Vlad Vyazovskiy (@vyazovskiy)

Yes! Let's have more discussion about the big things holding back neurosci so we can rally to find solutions.

I agree with @suthanalab.bsky.social that silos across species in both measures and the uptake of results into theories is on the "big problems" short list.

What do you see as solutions?

18.02.2026 13:13 👍 37 🔁 8 💬 7 📌 0

Vigilance state dissociation induced by 5-MeO-DMT in mice - Communications Biology Administration of 5-MeO-DMT produces a dissociated brain state in mice, characterized by global slow-wave activity alongside behavioral wakefulness and marked pupil dilation.

Our paper with @vyazovskiy.bsky.social showcasing research conducted at @ox.ac.uk @oxforddpag.bsky.social is out!

We describe the effects of the psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT on brain states and sleep via EEG, LFP & freely moving oculometry.
Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#EEG #neuroskyence

06.02.2026 14:23 👍 20 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0

Is torpor a quiescent state? Periodic motility and transient brain activation during daily torpor in Djungarian hamsters Torpor is a hypometabolic state employed by many mammalian and non-mammalian species to cope with harsh environments. When exposed to a short photoperiod, Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) enter daily torpor with body temperatures dropping as low as 15 degrees Celcius. Despite the widely-held notion that torpor is a form of deep sleep, torpid animals are not completely inactive but exhibit occasional movements reflected in an increase in EMG tone. Little is known about these EMG events during torpor and whether they have a functional role during the torpid state. We here analysed EEG, EMG, and brain temperature data from Djungarian hamsters, and used an automatic detection algorithm to identify periods of EMG activation during spontaneous daily torpor. The hamsters exhibited regular periods of motility that were invariably initiated during a decline in brain temperature and were followed by a brain temperature increase. The frequency of EMG events exhibited a negative correlation with brain temperature, such that lower brain temperature was associated with a higher frequency of EMG events. In addition, EMG events were associated with a pronounced increase in EEG power, especially between 9.5-15.5 Hz, which often started with an EEG pattern similar to an evoked potential preceding the increase in the EMG activity. On the contrary, micro-arousals during normothermic NREM sleep were associated with a decrease in EEG power, a decrease in brain temperature and were of shorter duration than torpor EMG events, indicating that the two phenomena may serve different purposes. We speculate that periodic motility associated with increased brain activity during torpor may play a role in thermoregulation, and help retain vigilance to potentially mitigate predation risk during this hypometabolic state. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Novo Nordisk Foundation, https://ror.org/04txyc737, NNF23OC0082427 Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, JP21zf0127005 BBSRC, BB/X008711/1 MRC, MR/V013238/1 Wellcome Trust, https://ror.org/029chgv08, 227093/Z/23/Z Rhodes Trust, Rhodes Scholarship University of Oxford, https://ror.org/052gg0110, Clarendon Scholarship

Preprint alert: If sleep is the cousin of death, torpor must be its fraternal twin. Yet, daily torpor is surprisingly dynamic when zooming in on the slow fluctuations in motility, brain activity, and temperature. Read (and see👀) more on bioRxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

28.01.2026 11:13 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Is torpor a quiescent state? Periodic motility and transient brain activation during daily torpor in Djungarian hamsters www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

27.01.2026 18:51 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Thanks to all the attendees and presenters at the annual Neuroscience@Nottingham event of @uniofnottingham.bsky.social and @ntuneuro.bsky.social
Special thanks to our external speakers: Peggy Series (Edinburgh) and Vlad Vyazovskiy (Oxford, @vyazovskiy.bsky.social)
sites.google.com/view/nottsne...

12.01.2026 10:28 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

A commentary on reptile sleep, with recommendation from @anitaluthi.bsky.social @labluthi.bsky.social

07.01.2026 12:43 👍 13 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0

Vigilance state dissociation induced by 5-MeO-DMT in mice - Communications Biology Administration of 5-MeO-DMT produces a dissociated brain state in mice, characterized by global slow-wave activity alongside behavioral wakefulness and marked pupil dilation.

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

06.01.2026 18:59 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Sleep-dependent infraslow rhythms are evolutionarily conserved across reptiles and mammals - Nature Neuroscience Bergel et al. show that an infraslow rhythm connecting the brain and body during sleep is shared by lizards, mammals and birds, revealing an ancestral process and reshaping our understanding of the ev...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

29.12.2025 15:38 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Simultaneous stomach-brain electrophysiology reveals dynamic coupling in human sleep Sleep involves continuous communication between the brain and body, yet the dynamics of peripheral signals during human sleep remain poorly understood. Here we tested whether gastric electrophysiology...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

16.11.2025 21:31 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Convergent Control of NREM Sleep and Anesthesia by Prefrontal Layer 5 Extratelencephalic Neurons The cortical mechanisms governing the transition from consciousness to unconsciousness remain poorly understood. While most cortical neurons are suppressed during NREM sleep and anesthesia, we identif...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

17.10.2025 06:01 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Hemispherotomy leads to persistent sleep-like slow waves in the isolated cortex of awake humans Hemispherotomy is a neurosurgical procedure for treating refractory epilepsy by disconnecting a significant portion of the cortex. This study shows that the isolated cortex exhibits EEG patterns resem...

Colombo et al., Plos Biology, "Hemispherotomy leads to persistent sleep-like slow waves in the isolated cortex of awake humans"

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

16.10.2025 18:13 👍 12 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0

Two billion humans are doing something bizarre right now: sleeping | Aeon Essays It is our biggest blind spot, a bizarre experience that befalls us every day, and can’t be explained by our need for rest

Sleep is very strange… @aeon.co aeon.co/essays/two-b...

14.10.2025 22:45 👍 17 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0

Two billion humans are doing something bizarre right now: sleeping | Aeon Essays It is our biggest blind spot, a bizarre experience that befalls us every day, and can’t be explained by our need for rest

aeon.co/essays/two-b...

15.10.2025 09:01 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

How privacy can save your life | Carissa Véliz | TEDxPorto YouTube video by TEDx Talks

Very nice to see my TEDx Porto talk is out! How #privacy can save your life. For more on privacy, get the #book - Privacy Is Power. #AIEthics

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSPR...

11.10.2025 21:12 👍 66 🔁 34 💬 3 📌 9

The locus coeruleus maintains core body temperature and protects against hypothermia during dexmedetomidine-induced sedation - PubMed Activating the <i>adra2a</i> receptors of the brain's norepinephrine (NE) system produces NREM-like sleep and hypothermia. Dexmedetomidine (DEX), a selective α2 receptor (<i>adra2a</i>) agonist, is an...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41055995/

11.10.2025 08:12 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

Psychedelic compounds directly excite 5-HT2A layer V medial prefrontal cortex neurons through 5-HT2A Gq activation - Translational Psychiatry Translational Psychiatry - Psychedelic compounds directly excite 5-HT2A layer V medial prefrontal cortex neurons through 5-HT2A Gq activation

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

09.10.2025 18:54 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝!
Due to the high volume of requests, the deadline for Sleep Europe 2026 symposia submissions has been extended to 15 Oct 2025.

This is your opportunity! Submit here: https://esrs.eu/sleep-congress/symposia/

#ESRS #SleepEurope2026

08.10.2025 12:38 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

Smartphone behavior is suppressed during bursts of wake slow wave Real-world behavior unfolds as a continuous flow of actions over time. One possibility is that this continuous flow is enabled by a seamless stream of cortical activity. However, emerging evidence sug...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

08.10.2025 18:42 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The search for the mechanisms cortical regulation of sleep continues. Latest collaborative work suggests that part of the answer lies in the cortex.
By switching cortical neurons on and off, we could change how much sleep animals got — and even the quality of that sleep. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

18.09.2025 10:13 👍 14 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0

Bidirectional modulation of sleep and wakefulness via prefrontal cortical chemogenetics The drive to sleep is inescapable but its biological substrate remains largely elusive. Until recently, the search for sleep centres in the mammalian brain focussed on subcortical neurons that promote...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

16.09.2025 07:49 👍 9 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 1

Frontiers | Distinguishing out-of-body experiences from lucid dreaming: a phenomenological analysis Despite extensive discussions, a consensus is lacking on whether out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and lucid dreams (LDs) should be considered as distinct categ...

🆕 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀: A comprehensive analysis examining the phenomenological boundaries between #OutOfBodyExperience and #LucidDreams has been published in our research topic "𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱".

🧠 #ConsciousnessResearch

www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

15.09.2025 06:08 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Neuroscience of Dreaming - Summer School May 4-8, 2026 @ IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy

🧠 The official website of the Neuroscience of Dreaming Summer School (4–8 May 2026, IMT School, Lucca, Italy) is now live: nodsummerschool.imtlucca.it

👉 Check out the confirmed speakers + our program overview. Detailed schedule and registration coming soon!

14.09.2025 06:20 👍 13 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0

A proposed classification of psychedelics "Move over Beethoven"

in the spirit of the recent #psychedelic GRC which is heretofore known as the 'WOODSTOCK OF PSYCHEDELIC SCIENCE' I propose a new definition in which every psychedelic is 'classical'!!
open.substack.com/pub/zendudes...

17.07.2025 01:37 👍 10 🔁 7 💬 2 📌 0

The inaugural #GRCPsychedelics was a success! I am honored to have been one of a few chosen to receive a travel award and be able to share the stage with the leaders in the field. 🙏 to the organizers! @alexkwan.bsky.social @vyazovskiy.bsky.social @melissaherman.bsky.social @viditavaidya.bsky.social

18.07.2025 16:21 👍 34 🔁 9 💬 3 📌 0

Chairs and vice chairs for the Psychedelics GRC

We worked so well as a team for the #GRCPsychedelics @vyazovskiy.bsky.social @viditavaidya.bsky.social @melissaherman.bsky.social

and congrats to @theborislab.bsky.social and @mikaelpalner.bsky.social, who will be the future vice-chairs!

17.07.2025 13:09 👍 31 🔁 10 💬 1 📌 0

Thank you @alexkwan.bsky.social @melissaherman.bsky.social @vyazovskiy.bsky.social

14.07.2025 18:46 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

GRC Neurobiology of Psychedelics conference (July 13-18, 2025).

Can’t believe #GRCPsychedelics is happening in two weeks!

We reached capacity attendance – sorry we could not accommodate everyone. We look forward to seeing many of you at the meeting.

w/ @vyazovskiy.bsky.social @viditavaidya.bsky.social @melissaherman.bsky.social

26.06.2025 18:34 👍 33 🔁 16 💬 2 📌 3

FRM 2025 satellite workshop on Integrative Sleep Research – OSLO | ESRS A workshop satellite to the FENS regional meeting in Oslo to foster collaborations and tools development from system/molecular neuroscience to sleep researchers

also see here:

esrs.eu/event/frm-20...

06.06.2025 15:54 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

sleep workshop

🌍🧠 💤Join us on June 20th, 2025, in Oslo for a workshop that bridges System Neuroscience and Sleep Research in partnership with @esrs.bsky.social @ncmbm.bsky.social @sainsburywellcome.bsky.social @uio.no @KU
A satellite of the FENS regional meeting, register here:
frm2025oslo.no/basic-sleep-...

06.06.2025 15:07 👍 13 🔁 10 💬 3 📌 0

One month left to apply!

#phdpositions, #phdopportunities,
#sleep, #dreams, #brain, #neuroscience

30.05.2025 06:08 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Vlad Vyazovskiy

Latest posts by Vlad Vyazovskiy @vyazovskiy