In episode 13, I am speaking with Dr. Guillame Dumas (Institut Pasteur). Or, to be more precise, I am growing more awe-inspired by the minute, as Dr. Dumas elaborates on his many pursuits. Organizing an independent research association, studying inter-brain synchronization during social interaction, mapping pathophysiology of autism across explanatory levels, reporting for the UN, debating at UNESCO, sending brain waves into space and analyzing ancient DNA sequences - that's enough to keep several people (who would be quite unlikely to cross paths) busy. But, with his intellectual nimbleness to master new disciplines in a blink of an eye and helped along in collaborations by his natural amiableness, Dr. Dumas is the man who does it all. Read his CV and keep the treatment for the insufficiency complex at the ready. In this episode, we cover -- how after studying physics and engineering, Dr. Dumas transitioned to social neuroscience -- why he thinks that autism is an ultimate test case for multi-scale neuroscience -- what clinicians had against the research platform he developed for simultaneous recordings during social interaction -- when the UN is interested in what neuroscientists have to say -- how to organize and maintaining an independent research association focused on altered states of consciousness (ALIUS), including members spread across several continents and issuing its own magazine -- why and with whom he sent brainwaves into space --what makes the French research culture distinct --why it is important for working scientists to engage in public discourse -- what are the potential pitfalls of open science system from the Marxist perspective -- when interdisciplinary collaboration becomes a social experiment ... and we did not have the time to cover yet another project of Dr. Dumas - HackyourPhD - a community advocating for openness in Science. This conversation was recorded at the NOW event in Paris in January 2019. There are several moments in the episode where we allude to the issues regarding open science that were raised in talks during the day. And finally, Dr. Dumas' answers to our traditional closing questions 1) Which skills you wish you had picked up earlier on in your career? Statistics! And not just the theory behind computing the t-statistic or simple correlation. I think scientists should be able (and willing) to read advanced statistical literature. After all, it is about whether we are measuring what we want to measure. But I would also complement it with reading epistemology. After all, you can easily loose sight of the big picture or measure the wrong thing. 2) What is the most successful theory in neuroscience today? Clearly, Bayesianism is owning the hype. But personally, I am more excited about Bayesian statistics as a practical data analysis tool rather than Bayesian theories of the brain as an overarching explanatory framework. In fact, I would not focus on what is successful right now. It is mainstream anyway. I believe in pluralism, so I would try to look into theories which are currently on the sidelines. 3) What is a recent piece of data you are most excited about? The Allen Brain Observatory (and earlier, all the atlases the Institute has made available for the public use). I am also excited about the possibility to analyze ancient DNA sequences. This would have been impossible only several years ago. This is another collaboration I am a part of, where we look at the role of the evolutionary divergent genes in cognition. Source image: CRICM

Dr. Kimberly Stachenfeld is a research scientist at Google DeepMind. Having done her PhD on reinforcement learning in the hippocampus with Prof. Matthew Botvinick at Princeton, she joined DeepMind, where she continues her academic work along with industry projects. There are many bright young people, but few are as reflective and eloquent as Kimberly. She has been working with outstanding scientists in stimulating environments throughout her training, and she can articulate the lessons she gleaned with admirable clarity. In this episode, we discuss:  -why reinforcement learning is so successful            -what graduate students can learn from school teachers                -difference between neuroscience and enginneering&math subcultures                       -how machine learning can be used to advance neuroscience and vice versa

Dr. Leopoldo Petreanu is a Principal Investigator at the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown where he leads a Cortical Circuits Lab. Dr. Petreanu is interested in the principles of inter- and intra-cortical connectivity. He levels an appropriately multi-pronged attack on this fundamental problem. For example, to better understand cortical feedback, he studied visual cortex and the functional organization therein. While when looking at the long-range circuits, he chose to look at the sensory and motor cortices. Aside from effortlessly switching between preparations and nailing complex techniques, his lab also develops novel behavioral tasks. In this episode, we discuss --> what Dr. Petreanu learnt from Karel Svoboda --> why not having quantitative skills early on is not a handicap --> which argument for the unity of cortical computation he finds the most compelling

Prof. Dora Angelaki investigates the influence of vestibular signals on spatial cognition in the mammalian brain. We discuss why she changes fields every 10 years, her work in computational psychiatry, systems neuroscience. We also touch on what she learned as an editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neuroscience and a member of the International Brain Laboratory. And much more!

Prof. Matthew Nolan leads a systems neuroscience laboratory at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on the molecular and circuit mechanisms underlying memory and navigation in the hippocampal – entorhinal system. Prof. Nolan is a rare example of a scientist whose work appeals both to pure theoreticians and hard line experimentalists. In this episode, we discuss –> open science and the value of reviewer anonymity –> the concept of “cell type” and its (mis)use in the navigation field –> how to supervise long-term projects and guide them to completion

Prof. op de Beeck is a Group leader of Human Brain Imaging and Rodent Visual Cognition at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. We discuss the skewed proportion of PhDs to Postdocs and the progressively narrowing funnel leading to tenure. We also touch upon how to balance high throughput analyses of ‘natural’ behaviors with training animals to perform more sophisticated - and, admittedly, artificial - tasks.

Dr. Daniel Manson is a neuroscientist-turned-developer based in London. At the moment, he is a software engineer at the London-based  LandInsight - a company providing services for land developers in England and Wales. But back in the day, he was a Neuroscience PhD student at the University College London. There he worked in the lab of the 2014 Nobel Prize Winner John O’Keeffe under the supervision of Dr. Caswell Barry.  Daniel started developing software while still in the academic quarters. During his PhD he managed not only to perform  his own experiments, but also to contribute to the community with his excellent  waveform GUI for hippocampal and entorhinal electrophysiology data. In this episode, we discuss --> why Daniel decided to leave academia --> how his days at on the job differ from the daily grind of the PhD --> why working for a start-up is sometimes like playing a strategy game and more!

Prof. Kathryn Jeffery is at the University College London and the Institute of Behavioral Neuroscience. Alongside her intensely exciting work on the encoding of complex, three dimensional space in the hippocampal-entorhinal circuit, she manages to perform an astonishing amount of outreach activities, speaking to audiences at schools, museums and professional societies, as well as collaborate with artists and make glass pieces herself!

Viktoria is a scientific coordinator at the International Max Planck Research School for Life Sciences, affiliated with the MPI of Biochemistry. Although, frankly, saying this does not even begin to do justice to the great many projects Viktoria manages. The 15x4 series and Soapbox Science Munich are just two of them.

Dr. Roßkothen – Kuhl is a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical Center of the University of Freiburg. Based on her extensive experience applying for grants, Dr. Roßkothen – Kuhl shares her best advice on how to draw the committee’s attention. Listen out for those tips!