Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders - NERF

13/11/2025

New work out today in Nature Methods by a collaborative team including Pedro Gonçalves! 🙌

Introducing , a differentiable simulator that brings biophysically detailed neural models into the realm of large‑scale, machine‑learning‑powered optimization.

➡️ By combining the precision of biophysical models with the scalability of AI methods, JAXLEY overcomes computational barriers that have so far limited the scale of brain simulations.

➡️ This means high‑fidelity neuron models (ion channels, morphologies, synapses) can now be scaled, tuned and understood like never before.

➡️ The toolbox is fully open-source, making it accessible to the entire research community.

Congratulations to Pedro Gonçalves and the entire team in the Macke and Berens labs in Tubingen! 👏
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02895-w

13/11/2025

One week left to apply for the NERF/VIB-KU Leuven Center For Brain & Disease Research international PhD Call 2026!

There are 4 open PhD positions in the NERF labs:
🔹 study the evolution of neural circuits and innate behaviors in the Farrow lab
🔹 investigate pathway-specific mechanisms of visual perception and learning in the Bonin lab
🔹 delineate the pathway underlying olfactory novelty-evoked exploratory behaviors in the Haesler lab
🔹 explore brain-wide neural responses to stimulus novelty in the Haesler lab

As part of NERF and the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, you’ll join a multidisciplinary neuroscience community in an open, international environment with access to advanced technologies, training, and mentorship.

📅 Application deadline: 20 November 2025
📍 Start date: Autumn 2026
🔗 Learn more about the projects & teams and apply now: https://cbd.sites.vib.be/en/phdcall2026

03/11/2025

Join NERF! 📢

Are you curious about how the brain develops, functions, and adapts?

Applications are now open for the NERF/VIB-KU Leuven Center For Brain & Disease Research joint PhD Call 2026!

At NERF, we combine neurobiology, microelectronics, AI, and advanced imaging to study the nervous system from single cells to complex behavior.

We have four open PhD positions:
🔹 to study the evolution of neural circuits and innate behaviors - supervised by Karl Farrow
🔹 to investigate pathway-specific mechanisms of visual perception and learning - supervised by Vincent Bonin
🔹 to delineate the pathway underlying olfactory novelty-evoked exploratory behaviors - supervised by Sebastian Haesler
🔹 to explore brain-wide neural responses to stimulus novelty - supervised by Sebastian Haesler

As part of NERF and the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, you’ll join a multidisciplinary neuroscience community in an open, international environment with access to advanced technologies, training, and mentorship.

📅 Application deadline: 20 November 2025
📍 Start date: Autumn 2026
🔗 Learn more about the projects & teams and apply now: https://cbd.sites.vib.be/en/phdcall2026

24/09/2025

Ever heard of the superior colliculus?

This small, ancient midbrain structure plays a surprisingly central role in how animals see, decide, and act, and has been the star of multiple recent papers from the Farrow and Bonin labs.

What makes this structure so fascinating, you ask?

Take a deep dive in this new VIB blog (in English)
https://blog.vib.be/meet-the-superior-colliculus

or dip your toes, reading this Eos article (in Dutch)
https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/psyche-brein/wie-trekt-er-aan-de-alarmbel-je-brein

04/09/2025

What if... a brain scan would be as easy as an ultrassound?

The Urban lab's work on fUS is covered in EOS (in Dutch)!

Read it here 👇

Bij pasgeboren baby’s verlopen epileptische aanvallen vaak zó subtiel dat ze onopgemerkt blijven. Toch kunnen net die eerste aanvallen schade veroorzake...

23/07/2025

New paper alert!

We're thrilled to share a new publication from the Farrow lab in collaboration with the Hoekstra lab at Harvard and former NERF postdoc Katja Reinhard, now group leader at SISSA.

Published today in Nature, this study reveals how evolution tunes brain circuits to decide between freezing or fleeing.

By comparing two deer mouse species, the team discovered how a key decision-making switch in the midbrain is calibrated to match each species' habitat—fast escapes in the forest, freezing on open ground.

It’s a beautiful example of how evolution repurposes existing brain wiring to fine-tune instinctive behavior, the authors say:

“Our new discovery illustrates a fundamental evolutionary principle: natural selection often tweaks existing neural circuits rather than constructing entirely new pathways.”

👏 Huge congratulations to Felix Baier, Katja Reinhard, Karl Farrow, Hopi Hoekstra and all co-authors!
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09241-2

21/07/2025

New publication from the Urban Lab! 🥳

We’re excited to introduce PyfUS—a flexible, open-source Python software for analyzing brain-wide functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging data, just published in Neurocomputing.

Developed by Théo Lambert, Clément Brunner, Gabriel Montaldo, and Alan Urban, PyfUS provides an end-to-end pipeline for processing and visualizing fUS datasets, from signal registration to region-based analysis—and now, single-voxel clustering for fine-grained insights at the voxel level.

With PyfUS, researchers can now explore brain-wide function in awake mice at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution—and build their own extensions with ease.

📂 Software: github.com/OpenfUS/PyfUS
📄 Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2025.130899

👏 Congratulations to the team!

16/07/2025

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”

In a new The Transmitter essay, Karl Farrow (NERF) and Katja Reinhard (SISSA) explore why evolutionary thinking is essential for understanding the brain. They argue that a narrow focus on a few model organisms—though powerful—risks missing the broader picture of how brains adapt, evolve, and compute across species.

Comparative approaches, they say, are key to revealing the universal principles of brain function.

Read the full essay: https://www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neuroscience/systems-and-circuit-neuroscience-need-an-evolutionary-perspective/

✨ Artwork by Eoin Ryan

15/07/2025

How do brain cells decide what matters most in a fast-changing world?

New research from the Farrow and Bonin labs at NERF, just published in Current Biology, reveals how the intricate dendritic architecture of midbrain neurons helps detect and compute critical motion cues, like approaching predators or fleeing prey. 🐁

“This study shows just how much computation is embedded directly into the brain’s wiring,” says Karl Farrow. “The way inputs are arranged along a single neuron’s dendrites can determine how we interpret and respond to the world.”

Congratulations to Norma Kühn, Chen Li, Natalia Baimacheva, Janne Zimmer, Katja Reinhard, Vincent Bonin and Karl Farrow! 🙌

https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0960-9822(25)00820-6