Dr Karolina Farrell
@karolinafarrell.bsky.social
Neuroscientist interested in psychiatric disorders. Research Fellow in the Institute of Neurology @uclqsion.bsky.social at UCL; previously at the Crick.
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
"We must avoid the 'Babel syndrome,' the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance."
Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026)
ENCYCLICAL LETTER MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV ON SAFEGUARDING THE HUMAN PERSON IN THE TIME OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE [ Multimedia ] ___________________________
www.vatican.va
May 25, 2026 at 10:19 AM
"We must avoid the 'Babel syndrome,' the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance."
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Memantine prevents acute stress-induced memory deficits by reversing sex-dependent pathophysiological glutamatergic alterations in the dorsal hippocampus
bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
BPS Publications
Background and Purpose
The neural mechanisms underlying effects of acute stress on memory are poorly understood. We demonstrated previously that acute stress produces identical spatial memory defici.....
bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
May 20, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Memantine prevents acute stress-induced memory deficits by reversing sex-dependent pathophysiological glutamatergic alterations in the dorsal hippocampus
bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Anhedonia buffers the effects of early-life unpredictability on threat-reward decision-making. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.16.725643v1
May 19, 2026 at 7:16 AM
Anhedonia buffers the effects of early-life unpredictability on threat-reward decision-making. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.16.725643v1
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Postdoc position in systems neuroscience!
Excited to recruit a postdoc for my lab at the University of Bonn.
🔬 In vivo physiology (Neuropixels, 2P/miniscope)
🐭 Head-fixed & freely moving behaviour
💡 Optogenetics/chemogenetics
⏳ Start: ASAP | Application deadline: 28.02.2026
More info below ⬇️
Excited to recruit a postdoc for my lab at the University of Bonn.
🔬 In vivo physiology (Neuropixels, 2P/miniscope)
🐭 Head-fixed & freely moving behaviour
💡 Optogenetics/chemogenetics
⏳ Start: ASAP | Application deadline: 28.02.2026
More info below ⬇️
February 1, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Postdoc position in systems neuroscience!
Excited to recruit a postdoc for my lab at the University of Bonn.
🔬 In vivo physiology (Neuropixels, 2P/miniscope)
🐭 Head-fixed & freely moving behaviour
💡 Optogenetics/chemogenetics
⏳ Start: ASAP | Application deadline: 28.02.2026
More info below ⬇️
Excited to recruit a postdoc for my lab at the University of Bonn.
🔬 In vivo physiology (Neuropixels, 2P/miniscope)
🐭 Head-fixed & freely moving behaviour
💡 Optogenetics/chemogenetics
⏳ Start: ASAP | Application deadline: 28.02.2026
More info below ⬇️
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
'to treat peer review as a throughput problem is to misunderstand what is at stake. Review is not simply a production stage in the research pipeline; it is one of the few remaining spaces where the scientific community talks to itself.' 1/3
AI is not a peer, so it can’t do peer review
If we still believe that science is a vocation grounded in argument, curiosity and care, we can’t delegate judgement to machines, says Akhil Bhardwaj
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 3, 2026 at 8:17 AM
'to treat peer review as a throughput problem is to misunderstand what is at stake. Review is not simply a production stage in the research pipeline; it is one of the few remaining spaces where the scientific community talks to itself.' 1/3
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
RA job alert. We are looking for a fearless experimentalist to join our experiments on cortical neuromodulators during visually guided learning, lead by @michael-lynn.bsky.social . Opportunity to learn 2p imaging, design and conduct experiments. RT plz. Apply here: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Job Details
my.corehr.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:43 PM
RA job alert. We are looking for a fearless experimentalist to join our experiments on cortical neuromodulators during visually guided learning, lead by @michael-lynn.bsky.social . Opportunity to learn 2p imaging, design and conduct experiments. RT plz. Apply here: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Electrophysiological Correlates of Reinforcement Learning in the Human Ventral Tegmental Area https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.27.701696v1
January 27, 2026 at 8:15 PM
Electrophysiological Correlates of Reinforcement Learning in the Human Ventral Tegmental Area https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.27.701696v1
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
New preprint. We show that in addition to reward prediction errors (RPEs), dorsal striatal dopamine signals encode sensory prediction errors (SPEs), the difference between sensory prior & observed stimulus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Dorsal striatal dopamine integrates sensory and reward prediction errors to guide perceptual decisions
Perceptual decisions are shaped by expectations about sensory stimuli and rewards, learned through sensory and reward prediction errors. Dopamine is known to convey reward prediction errors that shape...
www.biorxiv.org
January 5, 2026 at 10:49 AM
New preprint. We show that in addition to reward prediction errors (RPEs), dorsal striatal dopamine signals encode sensory prediction errors (SPEs), the difference between sensory prior & observed stimulus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
1/3 How reward prediction errors shape memory: when people gamble and cues signal unexpectedly high reward probability, those incidental images are remembered better than ones on safe trials, linking RL computations to episodic encoding. #RewardSignals #neuroskyence www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Positive reward prediction errors during decision-making strengthen memory encoding - Nature Human Behaviour
Jang and colleagues show that positive reward prediction errors elicited during incidental encoding enhance the formation of episodic memories.
www.nature.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:12 AM
1/3 How reward prediction errors shape memory: when people gamble and cues signal unexpectedly high reward probability, those incidental images are remembered better than ones on safe trials, linking RL computations to episodic encoding. #RewardSignals #neuroskyence www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
NEW: A Discord community with nearly 200 members serves as a support group for people whose minds and lives have been upended by episodes of AI delusion and psychosis.
In some cases, members say, the group has helped people climb out of their destructive AI "spirals."
futurism.com/artificial-i...
In some cases, members say, the group has helped people climb out of their destructive AI "spirals."
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Meet the Group Breaking People Out of AI Delusions
In this Discord server, people impacted by AI delusions and psychosis share their experiences — and even help users out of delusional spells.
futurism.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:23 PM
NEW: A Discord community with nearly 200 members serves as a support group for people whose minds and lives have been upended by episodes of AI delusion and psychosis.
In some cases, members say, the group has helped people climb out of their destructive AI "spirals."
futurism.com/artificial-i...
In some cases, members say, the group has helped people climb out of their destructive AI "spirals."
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#blueprint 1/7
#blueprint 1/7
Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning - Nature Neuroscience
Dopamine encoding of reward prediction errors naturally fluctuates over females’ reproductive cycles with estrogenic signaling due to reduced expression of dopamine reuptake proteins.
www.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#blueprint 1/7
#blueprint 1/7
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Delighted to see this finally out: rdcu.be/eO9oW
We tested whether brief striatal dopamine release events influence the vigor of skilled movements. Despite popular belief, we did not find any evidence linking rapid dopamine dynamics to motor vigor on a moment-by-moment basis.
We tested whether brief striatal dopamine release events influence the vigor of skilled movements. Despite popular belief, we did not find any evidence linking rapid dopamine dynamics to motor vigor on a moment-by-moment basis.
Subsecond dopamine fluctuations do not specify the vigor of ongoing actions
Nature Neuroscience - Liu and colleagues show that the vigor (that is, speed and amplitude) of dexterous movements is not controlled by ongoing fluctuations in extracellular dopamine within the...
rdcu.be
November 10, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Delighted to see this finally out: rdcu.be/eO9oW
We tested whether brief striatal dopamine release events influence the vigor of skilled movements. Despite popular belief, we did not find any evidence linking rapid dopamine dynamics to motor vigor on a moment-by-moment basis.
We tested whether brief striatal dopamine release events influence the vigor of skilled movements. Despite popular belief, we did not find any evidence linking rapid dopamine dynamics to motor vigor on a moment-by-moment basis.
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Proud to have contributed to @gaiabianchini.bsky.social and @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social new paper on how the superior colliculus temporally integrates multisensory information
Functional specialisation of multisensory temporal integration in the mouse superior colliculus - Nature Communications
Whether and how anatomically distinct regions of the superior colliculus (SC) exhibit specialisation in multisensory temporal integration to facilitate different behavioural responses are not fully un...
www.nature.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Proud to have contributed to @gaiabianchini.bsky.social and @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social new paper on how the superior colliculus temporally integrates multisensory information
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
How does the brain find its way in realistic environments? 🧠 Using deep RL and neural data, we show that hippocampal-like networks support navigation, learning, and generalisation in partially observable environments—mirroring real animal behaviour. Now out:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroAI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroAI
Hippocampus supports multi-task reinforcement learning under partial observability - Nature Communications
Neural mechanisms underlying reinforcement learning in naturalistic environments are not fully understood. Here authors show that reinforcement learning (RL) agents with hippocampal-like recurrence, u...
www.nature.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:20 AM
How does the brain find its way in realistic environments? 🧠 Using deep RL and neural data, we show that hippocampal-like networks support navigation, learning, and generalisation in partially observable environments—mirroring real animal behaviour. Now out:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroAI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroAI
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Serial Ketamine Infusions as Adjunctive Therapy to Inpatient Care for Depression
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Serial Ketamine Infusions for Depression
This randomized clinical trial evaluates outcomes following adjunctive ketamine infusions vs midazolam for depression.
jamanetwork.com
October 22, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Serial Ketamine Infusions as Adjunctive Therapy to Inpatient Care for Depression
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Open access link to new study in The Lancet:
The effects of antidepressants on cardiometabolic & other physiological parameters: a systematic review & network meta-analysis.
🧪🧠💊 #medsky
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
The effects of antidepressants on cardiometabolic & other physiological parameters: a systematic review & network meta-analysis.
🧪🧠💊 #medsky
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
The effects of antidepressants on cardiometabolic and other physiological parameters: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
We found strong evidence that antidepressants differ markedly in their physiological
effects, particularly for cardiometabolic parameters. Treatment guidelines should
be updated to reflect differences...
www.thelancet.com
October 22, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Open access link to new study in The Lancet:
The effects of antidepressants on cardiometabolic & other physiological parameters: a systematic review & network meta-analysis.
🧪🧠💊 #medsky
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
The effects of antidepressants on cardiometabolic & other physiological parameters: a systematic review & network meta-analysis.
🧪🧠💊 #medsky
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Out today at Neuron, our experiments show that frontal cortical representation of economic variables is jointly determined by spatial organization and downstream
connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
October 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Out today at Neuron, our experiments show that frontal cortical representation of economic variables is jointly determined by spatial organization and downstream
connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
In this review, @kangjoolee.bsky.social and colleagues propose a provisional formalism, considering mechanism type, severity, and time, to map neuropsychiatric behavioral pathology to its underlying dynamic neural mechanisms to advance the development of precision treatments.
A framework for advancing mechanistic neuro-behavioral biomarkers in psychiatry
Neuropsychiatry has yet to surmount the fundamental challenge of mapping behavioral
pathology to its underlying neural pathology. This gap limits the development of treatments
for specific circuit pat...
www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com
October 13, 2025 at 9:23 PM
In this review, @kangjoolee.bsky.social and colleagues propose a provisional formalism, considering mechanism type, severity, and time, to map neuropsychiatric behavioral pathology to its underlying dynamic neural mechanisms to advance the development of precision treatments.
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
All-optical experiments are great but @neurorussell.bsky.social found that opsin desensitization due to cross-talk between the imaging laser and the opsin causes major issues. These can be ameleorated with long inter-stimulus intervals & short imaging doses. All here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Desensitization of opsin responses during all-optical interrogation depends on imaging parameters
Significance The combination of two-photon calcium imaging and two-photon optogenetic stimulation, termed all-optical interrogation, provides spatial and temporal precision when recording and manipula...
www.biorxiv.org
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM
All-optical experiments are great but @neurorussell.bsky.social found that opsin desensitization due to cross-talk between the imaging laser and the opsin causes major issues. These can be ameleorated with long inter-stimulus intervals & short imaging doses. All here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Sorry all, been a bit away from social media - but very happy to show our latest, slightly massive review on neuro gene therapy. Some quite amazing co-authors who dwarf me in their amazingness. Here, as a pre-proof. Still some (quite a bit) of finessing pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/article/S003... 🧪
Genetic therapies for neurological diseases
Often, gene therapy reviews concentrate upon specific therapeutic modalities – particularly
either viral vector-mediated or a non-viral approach. Here, we draw together a comprehensive
array of knowle...
pharmrev.aspetjournals.org
October 3, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Sorry all, been a bit away from social media - but very happy to show our latest, slightly massive review on neuro gene therapy. Some quite amazing co-authors who dwarf me in their amazingness. Here, as a pre-proof. Still some (quite a bit) of finessing pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/article/S003... 🧪
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
Post doc job alert 📢! Announcing a v exciting job on a Wellcome-funded project in my group at UCL, looking at auditory hallucinations... Advert here 👀: rb.gy/230w8l - deadline is end of Oct. Please apply! 1/5
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
rb.gy
September 30, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Post doc job alert 📢! Announcing a v exciting job on a Wellcome-funded project in my group at UCL, looking at auditory hallucinations... Advert here 👀: rb.gy/230w8l - deadline is end of Oct. Please apply! 1/5
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
New #job alert! Clinical research fellow / postdoc in #computationalpsychiatry at the @mpc-comppsych.bsky.social / @uclqsion.bsky.social and UCL psychiatry. We will aim to understand the computations engaged by serotonin in the treatment of depression. Please re-sky. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
October 1, 2025 at 3:58 PM
New #job alert! Clinical research fellow / postdoc in #computationalpsychiatry at the @mpc-comppsych.bsky.social / @uclqsion.bsky.social and UCL psychiatry. We will aim to understand the computations engaged by serotonin in the treatment of depression. Please re-sky. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Dr Karolina Farrell
We have a PhD project here, along with many other cool projects:
"Characterising and predicting seizure onsets from longitudinal sEEG data",
www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...
with @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social (Crick), Torsten Baldeweg (UCL) and Martin Tisdall (UCL).
Apply by: 14 November 2025.
"Characterising and predicting seizure onsets from longitudinal sEEG data",
www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...
with @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social (Crick), Torsten Baldeweg (UCL) and Martin Tisdall (UCL).
Apply by: 14 November 2025.
October 2, 2025 at 1:43 PM
We have a PhD project here, along with many other cool projects:
"Characterising and predicting seizure onsets from longitudinal sEEG data",
www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...
with @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social (Crick), Torsten Baldeweg (UCL) and Martin Tisdall (UCL).
Apply by: 14 November 2025.
"Characterising and predicting seizure onsets from longitudinal sEEG data",
www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...
with @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social (Crick), Torsten Baldeweg (UCL) and Martin Tisdall (UCL).
Apply by: 14 November 2025.