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Timo van Kerkoerle

@timovankerkoerle.bsky.social
532 followers 445 following 46 posts

Cognitive & systems neuroscientist trying to understand abstract thought and the effects on visual perception in monkeys, humans and AI. Assistant professor | Donders Center for Neuroscience | Radboud University www.neuroscience.vision

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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
This is yet another example of the enormous damage inflicted on our country by our populist government. Fortunately, the Dutch people have clearly spoken out in recent elections, against the radical voices in society. This offers some hope that a future government can rectify this monstrous mistake.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
In particular, in case a new funding source for the maintenance of the primate facility at BPRC can not be found, it can directly jeopardize the development of effective and safe vaccines in future pandemics, as well as the advancement of novel neurotechnologies.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Thereby going against the explicit advice of all the relevant scientific and medical advisory boards, including the Ministry of Science and Education, the University Medical Centres, the medical section of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences, and the recent recommendations from the Bijker committee.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Thank you @mlangelaar.bsky.social, for your dedicated work in leading this beautiful institute. It is a disgrace that the Dutch political system has allowed this to happen, unable to prevent a small but vocal group of animal activists from creating such a risk to European public health.
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Marjolein Moorman @marjoleinmoorman.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Keihard snijden in onderwijs schaadt onze kinderen én onze toekomst. De stapeling van bezuinigingen treft juist de meest kwetsbare kinderen. De afbraak van onderwijs moet stoppen! Die oproep doe ik samen met o.a. de @vngemeenten.bsky.social aan politiek Den Haag.
parool.nl
Noodkreet wethouder Moorman aan kabinet: ‘Dit keihard snijden in onderwijs schaadt kinderen’
Een brandbrief tegen de bezuinigingen op onderwijs die het kabinet wil doorvoeren, wordt onder meer namens Amsterdam verstuurd. ‘Zeggen dat je voor kansengelijkheid staat, maar intussen kinderen raken...
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Ravi Menon @northernthrux.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
More fields need to do this.
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Knut Einar Rosendahl @rosendahlke.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Many believed that EU would not be able to reach its ambitious 2030 climate goal Now: EU almost on track to reach 2030 climate goal www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
reuters.com
EU almost on track to reach 2030 climate goal
The European Union is nearly on track to reach its main climate target for this decade, with countries' existing CO2-cutting plans set to bring the bloc within one percentage point of the goal, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Thanks for sharing. Too bad the trial wasn't succesful.
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Martin Vinck @martinavinck.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
With all the sad developments in the US - go study in the Netherlands: relatively low tuition (and adequate job search visa after graduating) for high-quality programs like this one in Neurophysics or Cognitive Neuroscience at the neuroscience Donders hub
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
It's amazing to me that the functional relevance of this basic cortical architecture is still unknown. There is a lot of theory why columnar organization would be useful, i.e. fast & robust communication. But it remains hard to investigate experimentally, combining functional with anatomical imaging
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
You probably also know that Patricia Goldman-Rakic showed that columnar organization in PFC matches anatomical projections from contra- vs ipsilateral parietal cortex, so not necessarily visual features: doi.org/10.1126/scie... Although she also linked it to visual features : doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
pnas.org
Regional and cellular fractionation of working memory | PNAS
This chapter recounts efforts to dissect the cellular and circuit basis of a memory system in the primate cortex with the goal of extending the i...
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Indeed, the imaging is impressive, but the stimulus selection seems a bit arbitrary to me. There is columnar organization in terms of connectivity across the visual cortex, but only in V1, this has been linked to function, and only for relatively local connections it seems : doi.org/10.1007/s004...
doi.org
Revisiting horizontal connectivity rules in V1: from like-to-like towards like-to-all - Brain Structure and Function
Horizontal connections in the primary visual cortex of carnivores, ungulates and primates organize on a near-regular lattice. Given the similar length scale for the regularity found in cortical orient...
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Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Going through months-worth of Google Scholar Alert emails getting caught up on neuro papers, so I figured I'd share some fun findings here 👇
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
It's an cool paper, but not very rigorous I would say. In particular, I would assume that neurons in IT connect using features that are topographically organized. See e.g. these paper, I assume you know: www.nature.com/articles/s41... and Figure 3 in : www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
nature.com
A map of object space in primate inferotemporal cortex - Nature
Primate inferotemporal cortex contains a coarse map of object space consisting of four networks, identified using functional imaging, electrophysiology and deep networks.
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Francesco Battaglia @battaglialab.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Come study at the @dondersinst.bsky.social Neurophysics Master!
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Donders Institute @dondersinst.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Please find this English masters program in Neurophysics. Study the brain, artificial neural networks and complex systems through the lens of mathematical modeling and physics. Radboud University / Donders (Netherlands) is one of Europe’s leading universities in Neuroscience. 1/3
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European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 16/05/2025
Today, the ERC formally adopted a decision to increase its support for researchers moving to Europe. On top of its normal grants, the ERC offers 'start-up' funding to help PIs establish laboratories / research teams in Europe. This extra funding is now x2 (up to €2 million!) europa.eu/!6Vdgmp
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Fantastic piece indeed! Very clear and convincing. Would you maybe be willing to also share this on LinkedIn?
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Eliza Bliss-Moreau @eblissmoreau.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
The NIH move to restrict animal research is a bad one and not just about health - it's about national security. More here: medium.com/@eblissmorea...
medium.com
This will kill us: restricting animal research
Tuesday, as my lab gathered to celebrate the completion of one of our big studies, the National Institutes of Health announced that they…
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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
oh wow I wonder if this is something he could have done when the Trump admin condemned 2000 infants a day to a lifelong HIV infection or when he defied a unanimous Supreme Court decision ah well nevertheless
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
The deadline is extended to Friday May 9th, as there were some technical issues with the application portal due to the large number of last minute applications.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
The deadline is extended to Friday May 9th, as there were some technical issues with the application portal due to the large number of last minute applications.
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Decision, Action, and Neural Computation (DANC) lab @danclab.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
This looks so cool
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Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience @bernsteinneuro.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Deadline April 30! 👇
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
One week left to apply!
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Thanks for sharing! One week left to apply.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Fantastic work from the group of Wim Vanduffel! Super fast face-selective neurons in the prefrontal cortex, suggesting that we need to rethink how 'high-level' the encoding in PFC is. At least it gets a strong transient input, so has to be considered as part of the feedforward processing stream.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
No need for 3-photon imaging anymore?
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Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Robust encoding of stimulus–response mapping by neurons in visual cortex doi.org/10.1073/pnas... #neuroscience
doi.org
Robust encoding of stimulus–response mapping by neurons in visual cortex | PNAS
Neural activity in sensory cortex is modulated by behavioral and cognitive factors, and this modulation is thought to contribute to the selection o...
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Maximiliano José Nigro @maxnigro.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
There are many studies on cell types and then there is the gold standard. Beautiful work on the diversity of VIP interneurons by the Rudy lab! #neuroskyence www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Inhibitory and disinhibitory VIP IN-mediated circuits in neocortex
Cortical GABAergic interneurons (INs) are comprised of distinct types that provide tailored inhibition to pyramidal cells (PCs) and other INs, thereby enabling precise control of cortical circuit acti...
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
I'm afraid things first have to get much much worse, economically mainly, and hope no real disaster happens in the meantime. Then the question becomes how to ensure they are rightly blamed for the mess they made.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Thank you for explaining this so clearly. This is devastating, and cruel. It seems clear that this has been planned well in advance. But what are their motives? Destroying the NIH to rebuild it according to their ideals?
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 21/02/2025
Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling. Story by Ben Mueller. Gift link: nyti.ms/435szDm
nyti.ms
Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling (Gift Article)
Using an arcane law, officials have effectively delayed funding from the National Institutes of Health, leaving medical studies in jeopardy.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Already looking forward to collaborate on this exciting project, Gaute!
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Gaute Einevoll @gauteeinevoll.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Great PhD opportunity at Donders in the Netherlands where we will be involved in supervising the modelling part :-)
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
We have a very exciting 4-year PhD position available at the @dondersinst.bsky.social, to better understand how neuronal populations generate magnetic fields and how to measure those intracranially, with Corette Wierenga & @gauteeinevoll.bsky.social. For more info: neuronanotech.eu/phd-projects...
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Markus Meister @mameister4.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Here it is finally: Our mathematical methods book for life scientists! Aimed at advanced undergrads and beginning grad students, plus all those who want a deeper look at the math behind quantitative biology. @portugueslab.bsky.social. 1/3
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Definitely not background noise. The overall feeling is just sympathy I would say. And in fact, many Europeans have joined NIH grants, so many of us have personaly stakes in this as well. And then there is a strong sense that this might happen to us too, at some point in the future. Hang in there!
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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Pro tip: when explaining the NIH cuts to friends and family, use "research infrastructure" rather than "indirect costs" or, godforbid, "overhead." DOGE just slashed the budget for research infrastructure. It's accurate and it drives home that the fight is over jobs and facilities, not "waste."
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CLaE @claeneuro.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Science Whale song shows language-like statistical structure www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Whale song shows language-like statistical structure
Humpback whale song is a culturally transmitted behavior. Human language, which is also culturally transmitted, has statistically coherent parts whose frequency distribution follows a power law. These...
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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
What is happening in US politics? Ezra Klein has an insightful 14 min take. Don’t fall for “muzzle velocity.” (Available w/out paywall on podcast platforms) www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Don’t Believe Him
Look closely at the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s second term and you’ll see something very different than what he wants you to see.
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Eliza Bliss-Moreau @eblissmoreau.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
JFC In addition to the patients at the clinical center, the NIH is home to many nonhuman animals who play critical roles in medical science. And they need to eat.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Thanks for clarifying that. And on average, are scientists with a PhD in Europa more successful than with a PhD in the US? It seems like it from this plot.
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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Trying to decide on the best form of uplift to engage in tomorrow? If you (like me) find doing uplifting, consider a bit of much needed Science Advocacy, perhaps something from this list: www.nicolecrust.com/advocacy Bonus: tell me about it and I’ll send you one of these fabulous pins ⬇️
nicolecrust.com
Nicole Rust | Advocacy
Join Nicole in supporting science and advocating why science matters to our society.
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
This seems to also show that it's best to get a PhD training in Europe and move to the US for a postdoc, instead of the other way around. Is that true?
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Fanis Panagiotaropoulos @fanispa.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Lack of context modulation in human single neuron responses in the medial temporal lobe: Cell Reports www.cell.com/cell-reports...
cell.com
Lack of context modulation in human single neuron responses in the medial temporal lobe
Rey et al. use a naturalistic memory task, in which subjects learn and then recall two different stories involving the same person in different contexts, while recording the activity of individual hip...
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Timo van Kerkoerle @timovankerkoerle.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Thanks for the tip, so much better indeed!
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Lisa Genzel (she/her) @lgenzel.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
We are still taking applications!
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