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Prof. Vladimir Litvak

@vlitvak.bsky.social
691 followers 633 following 82 posts

Neuroscientist and (kind of) programmer studying the links between the depths of the brain and its surface. Former Kiev, Jerusalem, Wuerzburg, Haifa.

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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Thomas Zaugg and I have posted our contribution to the lesion network mapping (LNM) debate on bioRxiv. Our main result: LNM can work even with a low-dimensional connectome, providing a mathematical explanation for its apparent success. Feedback and criticism welcome. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I'm happy I had a chance to contribute to this important paper on behalf of #SPM with Zita Patai and Jason Taylor. Kudos to the main team for completing this mammoth work. osf.io/preprints/me...
osf.io
OSF
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Andreas Horn @andreashorn.org · 10/06/2026
And were live! #optoDBS 2026 is oft to a great start here at Campus Biotech in Geneva. Christian Lüscher kicking off the conference - and since we are broadening the scope a lot: will we call it #optoMOD in the future?
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
If you missed the original version of our VTA study, we now have an updated preprint with a new title and some new analyses. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Electrophysiological Correlates of Reward Processing in the Human Ventral Tegmental Area
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is the principal source of dopaminergic input to the human prefrontal cortex and is hypothesised to play a central role in reward‑based learning. However, direct elect...
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
It’s not at the FIL but across the square but indeed all welcome!
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Andreas Horn @andreashorn.org · 12/05/2026
It was a huge honor to spend 90 minutes talking with Karl Friston about the origins of human brain mapping, the SPM software, and the 'finishing school' at the FIL. Tune in here:
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Department of Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
We are pleased to announce that the SPM for MEG/EEG course hosted by University College London will take place from Monday, May 18th to Thursday, May 21st, 2026! Registration is now open via the UCL Online Store:
onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk
D07 Statistical Parametric Mapping For MEG/EEG 2026 | UCL Online Store
The course will provide a detailed introduction to the analysis of EEG and MEG data. The first three days will combine theoretical presentations with pract
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I think the opposite is true. The properties of the connectome are highly meaningful. Even the degree sum network is meaningful and might be truly relevant to some disorders. The exciting aspect is the possibility of expressing lesion networks and R-maps in terms of canonical resting networks.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
So these guys seem to have done exactly what I was suggesting, and it seems that at least some of the networks can be distinguished in low-dimensional space. This is super-exciting. And this must be the space where all fMRI resting networks live because they are generated from the same connectome.
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Andreas Horn @andreashorn.org · 27/02/2026
A recent @natneuro.nature.com paper analyzed lesion network mapping and raised concerns about the validity of the method. See below 👇 for our response. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Andreas Horn @andreashorn.org · 20/02/2026
New @netstim.org publication alert: @bahnebahners.bsky.social in BRAIN out now: academic.oup.com/brain/advanc... A 🧵:
academic.oup.com
The deep brain stimulation response network in Parkinson’s disease operates in the high beta band
Bahners et al. identify a brain network linked to optimal therapeutic outcomes in patients with Parkinson’s disease receiving deep brain stimulation. This
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Looks great! You should have an art exhibition to go with it!
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
On the importance of ethics and risk assessment www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
dailymail.co.uk
Scientist gives himself BRAIN damage testing Havana Syndrome weapon
A scientist in Norway gave himself brain damage after testing an experimental weapon designed to disprove the existence of 'Havana Syndrome'.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
We have released a subset of our simultaneous MEG and subthalamic LFP recordings from people with Parkinson’s with clinical metadata. The data cover rest and movement tasks, medication on and off states, and include MEG‑derived virtual electrodes for SMA and bilateral M1. doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...
doi.org
Sumultaneous subthalamic local field potentials and MEG-derived cortical activity in Parkinson's patients ON and OFF dopaminergic medication
This dataset contains simultaneous magnetoencephalography and subthalamic local field potential recordings acquired during deep brain stimulation surgery for Parkinson’s disease. Acquisition and preprocessing procedures are detailed in Litvak et al., Brain 2011 (doi:10.1093/brain/awq332) and Litvak et al., Journal of Neuroscience 2012 (doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0767-12.2012). All files are provided in FieldTrip raw format as defined in the FieldTrip data specification. Data from a subset of the original cohort are available due to ethical restrictions on data sharing.Recordings were obtained in two clinical states for each participant: after overnight withdrawal of dopaminergic medication and while receiving their usual medication. Clinical characteristics and medication doses are listed in subject_details.csv. Pre-operative motor scores were collected using standard clinical assessments.Experimental conditionsParticipants completed the following tasks:R: rest.SL: simple left-hand movement comprising a simultaneous button press with digits 2 to 4.SR: simple right-hand movement with the same gesture.CL: complex left-hand sequence consisting of successive presses of digits 2, 4 and 3.CR: complex right-hand sequence with the same pattern.Event timings for button presses are stored in the event channel.Recorded signalsThe dataset includes:Bipolar subthalamic local field potentials.Electro-oculography.Electromyography from the bilateral first dorsal interosseous muscles.Virtual electrode time series reconstructed from MEG for the supplementary motor area and bilateral primary motor cortices. Virtual electrode coordinates are reported in MNI space and were affine transformed to individual anatomy: SMA [−2 −10 59], left M1 [−37 −25 62], right M1 [37 −25 62].
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Bahne Bahners @bahnebahners.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
🚨 New research alert: What happens at the cortex during pallidal #DBS in patients with cervical #dystonia? 🧠 ⚡ ---> www.researchgate.net/publication/... <-----
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Finally, we are grateful to our clinical colleagues Lucy Simmonds, Susie Lagrata, Manjit Matharu, Harith Akram and Ludvic Zrinzo and to the outstanding research facilities of the Department of Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social (formerly the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging).
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
We are equally indebted to Arjun Ramaswamy @arjunramaswamy.bsky.social for his perseverance and rigorous analysis, and to Jon Roiser @jonroiser.bsky.social for invaluable input to Arjun's work alongside co‑supervision from Umesh Vivekananda.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
This study would not have been possible without Douglas Steele @dougiej.bsky.social , who suggested the task and travelled from Dundee to London for every patient recording.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Taken together, these findings show that the essential components required to compute reward prediction error, as proposed by reinforcement learning theory and earlier animal work, are present in the human VTA.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
We observed stronger responses to rewarding outcomes than to losses or neutral events. In a subset of patients, we also identified a signal reflecting the value of the chosen option around the time of the decision.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
This project was conceived over a decade ago, with data collection spanning a period of six years.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Preprint alert!!! We recorded directly from the human ventral tegmental area (VTA), the principal source of cortical dopaminergic innervation, while patients performed an instrumental learning task. 🧵👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Andreas Horn @andreashorn.org · 25/01/2026
When I was entering the field of DBS, Ludvic Zrinzo said a few things that were simple in retrospect but formulated so clearly that they fundamentally changed how I think of the therapy. I am super grateful about this super insightful interview at @stimulatingbrains.org – tune in 👇👇
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
I’m still trying to understand their explanation for why all the controls you used were invalid. But whatever the bottom line I have no doubt you were as rigorous as you could possibly be.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
I’m looking forward to the debate around this important paper. But even if some results from @andreashorn.org, @foxmdphd.bsky.social and other brilliant and hard-working colleagues turn out too good to be true, the field will correct itself and emerge stronger. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
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Andreas Horn @andreashorn.org · 19/12/2025
What is the status of DBS for epilepsy? Find out in our new review/metaanalysis spearheaded by @laurenahart.bsky.social & Garance Meyer in JNNP: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40666371/ A 🧵 — please RT for reach! 🙏
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Andreas Horn @andreashorn.org · 15/12/2025
See you in Geneva! We have such an incredible line up of speakers this year! #optoDBS2026 – registration now open at www.optodbs.ch As last time, we are expanding scope way beyond just DBS and optogenetics – for instance including TMS and LIFU applications this year!
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medRxivpreprint @medrxivpreprint.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Deep brain stimulation and psychosis: A case series and two candidate causal brain circuits www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Yes, I suspected it might have been me. Thanks for setting the record straight 😊
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
@orcid.org alerted me to the fact that my PhD thesis from 2006 is available online via OSF. I'm not sure how it got there, but it was quite nostalgic to flip through those long-forgotten pages again and remember the good times in Haifa and Würzburg. Enjoy! doi.org/10.31237/osf...
doi.org
OSF
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
And one can definitely learn from it how to write the most useful review.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
I’m really impressed with qedscience.com. Not perfect but the best qualitative jump I’ve seen in AI output since the original ChatGPT. Even the kind of dumb things it sometimes says, a human reviewer could say as well, but many of the points are spot on.
qedscience.com
q.e.d Science
Critical Thinking AI for constructive criticism and science evaluation
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Department of Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
#BrainMeeting 🧠 Alert! 🎺 This Friday, October 24th, the Brain Meeting speaker will be Terence Sanger, MD, PhD. This talk will be online only. 12 Queen Square Seminar room (4th Floor) will be available if you need a space to watch the stream. For more information: www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/event
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Who says a scientist’s life is boring? Was nice to see some friends from times long gone in this movie. youtu.be/46svA-C939s?...
youtu.be
Bat Island: The New Era of Science
YouTube video by Weizmann Institute of Science
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
What was the point he was making with this? I recently heard about Pollock in a different context from @marcusdusautoy.bsky.social .
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Looks amazing! Congratulations!
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Peter Zeidman @corticalpete.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
A birthday is a good time to reflect! To mark SPM @ 30, this month's issue of Cerebral Cortex features deeply insightful commentaries on neuroimaging analysis from Ed Bullmore, Peter Bandettini, Peter Fox, Pedro Valdes-Sosa, Klaas Enno Stephan, Viktor Jirsa, et al [1/2] academic.oup.com/cercor/issue
academic.oup.com
Issues | Cerebral Cortex | Oxford Academic
Publishes papers on the development, organization, plasticity, and function of the cerebral cortex, including the hippocampus.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
DBS Think Tank @dbsthinktank.bsky.social taking place next week is always the highlight of my year. Its Rising Stars event showcasing the work of talented early career DBS researchers starts in an hour. Don’t miss. ufl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
ufl.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: DBS Think Tank Rising Stars Challenge. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
DBS is a rapidly developing area of neuroscience that has revolutionized the treatment of a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders. From Parkinson’s disease to depression, DBS has the poten...
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
This is very exciting as it could provide a way to identify stimulation targets for syndromes for which no stimulation data exists at all as long as there is some genetic data. Congratulations!
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Great news! Ningfei is a great scientist and a highly valued collaborator. I’m looking forward to working with him in the new capacity.
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Peter Kok @peterkok.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
We are recruiting a new PI at the FIL @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social, Associate or Full Professor. This is an amazing place to do cognitive neuroscience, in the heart of London. If you or someone you know might be interested, please pass it on. #neuroskyence www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
This paper is the work of the brilliant Haeun Sun. It’s rare for an MSc thesis to be publishable, but Haeun’s perseverance made it possible. I’m also grateful to all the co-authors — especially Ningfei Li and Davide Giampiccolo @dgiampiccolo.bsky.social, who co-supervised Haeun’s project.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
We propose an approach to help select the most informative tasks and contacts to test in each patient. Our method also makes it possible to identify the most promising symptoms to study, given typical implantation patterns at a clinical site, and to estimate the required patient numbers.
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
🧠 New preprint alert! medrxiv.org/cgi/content/... SEEG in epilepsy affords a rare opportunity to record and stimulate in brain regions that are difficult to access, including the white matter. Could we leverage this to map circuits relevant to psychiatric symptoms? If so, where would one start? 👇
Graphical abstract
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Reposted by Prof. Vladimir Litvak
Department of Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Poster 1323 at #OHBM2025 - Suvadeep Maiti from the FIL will present his important work validating cluster-level inference based on random field theory correction, for 1D and 2D electrophysiological data in SPM. [6/7]
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Department of Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Thursday 11:30 at #OHBM2025 - Arjun Ramaswamy from the FIL will give an oral presentation on "Electrophysiological Correlates of Reinforcement Learning in the Human Ventral Tegmental Area", in the Higher Cognitive Functions session. [3/7]
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Department of Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Lots of exciting work being showcased by the SPM Team and other Fellows from the UCL Department of Imaging Neuroscience at #OHBM2025 this week! A thread 🧵 ... [1/7]
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
To learn more about SPM-Python check out @johmedr.bsky.social ‘s comprehensive presentation from our last M/EEG course youtu.be/XiJvLLUJogk?...
youtu.be
SPM-Python | Dr Johan Medrano | SPM for EEG and MEG
YouTube video by SPM
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Peter Zeidman @corticalpete.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
The beta release of SPM-Python is out now! Amazing work by Johan Medrano @johmedr.bsky.social , Yael Balbastre, Yulia Bezsudnova @ybezs.bsky.social and other members of their team. A new era for SPM! #OHBM2025
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Prof. Vladimir Litvak @vlitvak.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Greetings from Brisbane! Who else is here for #OHBM25?
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