bordeaux, we’re gathering researchers, clinicians & developers pushing tractography, diffusion MRI & brain connectivity forward.
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Eric Ceballos @cebric.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Curious about how brain and body communicate, or how circuit states are regulated over seconds to hours? Read our paper about neuropeptide systems and how they contribute to neural architecture and function #neuroskyence #compneuro #neuroscience
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EL PAÍS @elpais.com · 11/03/2026
¿Qué es exactamente el envejecimiento? La pregunta parece remitir a una obviedad, pero quizá no lo sea. Una encuesta entre 103 expertos muestra que no hay un consenso
social.elpais.com
¿Qué es el envejecimiento? ¿Es una enfermedad? ¿Cuándo empieza? Un centenar de expertos no se pone de acuerdo
Una encuesta a 103 investigadores demuestra que no existe un consenso acerca de qué causa el factor de riesgo más importante para la mortalidad
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Kathryn Manning @kathrynmanning.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Congratulations to Madeson Todd on leading this paper through to the finish line! @catherinealebel.bsky.social @ucalgarymed.bsky.social www.frontiersin.org/journals/neu...
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Hypothalamus volumes and mental health in children and adolescents
IntroductionThe hypothalamus-pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis plays an important role in regulating behavior, neuroplastic responses to the environment during ch...
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Reposted by María José Castro Gómez
Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 05/03/2026
The idea of the need for a control group may have been radical at the time, but trust me it's now generally accepted. This is not some fringe believe by methodological hardliners; it's established practice. www.clinicaltrialsabundance.blog/p/clinical-t...
clinicaltrialsabundance.blog
Clinical trial reforms that once seemed radical
How randomized controlled trials, preregistration, and results reporting became standard practice.
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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 05/03/2026
P.S. Pre-post differences are *not* valid treatment effect estimates. Why? Here's a post by @statsepi.bsky.social: statsepi.substack.com/p/one-simple..., here's a post by me: www.the100.ci/2025/01/22/r... >
the100.ci
Reviewer notes: In a randomized experiment, the pre-post differences are not effect estimates
Reviewer notes are a new short format with brief explanations of basic ideas that might come in handy during (for example) the peer-review process. They are a great way to keep Julia from writing 10,0...
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Audrey Luo @audreycluo.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
We think of white matter as the highways of the brain. But when we followed development along those highways, we were surprised. The journey is more complex than we thought. My final PhD paper, “Two Axes of White Matter Development”, is now out in @natcomms.nature.com! 🛣️🧠✨ 🔗 bit.ly/wm2axes
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Marc L Seal @parkvillegeek.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
The emergence of the language system in the toddler brain | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Marc L Seal @parkvillegeek.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Leveraging Longitudinal Data to Improve BrainChart Calibration for Small Study Sample Sizes onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Leveraging Longitudinal Data to Improve BrainChart Calibration for Small Study Sample Sizes
Longitudinal neuroimaging studies require calibration of measurements between time points, but calibration of small population sample sizes can be unstable. We propose a method that leverages longitu...
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Reposted by María José Castro Gómez
Marc L Seal @parkvillegeek.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
👀 A precise atlas of the human subcortex | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 02/02/2026
Human babies may be able to visually categorize different objects earlier than previously thought, even at two months of age, according to research in Nature #Neuroscience. go.nature.com/4tcQOu3 🧪
This is figure 2, which shows visual representations from infancy to adulthood.
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Annika Külpmann @anniria.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
How many versions of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) exist? And how much does this affect research using the IGT? More than you might think. 🧵
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Fetal, Infant, & Toddler Neuroimaging Group—FIT’NG @fitngin.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
📢 FIT'NG is seeking volunteers to serve as abstract reviewers for the 2026 conference. Reviewers will be selected based on expertise and career stage and will review 5–7 abstracts during a two-week period in early March. Sign Up Now 👇 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #FITNG2026
docs.google.com
FIT'NG 2026 Reviewer Sign-Up
Thank you for volunteering to be an abstract reviewer for FIT'NG 2026. Reviewers will be selected based on area of expertise and career stage. Reviewers will be asked to be available to review 5 - 7 a...
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Douglas Research Centre @douglasresearch.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
📣 2025 Leo and Rachel Hendlisz Award competition Congratulations to the recipients! Learn more here : douglas.research.mcgill.ca/news/2025-le... *** 📣 Concours du prix Leo et Rachel Hendlisz 2025 Félicitations aux récipiendaires! Plus d'informations: douglas.research.mcgill.ca/fr/news/conc...
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María José Castro Gómez @mjcastrogomez.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
One of my favourite places. So happy and proud to have the opportunity to work in this research hospital.
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Reposted by María José Castro Gómez
Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives @hbhlmcgill.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Don't miss next week's Neurogenesis faculty lecture! Join @tasmiahai.bsky.social & Delphine Raucher-Chéné to learn about their groundbreaking research and the latest advances in neuroscience at @mcgill.ca. 🧠 📅 Nov. 26, 2025 📍 @theneuro.bsky.social 🤝 Reception afterwards! Register: mcgill.ca/x/iHe
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Douglas Research Centre @douglasresearch.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
📣 Don't miss this special event! We are waiting for you! More informations : douglas.research.mcgill.ca/calendar/ent... *** 📣 Ne manquez pas cet évènement spécial! Nous vous attendons nombreux.ses! Plus d'informations sur notre site internet : douglas.research.mcgill.ca/fr/calendrie...
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Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives @hbhlmcgill.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
You won't want to miss this: Exciting talks by Roger Zemek, Benjamin Goldstein (@camhnews.bsky.social), Kris Noakes, @piawintermark.bsky.social (@rimuhc.bsky.social), Lesley Fellows (@healthsciences.mcgill.ca), Philip Jai Johnson & Georg Northoff (@uottawa.ca) 🧠🙌
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Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives @hbhlmcgill.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Pssst... The Amazing Brain Science Talks are back tomorrow & it's going to be a full house! Join HBHL, @braincanada.bsky.social & @bhi-icc.bsky.social at @banq-officiel.bsky.social to hear from experts + learn about the brain, the heart & everything in between. See you soon 🧪🧠 www.amazingbrain.ca
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Kathryn Manning @kathrynmanning.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Ecstatic about my science AND art being featured in @biologicalpsych.bsky.social CNNI's current issue with @northernthrux.bsky.social painting on the cover and our exciting @theabcdstudy.bsky.social article completed with @catherinealebel.bsky.social www.biologicalpsychiatrycnni.org/current
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Dan Lewer @danlewer.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
We wrote an article explaining why you shouldn't put several variables into a regression model and report which are statistically significant - even as exploratory research. bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/.... How did we do?
A "methods primer" article in the journal "BMJ Medicine", titled "Factors associated with: problems of using exploratory multivariable regression to identify causal risk factors"
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Miri Forbes @miriforbes.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
We’ve just published another video on HiTOP that tries to flesh out a bit more how the framework can be helpful in research: youtu.be/q0jOi_Nl1yo We hope it’s useful, and are keen to hear any feedback Thanks again so much to @tashtc.bsky.social for all of her hard work creating this video series ✨
youtu.be
Using HiTOP in Research
YouTube video by HiTOP
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Marc L Seal @parkvillegeek.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
👀 Lifespan Trajectories of Asymmetry in White Matter Tracts | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
A method for capturing neuronal activity using fMRI excited the neuroimaging field but couldn’t be replicated. Today, the authors of the original paper retracted their work. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/retraction/a...
thetransmitter.org
Authors retract Science paper on controversial fMRI method
Several MRI artifacts contribute to the neuronal activity signal picked up by the method, according to a preprint the authors posted this month.
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Ravi Menon @northernthrux.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Science is self correcting. Finally!
thetransmitter.org
Authors retract Science paper on controversial fMRI method
Several MRI artifacts contribute to the neuronal activity signal picked up by the method, according to a preprint the authors posted this month.
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Golia Shafiei @goliashf.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Excited to share that our work introducing the Reproducible Brain Charts (RBC) data resource is now published in Neuron!! 🎉 📚 Read the paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lpaF3BtfH... 🧠 Explore the RBC dataset: reprobrainchart.github.io
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Armin Raznahan @bogglerapture.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Check out this great thread on a fresh preprint by @hyolee.bsky.social ! 🤩 Hyo led a new study where we & our fab collaborators take a closer look at sex differences in human cortical volume …
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medRxivpreprint @medrxivpreprint.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Brain Size: To Adjust or Not Adjust? It's Not a Matter of If, but How www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 20/09/2025
this is wild - i was aware of Mary-Claire King's absurdly important discoveries on BRCA / inherited breast cancer but I had no idea that her first PhD paper (King & Wilson 1975, Science, not bad lol) is the "99% of protein coding shared btwn chimps and humans" result www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...
screenshot of the Science article
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Ravi Menon @northernthrux.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
💔 It is with great sadness that I report the passing of my Ph.D. supervisor, Dr. Peter Allen from Alzheimer’s. His trainees (and their trainees and their trainees and their trainees) are still making a mark in the world of in-vivo magnetic resonance. 🇨🇦 www.remembering.ca/obituary/pet...
remembering.ca
Dr. Peter S. Allen Obituary | 1939 - 2025 | Edmonton Journal Remembering
View Dr. Peter S. Allen's complete obituary, share memories, and explore heartfelt tribute posts from the community.
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Fetal, Infant, & Toddler Neuroimaging Group—FIT’NG @fitngin.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Join us next July in Panama!! #FITNG2025 --> 2026 🌴🤓
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Ted Satterthwaite @ted-satterthwaite.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
New preprint from stellar IRTG PhD student Amelie Rauland + team on white matter bundle reconstruction! Shows that WM bundles can be reliably extracted from simple 32-direction dMRI & features predict cognition - huge potential for legacy and clinical data. Thread 👇 www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 06/09/2025
The Fourier transform is everywhere you look. It has helped scientists to study tides, detect gravitational waves, and develop radar and MRI technology. Here’s how it works.
quantamagazine.org
What Is the Fourier Transform? | Quanta Magazine
Amid the chaos of revolutionary France, one man’s mathematical obsession gave way to a calculation that now underpins much of mathematics and physics. The calculation, called the Fourier transform,…
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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 03/09/2025
Love Fourier Transforms! We use them a lot in our work. They are already such a huge part of our everyday lives. Our brains do Fourier Transforms! Nice piece here on some of the history of where they came from, how they work and applications. 🧪
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Julia Moser @drjuliamoser.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Is precision functional brain imaging in babies possible? YES! We show this in not one but two new preprints out of WashU and @umn-midb.bsky.social! 1️⃣: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 2️⃣: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🐣👶🧠
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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 25/08/2025
Ever stared at a table of regression coefficients & wondered what you're doing with your life? Very excited to share this gentle introduction to another way of making sense of statistical models (w @vincentab.bsky.social) Preprint: doi.org/10.31234/osf... Website: j-rohrer.github.io/marginal-psy...
Models as Prediction Machines: How to Convert Confusing Coefficients into Clear Quantities

Abstract
Psychological researchers usually make sense of regression models by interpreting coefficient estimates directly. This works well enough for simple linear models, but is more challenging for more complex models with, for example, categorical variables, interactions, non-linearities, and hierarchical structures. Here, we introduce an alternative approach to making sense of statistical models. The central idea is to abstract away from the mechanics of estimation, and to treat models as “counterfactual prediction machines,” which are subsequently queried to estimate quantities and conduct tests that matter substantively. This workflow is model-agnostic; it can be applied in a consistent fashion to draw causal or descriptive inference from a wide range of models. We illustrate how to implement this workflow with the marginaleffects package, which supports over 100 different classes of models in R and Python, and present two worked examples. These examples show how the workflow can be applied across designs (e.g., observational study, randomized experiment) to answer different research questions (e.g., associations, causal effects, effect heterogeneity) while facing various challenges (e.g., controlling for confounders in a flexible manner, modelling ordinal outcomes, and interpreting non-linear models).
Figure illustrating model predictions. On the X-axis the predictor, annual gross income in Euro. On the Y-axis the outcome, predicted life satisfaction. A solid line marks the curve of predictions on which individual data points are marked as model-implied outcomes at incomes of interest. Comparing two such predictions gives us a comparison. We can also fit a tangent to the line of predictions, which illustrates the slope at any given point of the curve.A figure illustrating various ways to include age as a predictor in a model. On the x-axis age (predictor), on the y-axis the outcome (model-implied importance of friends, including confidence intervals).

Illustrated are 
1. age as a categorical predictor, resultings in the predictions bouncing around a lot with wide confidence intervals
2. age as a linear predictor, which forces a straight line through the data points that has a very tight confidence band and
3. age splines, which lies somewhere in between as it smoothly follows the data but has more uncertainty than the straight line.
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Ariel Rokem @arokem.org · 20/08/2025
New paper alert! This paper describes the work that we have been doing in the last few years to create a software ecosystem for tractometry that is extensible, interoperable, and generally useful.
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