A Stable Chemokine Gradient Controls Directional Persistence of Migrating Dendritic Cells.

Navigation of dendritic cells (DCs) from the site of infection to lymphoid organs is guided by concentration gradients of CCR7 ligands. How cells interpret chemokine gradients and how they couple directional sensing to polarization and persistent chemotaxis has remained largely elusive. Previous experimental systems were limited in the ability to control fast formation of the final gradient slope, long-lasting stability of the gradient and to expose cells to dynamic stimulation.

Visual recognition of social signals by a tectothalamic neural circuit.

Social affiliation emerges from individual-level behavioural rules that are driven by conspecific signals. Long-distance attraction and short-distance repulsion, for example, are rules that jointly set a preferred interanimal distance in swarms. However, little is known about their perceptual mechanisms and executive neural circuits.

A place learning assay for tethered walking Drosophila.

Background: Drosophila shows a range of visually guided memory and learning behaviors, including place learning. Investigating the dynamics of neural circuits underlying such behaviors requires learning assays in tethered animals, compatible with in vivo imaging experiments.

New Method: Here, we introduce an assay for place learning for tethered walking flies.

Genomic integration of transgenes using UV irradiation in .

Transgenes are widely used throughout molecular biology for numerous applications. In stable transgenes are usually generated by microinjection into the germline establishing extrachromosomal arrays. Furthermore, numerous technologies exist to integrate transgenes into the genome.

Barrels XXXIV meeting report: Barrels goes virtual.

: To summarize the state of research in the whisker-to-barrel sensorimotor system based on presentations at the Barrels meeting.: Host the 34th annual Barrels meeting was hosted virtually due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.: The Barrels meeting annually focuses on the latest advances in the rodent sensorimotor research.

Axial motion estimation and correction for simultaneous multi-plane two-photon calcium imaging.

Two-photon imaging in behaving animals is typically accompanied by brain motion. For functional imaging experiments, for example with genetically encoded calcium indicators, such brain motion induces changes in fluorescence intensity. These motion-related intensity changes or motion artifacts can typically not be separated from neural activity-induced signals.

The multivariate analysis of variance as a powerful approach for circular data.

Background: A broad range of scientific studies involve taking measurements on a circular, rather than linear, scale (often variables related to times or orientations). For linear measures there is a well-established statistical toolkit based on linear modelling to explore the associations between this focal variable and potentially several explanatory factors and covariates. In contrast, statistical testing of circular data is much simpler, often involving either testing whether variation in the focal measurements departs from circular uniformity, or whether a single explanatory factor with two levels is supported.

The impact of neuron morphology on cortical network architecture.

The neurons in the cerebral cortex are not randomly interconnected. This specificity in wiring can result from synapse formation mechanisms that connect neurons, depending on their electrical activity and genetically defined identity. Here, we report that the morphological properties of the neurons provide an additional prominent source by which wiring specificity emerges in cortical networks.