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Oxford University's Medical Sciences Board has conferred on Kristine the title of Visiting Professor of Neurosciences for a further period of 5 years in recognition of her important contributions towards the successful and fruitful collaboration between the Laboratory of Sensory Physiology and the University of Oxford. 

April 2025: several members of the group presented their projects at the Primate Neurobiology Meeting in Göttingen.

October 2024: Sascha presented at SFN in Chicago her research on the connections from the pulvinar nuclei to different divisions of the parietal cortex.

October 2024: New English-speaking Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences, led by Kristine Krug, starts at the OVGU Magdeburg. The first students have just arrived to learn the principles of mammalian biology from molecules to systems. They will be taught in lectures and labs and can specialise in Neuroscience, Immunology and Cell Biology.

https://www.ovgu.de/Presse+_+Medien/Pressemitteilungen/PM+2024/Mai/PM+38_2024-p-139184.html

In September 2024, Amy and Sascha were two of 40 selected applicants that participated in the International Centre for Primate Brain Research’s (ICPBR) Summer School in Shanghai, China, where the school’s focus was non-human primates in systems neuroscience. This jam-packed week included lectures from speakers from across the globe, presenting their work in areas such as NHP models of brain disorders, receptor architectonic mapping of the macaque brain, and investigation into number neurons, just to name a few. They even heard from our very own Kristine Krug, where she delivered a brilliant lecture on our lab’s research into perceptual decision-making regarding 3D stimuli, and the cortical circuits that underly this process. Also in the mix was a Brain States Forum moderated by Alison Abbott, and seminars that fostered discussions surrounding NHP public outreach and engagement, computational neuroscience methods, and fMRI analysis techniques. Sascha and Amy also gained insightful feedback on their own research through their poster presentations, and connected to students with closely-aligned research. A key highlight of the school was the opportunity to tour round the newly-established ICPBR and their cutting-edge facilities!

September 2024 - Amy and Nadine attended the Primate Cognitive Neuroscience Summer School in Bad Bevensen this July. During the two weeks, they heard from a variety of speakers, covering topics ranging from visual attention, perception and consciousness, decision-making in space and time, and the neural control of reaching and reflexes. They engaged in round-table discussions that centred on ethics and public outreach in NHP research, refinements of common NHP research methods, and different strategies of animal training and enrichment. The two also presented their own work through posters: Nadine outlined her PhD project plan, which will use chemogenetics to analysis the role of the pulvinar in visual decision-making, whilst Amy presented her ongoing analysis of network connectivity in the resting brain of monkeys lacking the primary visual cortex.

This summer school was an invaluable learning and networking opportunity, both through lectures and discussions, but also through canoeing and a Lüneburg city tour!

It’s often said that nature reveals her inner workings through her mistakes. What Kristine Krug discovered recently is no exception, and could give us new insights into what “blindsight” might really be, as she explains to Chris Smith…

This month, the blind monkey that lacks a visual cortex but can still see, the bee-hunting wasps that use a gas cloud to keep harmful fungi at bay, adaptive optics that can image blood vessels of all sizes in the eye, the new field of palaeoshellomics, and how to mix a family with a scientific career ...