First 2-photon axonal calcium data acquired!

We've acquired our first 2-photon calcium imaging data from locus coeruleus axons in the cortex using our amazing new INSS microscope ! Looking forward to our team gathering a lot more of this exciting data in 2026.

New 2-photon imaging system built by INSS

The amazing team at Independent Neuroscience Services completed the building and testing of our new assisted-DIY 2-photon imaging system on site at Edinburgh, complete with widefield optogenetics capability. We are looking forward to all the discoveries we'll make with this system as part of our ERC StG project!

Rebecca awarded ERC Starting grant 2024

Rebecca has been awarded an ERC starting grant in the 2024 call. The grant will fund a research project 'Learn2Predict', which aims to uncover fundamental mechanisms of predictive learning in the sensory cortex, using a range of cutting edge methods and novel VR approaches. Read more here!  

First anniversary and data from the lab

On the first anniversary of the lab, we obtained our first whole cell recording in vivo, in V1 as a mouse navigates virtual reality. We also have our first fibre photometry data! It's not the biggest news, but certainly a milestone! 

Review published in Trends In Neurosciences

Rebecca has written a review on how current evidence supports a particular computational role of the locus coeruleus in signalling global model failures, now published in Trends In Neurosciences - and featured on the cover!

Read the paper here!

New preprint peer review available on eLife

Peer reviews are now available online for our manuscript entitled 'The locus coeruleus broadcasts prediction errors across the cortex to promote sensorimotor plasticity'. In fact, it is the first ever preprint reviewed by eLife's new open peer review service model!

Read the manuscript and reviews here.

The Prediction & Plasticity lab will open at the University of Edinburgh in early 2023

After successfully interviewing in the stormy beginning of 2022, it is confirmed that Rebecca will start the lab as a Simons ESAT fellow at the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain at the University of Edinburgh! The lab will open in February 2023. Watch out for postdoctoral and PhD positions opening soon. 

Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain Bridge to Independence Award 

Rebecca was awarded one of four inaugural Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain Bridge to Independence Awards to help fund the beginning of the research program. The research program is entitled 'Cortical-catecholamine loops in sensorimotor learning'. Read more about the research here!