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Amy Orsborn

@neuroamyo.bsky.social
3.2K followers 585 following 364 posts

Associate Prof at UW. Neural interfaces, motor learning, engineering learning. Believe it or not, my last name has two R's and zero E's. She/her

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Reposted by Amy Orsborn
Guillaume Lajoie @glajoie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
In brain-computer interfacing, clever and adaptive decoders help brains learn complex tasks faster. These can impact the nature of solutions learned by the brain. Our new paper is one of the first attempts to study this effect. W/ @neuroamyo.bsky.social and team www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Assistive algorithms influence neural representations in motor brain-computer interfaces - Nature Communications
Assistive algorithms are widely used in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), but their effects on neural representations remain unclear. Here, the authors show that adaptive BCIs lead the brain to learn ...
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Oh hi, Friday Harbor 😍 My morning runs usually start with me questioning the life decisions that have me up with the sun. But soaking in views like this and listening to cows moo-ing loudly at each other while the world is quiet inevitably reminds me how I got into this habit 😅
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The only way this shirt could be better (and more accurate) would be to add "and coffee"
Woman with brown hair sitting at a counter with an exhausted expression on her face and propping her head up with one arm. She's wearing a shirt with a vulture on it that says "powered by spite" and has a big coffee cup in front of her.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Oi, Lisboa! Getting so excited for my sabbatical.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Critical follow up: the lab's pre-print celebration dessert tradition! Leo's dessert of choice was a lemon-y sponge cake with berries and cream. 🍰
Top down view of a layer cake that is decorated with a drawing of a network diagram and "Scholl et al 2026" written in whipped cream. A tall layer cake with four layers The paper's first author (Scholl) cutting his cakeA view of the sliced cake showing all four layers and all the berries and cream in between them.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
🚨 Big news! 🚨 Starting in 2027, I'll be spending time in beautiful Lisbon at the Champalimaud Center for Restorative Neurotechnology as part of a sabbatical & a Fulbright Fellowship.
washington.edu
8 UW faculty and staff named Fulbright Scholars; will conduct research around the world
Eight University of Washington researchers have been selected as Fulbright Scholars for 2026-2027 and will pursue studies around the world.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Leveling up my exploration via running: headed out to Bainbridge Island! Thanks for providing the beautiful weather and scenery, as usual, Seattle.
Selfie of a white woman wearing a black baseball hat in front of a view of the Seattle skyline from the water.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
🧠 New preprint alert! 🧠 Leo led the heroic effort to improve how we map connections across large cortical networks in macaques—stably—over weeks to years. The secret sauce: a combo of optogenetics + µECoG + new signal processing to localize stim-driven responses. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Combining phase analysis and causal stimulation enables longitudinal mesoscale connectivity mapping
Uncovering the circuit mechanisms of flexible behavior requires characterizing how neural signals propagate across large-scale networks and tracking how those networks evolve over time. Signal propaga...
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Fascinating things happen when computations/algorithms interact with the physical world! As they say, the brain has a body. 🧠 So timely as I head to the neurobiology of cognition Gordon Conference to talk about how motor learning is a lot more than just mastering precise muscle activity.😂
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
SEATAC bringing us the AI future. It looks so efficient and seamless 🙃
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Reposted by Amy Orsborn
John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
My department, Neurobiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington (nbio.uw.edu), is hiring a new tenure-track Assistant Professor, application deadline 09/30/26. It's a broad search — molecular to organismal, all of neuroscience/physiology/biophysics welcome. apply.interfolio.com/187735
NBIO department logo
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I'm gearing up for a sabbatical next year (more on that soon - stay tuned). I just declined all the calendar invites admins were sending out for faculty meetings in 2027. I want to bottle the joy I felt as I pushed that button for future use. Where are we on this tech, neural engineers? 😂
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Truly a wild & amazing experience to have spent the day in a room where it was relevant for the host to ask "all of the Nobel Laureates in the room, please stand up" 🤯 My brain is full of ideas and excitement about the tremendous human endeavor of scientific discovery!
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Excited to be part of the @nasonline.org Discovery Cohort for #RevolutionsInScience. I'm in DC celebrating science discovery & imagining what comes next when we explore science as a human endeavor. You can participate! Register to watch online tomorrow: events.nationalacademies.org/revolutions-...
A photo of the marble statue of Abraham Lincoln that resides in the Lincoln memorial. Photo of the Washington Monument and reflecting pool viewed from the Lincoln Memorial. Columns of the memorial are framing either side of the Washington Monument, which stands in the middle of the picture.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I just realized this bread I made is a perfect alignment of all my hobbies and needs: ✅ Weekend baking project ✅ Running fuel ✅ Appealing treats to offer crows as I try to make friends with them 😂🤯
Two loaves of bread with pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds on the edges of a dark brown crust. They are sitting on a metal counter on top of a metal cooling rack.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Summer in Seattle means regular lunches outside. Which also means I'm re-energizing my project to make friends with the campus crows! Today's bread offering seemed to be appreciated 🍞🐦‍⬛
A crow perched on a ledge very close to the camera.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
It's been a weird month or so recovering from this accident (can't recommend getting hit by a bike while running). But I think I have found a winning balance of what my body needs/can do right now and what my running -addicted brain wants: Strategic walk/jog routes that include a carb pitstop 😅🥯🏆
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Folks are excited about using tech like AI to refine & replace how we use animals in science. It's an amazing possibility, but we can't be over-ambitious on the timelines. Learn more about how we use primates to create future cures and future refinements to science: wanbrc.uw.edu/how-nams-and...
wanbrc.uw.edu
How NAMs and Primates Create Future Cures - Washington National Biomedical Research Center
Science fiction is becoming reality at the Washington Biomedical Research Center. We’re at the forefront of innovating New Approach Methodologies, or NAMs. Two examples of these advanced tools include...
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Hot off the presses, this study is now out in the Journal of Neuroscience! A quick write-up: www.jneurosci.org/content/46/2... And the full paper: www.jneurosci.org/content/46/2...
jneurosci.org
This Week in The Journal
Toward Improving Brain–Computer Interfaces Ryan A. Canfield, Tomohiro Ouchi, Hao Fang, Beatrice Macagno, Lydia I. Smith et al. (see article e1965252026) Researchers are working on improving motor ...
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Our lab does the big paper celebration for preprints (w/ a dessert party!). I joke it's because that's what we most control. This proved very true for one paper whose peer review journey was mighty enough to merit a second celebration. We went peak Seattle: Molly Moon ice cream & a chat in the sun ♥️
A chocolate cake decorated with colorful sprinkles and writing that says "Rajeswaran et al. 2024!!"Two women posing holding up cups of ice cream smiling at the camera. It's very sunny outside
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Seattle's showing off again in case you need a timeline cleanse 😍 #sorryNotSorry
Picture of downtown Seattle skyline taken from Kerry Park. You can see the space needle on the left, skyscraper buildings, in the middle is mountain Rainier visible in the distance, and the water of the sound is visible on the right. Green trees are in the foreground.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
The last few weeks have been an adventure, fascinatingly captured by this pair of Strava entries:
screenshot of the Strava app showing an entry called "evening run". There is a map showing a route through central park that ends in the park. A screenshot of a Strava app entry titled "Evening 'workout' of my phone tracking my route to the hospital" There is a sub-title that reads "Lesson learned: don't get hit by a bike running in central park". The map goes from the location in the park where the first run entry ends to the location of a hospital in NYC.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Top Pot Donut Dash 5k - peak Seattle vibes and so fun. 🍩 It's been a minute since I felt strong while running, so it was exciting to hit a new PR while not fully pushing all out. ♥️
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Got a paper acceptance email in the middle of a day filled with amazing science chats with amazing colleagues, and ending it with a flight home with an empty middle seat in my row. I should probably buy a lottery ticket, eh? 😂🙌
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Why hello, ATL! You're looking lovely this morning. 🙌 Had an amazing day at GaTech yesterday and excited to hangout with folks at Emory today before heading back to the PNW!
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
It took me a while to embrace running hills. But Seattle views certainly help make the struggle feel worth it. 😍🫶
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
We're at the time of year where scheduling a post-lunch walk around campus is basically mandatory. My Friday timeline cleanse offering.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
If you're interested in emerging ideas in neural interfaces, I humbly suggest my lab's latest: www.nature.com/articles/s42... Neural interfaces create dynamic interactions between the brain & devices. This means mean we need new engineering approaches beyond typical ML to "decode" a static brain
nature.com
Computational framework to predict and shape human–machine interactions in closed-loop, co-adaptive neural interfaces - Nature Machine Intelligence
Madduri et al. introduce a computational framework grounded in control and game theory to model co-adaptation between users and decoders in neural interfaces. This framework enables a principled desig...
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Is it just me or did every Internet recommendation algorithm seem to crank up the adaptation rate to 11 recently? I've been pulled into a crazy & strong local minimum across so many platforms. I'm worried Spotify is somehow going to find me songs about cottage cheese protein brownies.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
It's been a very busy few months in the lab - we minted THREE new PhDs! Congratulations Si Jia, Pavi and Ryan 🙌🙌🙌 We took advantage of some Seattle sun to celebrate today. So fortunate to get to work with this amazing crew. 🧠♥️
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
It's starting! 🌸💖😊😍
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
When you order a macchiato from the campus cafe and they ask you what size (🤯)... The only option is to pivot to an 8 oz latte 🤣🫠
media.tenor.com
a man wearing a white sweater with the words `` oh no '' on it is standing in a room .
ALT: a man wearing a white sweater with the words `` oh no '' on it is standing in a room .
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Reposted by Amy Orsborn
Andrew Pruszynski @andpru.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Last week, we welcomed Ryan Canfield from @neuroamyo.bsky.social's lab to hear about his latest preprint: "The spatiotemporal structure of neural activity in motor cortex during reaching" Check out his talk here: youtu.be/F23AW0k4y_M
youtu.be
Ryan Canfield (University of Washington)
YouTube video by Andrew Pruszynski
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Turns out when you put a bunch of nerds together in an amazing setting, amazing science happens! It's easy to focus on the negatives sometimes, but feeling very fortunate for some of the huge perks of this job right now 🙌😍♥️
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Holy moly, Barbados. 😍😍😍
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
😍 Barbados! My absolute favorite bonus of getting into running is how much it's expanded my experiences traveling. Early morning runs have truly become one of my favorite ways to explore a new place.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
My morning runs are finally back to catching the morning sunrise, rather than fully in the dark! Amazing how much of a mood booster that's been. The space needle looks best at sunrise, too 😍
Space needle viewed from the ground with light blue sky peppered with clouds.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
A dreaded email subject, or the _most_ dreaded email subject? 😭
screenshot of an email subject line that reads "You have been added to a team in Microsoft Teams"
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Sent another grant paper airplane into a strong headwind this morning, so I treated myself to some fresh air and sunshine around UW's campus. 😍 ...now to close all the tabs and dig myself out of email debt that built up while writing 😅
Mount Rainier viewed from behind drumheller fountain on UW campus. The mountain view isms framed by evergreen trees and there is a reflection of the view in the fountain water. Beige brick building viewed from below with green bushes in front. One bush has bright red flowers blooming on it.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
We've all already lived through a global pandemic. We don't need to add living through world war 3. Please and thank you.
media.tenor.com
a man in a tie is standing in front of a sign that says `` what is going on ? ''
ALT: a man in a tie is standing in front of a sign that says `` what is going on ? ''
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
I had braced myself for an email and slack deluge Monday/Tuesday, but it wasn't that bad. Turns out it's because Wednesday is the day y'all collectively woke up and decided to choose violence. I now feel violent. 🫠😅
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
I channeled stress into running in 2025. At the pace we're going, I might end up an ultra marathoner by the end of 2026. 🙃🫠
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
In case anyone needs a timeline cleans/candle in the dark, please enjoy the fact that Seattle puts a Christmas tree on top of the space needle every year. 🎄 It was literally my light in the dark today!
Segment of the Seattle City skyline with the space needle in the middle. There's a Christmas tree completely illuminated with white lights on top of it. The sky is otherwise very dark.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
It's not exactly a hard signal detection problem, but still amusing to see the accuracy of the algorithm. Feeling very seen by YouTube 🤣🎯
Screenshot of a YouTube year in review report that reads: "your YouTube award: most likely to ace a workout and then bake a delicious treat for yourself"
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
I identify with this pumpkin more than I should. Especially after an invigorating, but exhausting, #SfN2025 😅
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Inspiring talk and message from Michele Basso @ #SfN2025 on the responsibility and capacity we all have to advocate for science!
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
#SfN2025 we've got 2 posters this morning on new directions studying how humans learn redundant sensorimotor mappings! People are worse at this than you might expect. We're trying to understand why, which will help improve neural interfaces. Come say hi to Brady @ poster T7 & Victoria @ poster SS9
People discussing a poster at a conference.
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
More science fueling with a morning run to a panderia! 🥐 #SfN2025
Sunrise over a marina with boats in the water Colorful concha pastries and more in a caseColorful concha pastries and more in a case
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
It's important to properly fuel for science #SfN2025 🥐
Black and brown bi-color croissant and a cappuccino Black and brown bi-color croissant and a cappuccino. Croissant is cut in half to show the insides
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Amy Orsborn @neuroamyo.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
#SfN2025 Planning & making a reach involve different brain areas and neural populations, but are coordinated behavioral computations. Check out Ryan's poster tomorrow morning (PSTR076.02, M14) where he uses neuropixel recordings to test hypotheses about how neural populations implement this feat!
title: How do neural populations transition from reach planning to execution?
Picture of the researcher, Ryan Canfield. Poster Sunday morning, PSTR 075.02 / M14
link to abstract: https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171/presentation/24967

Picture illustrating a schematic of 3 hypotheses.
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