Neurosalience #S6E15 - OHBM 2026 Live Podcast

For our final episode of the season, Neurosalience goes live from OHBM 2026 in Bordeaux! Recorded in front of a live audience on the final day of the conference, host Peter Bandettini is joined by Giulia Baracchini, Vince Calhoun, Satrajit Ghosh, and Mario Senden to explore one of neuroscience’s biggest challenges: how can we bring together the field’s rapidly expanding knowledge across different domains, methods, and scales?The panel discusses the fragmentation of neuroscience, the overwhelming volume of new research, and the tools, models, and infrastructure needed to connect findings and make them more accessible and meaningful. From mapping the evolving landscape of neuroscience and preserving the richness of high-dimensional data to building intelligent, AI-supported scientific infrastructure, the conversation considers how researchers might better share knowledge, identify gaps, foster collaboration, and accelerate discovery.Read Peter’s accompanying blog post for more background on the discussion and our guests:https://www.ohbm-com.com/blog/neurosaliencelive-audience-podcast-at-ohbm-2026We hope you enjoy this special live episode!Episode producers:Xuqian Michelle Li

We sit down with four of the people who made OHBM 2026 happen to get the inside scoop on what to expect! Joining us are Christian Beckman (Program Chair-Elect), Nicola Palomero-Gallagher (Program Chair), Rosanna Olsen (Education Chair), and Michel Thiebaut de Schotten (Local Organizing Committee Chair). With 2,500+ neuroscientists descending on Bordeaux, France from June 14–18, this year's meeting is shaping up to be a big one. We dig into the sessions, keynotes, awards, and why Bordeaux is such a perfect backdrop for the conference — plus great tips for getting the most out of your time there and the newly improved meeting app to help you plan your schedule. Whether you're heading to Bordeaux or just curious about what's in store, this one's a great listen!We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters:00:00 - Introduction to OHBM 202605:21 - The Success of OHBM: Community and Content10:05 - Methods and Applications in Neuroimaging15:28 - Educational Courses: Structure and Selection18:37 - Keynote Speakers and Program Design23:56 - Symposia vs. Roundtable Discussions30:50 - Brain Hacks: Collaborative Innovation32:40 - Choosing the Right Venue for Conferences37:17 - Exploring Bordeaux: A City of Wine and Culture38:48 - Challenges in Conference Planning46:35 - The Future of Poster Presentations54:24 - Awards and Recognition in the Community58:28 - Enhancing Conference Value and Engagement01:02:02 - Social Aspects of the ConferenceResources:https://www.humanbrainmapping.org/OHBM2026/Episode producers:Xuqian Michelle Li

“The Transmitter is trying to cover the whole waterfront…”Kristin Ozelli is the Executive Editor of The Transmitter, a neuroscience publication supported by the Simons Foundation that launched in 2023. In this conversation, Peter and Kristin explore what makes The Transmitter tick. At its heart, the publication is driven by a conviction that neuroscience is most powerful when its many scales, modalities, and subfields are in conversation with each other, and that good science journalism can provide the intellectual scaffolding to make that happen. They discuss the editorial process behind the scenes, from morning story meetings and house style guides to multiple rounds of editing, and how scientist-written essays are helping fill the void left by the decline of science Twitter. The conversation also touches on The Transmitter's ambitious State of Neuroscience mapping project, the ongoing tension between a fragmenting field and the hunger for greater integration, and what it means to portray science as a genuinely human endeavor. They close with thoughts on AI in science writing, exciting new tools and resources coming to the site, and how publications like The Transmitter might help rebuild trust between scientists and a skeptical public.We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters:00:00 - Introduction to the Transmitter and Its Mission05:49 - Kristin Ozelli’s Journey to Neuroscience Journalism08:29 - The Transmitter's History and Evolution11:03 - Finding the Sweet Spot in Neuroscience Communication16:19 - Mapping Neuroscience: The State of Neuroscience Project23:22 - Engaging the OHBM Community and Beyond30:07 - The Evolution of Scientific Communication33:45 - Public Perception of Science40:22 - Future Directions for Transmitter47:15 - The Role of AI in JournalismResources:14:20 - The State of Neuroscience https://www.thetransmitter.org/state-of-neuroscience-report-2025/Episode producers:Karthik Sama, Xuqian Michelle Li

"Registered reports foster clarity upfront…"Dr. Oscar Esteban is a professor at Lausanne University Hospital whose lab develops open neuroimaging infrastructure, best known for tools like fMRIPrep and MRIQC. Dr. Mallar Chakravarty is Director of the Brain Imaging Center at the Douglas Research Centre at McGill University and co-editor-in-chief of Aperture Neuro.In this conversation, Peter, Mallar, and Oscar unpack what registered reports are and why they emerged as a response to the file drawer problem and publication bias toward positive results. Drawing on Oscar’s firsthand experience using registered reports in his own lab, the discussion explores how front-loading peer review can sharpen experimental design, protect researchers pursuing high-risk science, and give trainees meaningful early career credit. But the conversation doesn’t shy away from harder questions: Can any publication mechanism truly fix an incentive-driven culture? Where does the natural, iterative cycle of exploratory science fit in? And are registered reports the right tool for every type of science or just some of it?We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters:06:12 - Understanding Registered Reports10:48 - The Origin and Motivation Behind Registered Reports15:03 - Concerns and Challenges of Registered Reports21:08 - Exploratory vs. Confirmatory Research30:50 - The Role of Registered Reports in Training Researchers42:15 - The Role of Pre-registration in Scientific Rigor53:59 - The Systemic Challenges in Scientific Publishing01:06:29 - Concluding Thoughts on Registered ReportsResources:01:02:37 - About PCI Registered Reports - Peer Community In https://rr.peercommunityin.org/aboutEpisode producers:Xuqian Michelle Li

"We inhibited a brain region and connectivity went up. I thought it was an artifact..."Dr. Alessandro Gozzi is a systems neuroscientist investigating how the brain functions as an integrated network and how disruptions in that network relate to behavior and mental health. He is Senior Scientist and Group Leader of the Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Italian Institute of Technology in Rovereto, Italy. His research combines fMRI, functional ultrasound imaging, optogenetics, chemogenetics, electrophysiology, and computational modeling to decode the neural underpinnings of brain connectivity in rodent models, with the goal of bridging circuit-level findings to human psychopathology.In this conversation, Dr. Gozzi unpacks what resting-state fMRI connectivity actually reflects and why the answer may be more surprising than the field assumes. Drawing on a series of elegant chemogenetic and pharmacological manipulations in mice, he reveals how regional excitability, rather than direct synaptic communication, may be a dominant driver of the connectivity patterns we observe. Within this context, the conversation explores the paradoxical relationship between neural silencing and hyperconnectivity, the evolutionary conservation of brain networks across species, and what rodent models of autism can and cannot tell us about human psychiatric disorders. Join the conversation to discover how mechanistic animal studies are reshaping our understanding of human brain connectivity.We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters:00:00 - Introduction to Dr. Alessandro Gozzi05:12 - Gozzi’s Unconventional Journey into Neuroscience13:17 - Transitioning from Industry to Academia20:49 - The Relevance of Rodent Models in Understanding Autism32:04 - Exploring the Complexities of Brain Connectivity38:57 - Excitability and Its Role in Connectivity Patterns42:27 - Exploring fMRI Connectivity and Local Computation45:28 - The Role of the Hearst Index in Brain Activity54:00 - Implications for Treatment in Psychiatric Disorders58:42 - The Intersection of Biology and Neuroscience Research01:07:08 - Balancing Life and Science: Personal ReflectionsWorks mentioned:00:12:48 - Gutierrez-Barragan, D. et al. (2024). Evolutionarily conserved fMRI network dynamics in the mouse, macaque, and human brain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49245-600:17:40 - Zerbi, V., Pagani, M. et al. (2021). Brain mapping across 16 autism mouse models reveals a spectrum of functional connectivity subtypes. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01245-400:18:00 - Pagani, M. et al. (2021). mTOR-related synaptic pathology causes autism spectrum disorder-associated functional hyperconnectivity. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26520-800:29:50 - Pagani, M. et al. (2025). Biological subtyping of autism via cross-species fMRI. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.04.64140000:40:40 - Rocchi, F. et al. (2022). Increased fMRI connectivity upon chemogenetic inhibition of the mouse prefrontal cortex. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28591-300:43:30 - Trakoshis, S., Martínez-Cañada, P. et al. (2020). Intrinsic excitation-inhibition imbalance affects medial prefrontal cortex differently in autistic men versus women. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.5568400:45:10 - Newbold, D.J. et al. (2020). Plasticity and spontaneous activity pulses in disused human brain circuits. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2020.05.007Episode producer:Xuqian Michelle Li

“Shortening scientific loops accelerates discovery”Dr. Satrajit Ghosh is a senior research scientist at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. He has helped advance neuroinformatics, open science, and reproducible neuroimaging through both his research and the development of widely used community tools. His work spans machine learning for neuroimaging, the neural mechanisms of speech, and the use of speech features to inform psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors in computer science from the National University of Singapore and his PhD in cognitive and neural systems from Boston University. He has contributed to influential projects including Nipype, fMRIPrep, and NeuroVault. More recently, he has focused on how shared scientific infrastructure can connect domains, modalities, and scales across neuroscience and help address the field’s growing fragmentation.In this episode, Peter and Satrajit discuss the origins of tools like Nipype and the broader push for reproducible neuroimaging, showing how practical research challenges can inspire infrastructure that benefits the entire field. They also explore functional gradients in the brain and cerebellum, the promise of speech as a scalable biomarker for mental health, and the cautious role AI may play in diagnosis and scientific discovery. A major theme in their conversation is the fragmentation in neuroscience, with knowledge often siloed across methods, scales, and communities. Ghosh argues for a more intelligent scientific infrastructure that connects data, tools, theory, and expertise. He closes with advice to young scientists: experiment often, make mistakes, and learn by discovering where systems fail.We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters00:00 Introduction to Satra Ghosh and His Work06:46 The Intersection of Control Theory and Speech11:18 Satra’s Academic Journey into Neuroscience20:58 Neuroinformatics and Tool Development34:42 Individual Differences in Brain Structure39:21 Developing tools to augment Experimental Design44:25 Building an Intelligent Infrastructure for Neuroscience58:45 The Role of Theory in Neuroscience01:00:26 Access to Scientific Research Expediting Progress01:06:40 Experience Inherent to Learning 01:09:33 Mapping the Brain’s Functional Gradient01:16:31 AI and Speech Analysis in Mental Health01:29:31 Advice, Fail More, Learn MoreWorks mentioned:34:59 - Marek, S. et al. (2022). Reproducible brain-wide association studies require thousands of individuals. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04492-943:44 - Ghosh, Satrajit (2025). An Intelligent Infrastructure as a Foundation for Modern Science.https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.1005101:09:33  - Margulies, Daniel S., et al. (2016).  Situating the default-mode network along a principal gradient of macroscale cortical organization. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.160828211301:10:13 - Xavier Guell, Jeremy D Schmahmann, John DE Gabrieli, Satrajit S Ghosh (2018). Functional gradients of the cerebellum. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.36652Tools and resources mentioned:Nipype : an open-source Python framework for building reproducible neuroimaging workflows.https://nipype.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.htmlfMRIPrep : a robust, analysis-agnostic preprocessing pipeline for functional MRI. https://fmriprep.org/en/stable/OpenScope : an open-science effort for large-scale neuroscience data sharing and analysis.https://www.allenneuraldynamics.org/projects/openscopeDANDI : a platform for publishing, sharing, and processing neurophysiology data. https://about.dandiarchive.org/NeuroVault : A public repository of unthresholded statistical maps, parcellations, and atlases of the brain.https://neurovault.org/Episode producers:Ömer Faruk Gülban, Karthik Sama

“It’s not a depression prevention plan, it’s a life improvement plan. It’s a whole…”Dr. John Allen is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Neuroscience at the University of Arizona. He received his PhD in 1991 from the University of Minnesota, specializing in psychophysiology and biological measurement, and joined the Arizona faculty in 1992. A leading figure in psychophysiology and mood and anxiety disorders, John is known for his pioneering work on frontal EEG alpha asymmetry as a biomarker for emotional processing and depression risk. His research spans the etiology and treatment of depression, the integration of fMRI with autonomic nervous system measures to study brain-body interactions, and the development of novel interventions grounded in the neurobiology of emotional disorders—including transcranial ultrasound, EEG biofeedback, and transcranial stimulation techniques.In this episode, Peter and John trace John's path into psychology and his focus on mood and anxiety disorders. They discuss the significance of EEG asymmetry as an indicator of depression and explore the need for transdiagnostic approaches to mental health. The conversation delves into the potential of neuromodulation techniques—including psilocybin therapy and focused ultrasound—for treating depression, and examines the broader intersection of neuroscience, physiology, psychology, and technology in mental health treatment. They also touch on the challenges of translating research into clinical practice and the emerging role of AI in mental health assessment.We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters00:00 - Introduction to John Allen and His Work05:26 - John's Journey into Psychology16:44 - Understanding EEG Asymmetry and Its Depression23:08 - Transdiagnostic Approaches to Mental Health26:32 - Exploring Neuromodulation and Psilocybin30:34 - Focused Ultrasound for Depression Treatment42:25 - The Future of Mental Health Interventions46:39 - Translating Research into Clinical Practice51:14 - The Role of Technology in Mental Health Interventions58:14 - AI’s Potential in Mental Health Assessment01:03:40 - Advice for Aspiring NeuropsychologistsWorks mentioned:16:30 - Stewart et al. (2010). Resting frontal EEG asymmetry as an endophenotype for depression risk: Sex-specific patterns of frontal brain asymmetry. https://doi.org/10.1037/a001919618:00 - Coan et al. (2006). A capability model of individual differences in frontal EEG asymmetry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2005.10.00329:00 - Moreno et al. (2006). Safety, tolerability, and efficacy of psilocybin in 9 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. https://doi.org/10.4088/jcp.v67n111031:00 - Schachtner et al. (2025). An open-label trial of stereotactic, non-invasive transcranial focused ultrasound targeting the default mode network for the treatment of depression. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.145182854:07 - Lord et al. (2024). Transcranial focused ultrasound to the posterior cingulate cortex modulates default mode network and subjective experience: an fMRI pilot study. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.139219901:01:17 - Kaplan et al. (2025). AI and the coming mental health zombie apocalypse. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03323-3Producer’s note: We ran into some technical issues with John's video, so you'll see captions in place of his footage throughout the episode. Audio quality is all good though! Thanks for understanding, and enjoy the conversation.Episode producers:Xuqian Michelle Li

Dr. Mario Senden is an assistant professor in the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, where he has spent his entire academic career. He received his bachelor's in psychology in 2009 and his PhD in cognitive computational neuroscience in 2016, both from Maastricht. A pioneer in biophysics-aware deep learning, Mario is known for his work on how large-scale brain networks support communication, integration, and perception. His research spans mesoscale laminar microcircuits to the macro-scale connectome, and his functional whole-brain modeling framework combines large-scale anatomical structure with local dynamics and goal-driven computation — asking not just whether a dynamical regime is biologically plausible, but whether it actually supports perceptual and cognitive function.In this episode, Peter and Mario explore the cutting edge of computational neuroscience and whole-brain modeling. They discuss Mario's influential work on rich club networks, which showed how highly connected cortical hubs dynamically gate information flow during tasks, as well as the principles behind oscillatory behavior in neural systems. A central focus of the conversation is Mario's most recent paper, "The Evolving Landscape of Neuroscience," submitted to Aperture Neuro — a sweeping meta-scientific analysis of roughly half a million neuroscience articles published between 1999 and 2023. Using text embeddings, semantic clustering, and large language models, Mario mapped the structural organization of the field and identified emerging trends and future directions. The conversation also touches on the promise of interdisciplinary approaches, the growing role of AI tools in neuroscience research, and the broader challenge of integrating theories and data across scales and domains to truly understand the brain.We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters:00:00 - Introduction to Dr. Mario Senden05:11 - Journey from Psychology to Computational Neuroscience10:01 - Understanding Cognitive Computational Neuroscience14:09 - Limits of Current Models in Cognitive Computational Neuroscience20:44 - Exploring the Rich Club Concept in Brain Networks29:22 - The Interplay of Cortex and Subcortex42:44 - Oscillatory Behavior and Network Coordination48:41 - Multi-Scale Modeling in Neuroscience57:49 - Exploring the Evolving Landscape of Neuroscience01:21:08 - Advice for Young ScientistsWorks mentioned:42:19 - Senden et al. (2017). Cortical rich club regions can organize state-dependent functional network formation by engaging in oscillatory behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.10.04448:27 - Pronold et al. (2024). Multi-scale spiking network model of human cerebral cortex. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhae40948:27 - Senden et al. (2024). Modular-integrative modeling: a new framework for building brain models that blend biological realism and functional performance. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwad31857:50 - Senden, M. (2025). The Evolving Landscape of Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.13.638094Episode producers:Ömer Faruk Gülban, Xuqian Michelle Li

“Predictive coding offers a powerful lens for understanding psychosis…”Dr. Marta Garrido is a professor at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, where she leads the Cognitive Neuroscience and Computational Psychiatry Laboratory and directs the Cognitive Neuroscience Hub. She is also a research program lead at the Graeme Clark Institute. With a background in engineering physics from the University of Lisbon and a PhD in neuroscience from University College London under the mentorship of Professor Karl Friston, Marta has become a leading figure in understanding how the brain processes predictions and surprise. Her research spans mismatch negativity, predictive coding theory, dynamic causal modeling, and the development of cutting-edge neuroimaging technologies, including Australia’s first optically pumped MEG system.In this episode, Peter and Marta explore the elegant framework of predictive coding and its implications for understanding psychiatric conditions like psychosis. They discuss how the brain generates predictions about sensory input and how disruptions in these mechanisms may contribute to symptoms of mental illness. Marta shares her journey from engineering to neuroscience, her transformative PhD experience, and the challenges of building a new MEG system from the ground up. The conversation covers fascinating topics including mismatch negativity as a prediction error signal, subcortical shortcuts for processing threatening stimuli, the phenomenon of blindsight, and the critical importance of mentorship in academic careers. Marta also offers candid reflections on being a woman in neuroscience and her vision for the future of computational psychiatry.We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters:00:00 - Introduction to Dr. Marta Guerrero04:46 - Journey from Engineering to Neuroscience10:39 - Understanding Predictive Coding and Bayesian Inference18:34 - Implications of Predictive Coding in Schizophrenia27:08 - Advancements in Brain Imaging Techniques36:31 - Exploring Blindsight and Subcortical Shortcuts44:14 - Reverse Engineering the Brain: Challenges and Ambitions51:23 - The Journey of Developing Optically Pumped Magnetometers01:00:29 - Promoting Women in Neuroscience and Leadership ChallengesWorks mentioned:15:59 - Randeniya et al. (2018). Sensory prediction errors in the continuum of psychosis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2017.04.01918:36 - Goodwin et al. (2026). Predictive processing accounts of psychosis: Bottom-up or top-down disruptions. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00558-526:02 - Larsen et al. (2019). 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: intact prediction but reduced adaptation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2019.10172129:40 - Garvert et al. (2014). Subcortical amygdala pathways enable rapid face processing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.07.04729:40 - McFadyen et al. (2017). A rapid subcortical amygdala route for faces. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3525-16.2017Episode producers:Karthik Sama, Xuqian Michelle Li

“Naturalistic stimuli open up new exploration…”Dr. Christopher Baldassano is an associate professor at Columbia University and leads the Dynamic Perception and Memory Lab. With a background in electrical engineering from Princeton and a PhD in computer science from Stanford, Chris has pioneered innovative approaches to understanding memory and cognition. Following a postdoc at Princeton with Uri Hasson and Ken Norman, he joined Columbia in 2018. His research focuses on how the brain processes, stores, and retrieves events using naturalistic stimuli, hidden Markov models, and multivariate analysis techniques.In this episode, Peter and Chris explore the fascinating world of event structures and memory. They discuss Chris’s pioneering work on event scripts, neural frameworks that act as cognitive scaffolds for autobiographical memories. The conversation covers how the brain segments continuous experience into discrete events, the role of event boundaries in memory encoding, and the critical function of the hippocampus in organizing these temporal structures. Chris explains his use of naturalistic stimuli and hidden Markov models to reveal the subtle dynamics of how we combine recurring information to respond more efficiently to future experiences. Along the way, Chris shares valuable insights on the evolution of neuroscience research and offers thoughtful advice for aspiring scientists navigating the field.We hope you enjoy this episode!Chapters:00:00 - Introduction07:37 - Transitioning from Computer Science to Neuroscience13:01 - Exploring Naturalistic Stimuli in Neuroscience18:11 - Hidden Markov Models in Narrative Perception22:46 - Event Boundaries and Memory Encoding27:49 - The Role of the Hippocampus in Memory33:01 - Implications for Mental Health and Memory Disorders38:19 - Enhancing Memory Techniques41:11 - Contextualization in Memory46:19 - Understanding Brain States49:01 - AI and Contextual Knowledge53:29 - Infant Cognition and Event Structures01:01:31 - Future Directions in ResearchWorks mentioned:2:28 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPLWOBmaLkY(Baldassano talk at NIH workshop on naturalistic stimuli)14:42 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28772125/(Baldassano et al., 2017 - Neuron - "Discovering Event Structure in Continuous Narrative Perception and Memory")15:02 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30249790/(Baldassano et al., 2018 - Journal of Neuroscience - "Representation of Real-world Event Schemas During Narrative Perception")18:24 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29087305/(Vidaurre, Smith & Woolrich, 2017 - PNAS - "Brain network dynamics are hierarchically organized in time" - using Markov models in a different way)19:41 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17338600/(Zacks et al., 2007 - Psychological Bulletin - "Event perception: A mind-brain perspective" - foundational work on event boundary processes)27:04 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27121839/(Huth et al., 2016 - Nature - "Natural speech reveals the semantic maps that tile human cerebral cortex" - semantic information stored throughout the brain)37:15 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22982082/(LePort et al., 2012 - Neurobiology of Learning and Memory - Jim McGaugh's study on highly superior autobiographical memory)53:01 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36252007/(Yates et al., 2022 - PNAS - "Neural event segmentation of continuous experience in human infants")Episode producers:Xuqian Michelle Li