This Week in Neuroscience

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TWiN 76: Light Switches Go To Stockholm Oct 29, 2026

Show notes

TWiN explains the science behind the 2026 Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries on light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Tim Cheung

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Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine 2026 (Nobel)
Driving fast-spiking cells (Nature)
Manipulating synthetic optogenetic odors (Science)
Microbial rhodopsin in mammalian neurons (Nat Methods)
Deisseroth lectures on optogenetics (iBiology)
Cardiogenic control of affective behavioral state (Nature)
Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

TWiN 75: Arc, tau, and Alzheimer's Sep 29, 2026

Show notes

Jason Shepherd joins TWiN to discuss the work in his laboratory showing that Arc protein plays a role in intercellular transmission of tau protein, which becomes hyperphosphorylated and misfolded, a major histopathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Tim Cheung

Guest: Melissa Cooper

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Arc and Tau intercellular transmission (Cell)
Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

TWiN 74: Plastic astrocyte networks with Melissa Cooper Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

Melissa Cooper joins TWiN to discuss her discovery that astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic networks.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Tim Cheung

Guest: Melissa Cooper

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Astrocytes form plastic networks (Nature)
Newly found brain network (Nature)
Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

TWiN 73: The price of a bigger brain Jun 25, 2026

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TWiN unpacks a striking paradox, that the very cell divisions that built the human brain's most advanced layers also put them at greatest risk, and how a dedicated DNA repair pathway saves them.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung

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Expansion of outer cortical CUX2 neurons requires adaptations for DNA repair (Nature)
Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

TWiN 72: What cesarean babies miss Jun 01, 2026

Show notes

TWiN explains the finding that vaginal microbiota transfer ameliorates cesarean-associated neurodevelopmental deficits in mice via synthesis of a sphingosine derivative on neonatal skin.

.Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung

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Vaginal microbiota transfer ameliorates cesarean-associated neurodevelopmental deficits (Cell Host Microbe)
Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

TWiN 71: Psychedelics rewire the brain from within Apr 29, 2026

Show notes

TWiN explains the finding that activation of intracellular, not plasma membrane, serotonin 2A receptors is responsible for the plasticity-promoting and antidepressant-like properties of psychedelic compounds.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung

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Psychedelics rewire the brain from within (Science)
Psychedelics elicit their effects by Gi signaling (Nature)
History of LSD (Wikipedia)
Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

TWiN 70: Unraveling the axon wrap Mar 17, 2026

Show notes

TWiN explains the role of a ubiquitin ligase component in regulating the sheathing of multiple axons by Schwann cells.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung

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Gut microbiome promotes pain in fibromyalgia (Neuron)
Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

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TWiN 69: Fibromyalgia and the microbiome Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

TWiN explains a study which showed that transplanting gut microbiota from women with fibromyalgia into mice induces pain, as well as phenotypes commonly observed in patients, such as immune activation, metabolomic changes, and reduced skin innervation.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung

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Gut microbiome promotes pain in fibromyalgia (Neuron)
Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

TWiN 68: Firewall for the brain Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

TWiN explores the use of speech brain-computer interfaces to restore communication to people with paralysis, and reveals strategies for protecting private inner speech.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung

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