Crafting tales of science with Theanne Griffith A lifelong passion for writing helped the neuroscientist land a book deal and publish 15 chapter books for early readers, covering topics ranging from what the cerebellum does to how a cake bakes.

A lifelong passion for writing helped rising star @doctheagrif.bsky.social land a book deal and publish 15 chapter books for early readers, covering topics ranging from what the cerebellum does to how a cake bakes.

By @avaskham.bsky.social

www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...

Molecular evolution of CO2-sensing ab1C neurons underlies divergent sensory responses in the Drosophila suzukii species group Author summary Animals rely on their senses to locate food sources and identify suitable reproductive sites in their environment. Closely related species can evolve strikingly different preferences as...

Very excited to share the work by Alice Gadau. We found that D. suzukii (the invasive pest that loves ripe fruit) doesn’t hate CO₂, while classic lab flies avoid it. That tiny sensory shift helps explain a big ecological transition.
journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Neuronal calcium spikes enable vector inversion in the Drosophila brain In the fly central complex, PFNa neurons switch from firing classical sodium spikes when depolarized to firing non-canonical T-type calcium spikes when hyperpolarized. This bidirectional spiking allow...

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

We had a lot of fun working on this project (led by Itzel Ishida, not on bluesky). Some interesting highlights from the paper -

Very pleased to have had a small part in this new paper showing that the greater chestnut weevil is not, as feared, extinct.

Undergraduates who are interested in summer research please consider the HHMI Cech Fellows Program. There are many great HHMI labs to choose from including ours!

people are actually very susceptible to just-so stories about human origins because listening to bullshit helped us survive on the savanna

The male genitalia of an 𝘈𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘴 mosquito

What does mating look like when you only have a single shot at getting it right?

Very excited to share our work on an almost-invisible female control, rapidly evolving mating recognition systems, and species that break the rules and take over the world. IN MOSQUITOES>

Head-to-tarsus?

A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito A comprehensive single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of >367,000 nuclei from male and female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reveals sexual dimorphism in sensory systems and brain cell types and widespread co-expres...

🦟 We've just published the world's first head-to-toe single-cell atlas of the Aedes aegypti mosquito in @cp-cell.bsky.social!
The #MosquitoCellAtlas maps 69 cell types across 19 tissues, revealing surprising biology. Read it here:
shorturl.at/dJWT3

🦟 The mosquito is the most deadly animal in the world. The Mosquito Cell Atlas is an incredible new resource to help us understand more about their ability to transmit pathogens to humans.

Data is available on the UC Santa Cruz @genomebrowser.bsky.social at mosquito.cells.ucsc.edu

A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito A comprehensive single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of >367,000 nuclei from male and female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reveals sexual dimorphism in sensory systems and brain cell types and widespread co-expres...

Excited to announce the final version of the Mosquito Cell Atlas is out now in @cellpress.bsky.social!! 🦟🩸

There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields!
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito A comprehensive single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of >367,000 nuclei from male and female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reveals sexual dimorphism in sensory systems and brain cell types and widespread co-expres...

Mosquito cell atlas is now published! Congratulations to @nadavshai.bsky.social and @oliviagoldman.net and the many other collaborators that contributed to this resource. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Cross-species implementation of an innate courtship behavior by manipulation of the sex-determinant gene In accepting a courting male, Drosophila subobscura females require nuptial gift giving in which a male gives regurgitated crop contents to her mouth to mouth. No similar behavior is found in D. melan...

doi.org/10.1126/scie...

This seems rad: overexpressing FruM in a set of proboscis-motorneuron-projecting neurons makes melanogaster males add food-sharing to their courtship repertoire.

It is fascinating to see evolutionary shifts in behavior be tied so concretely to shifts in brain development!

a group of Drosophila erecta fruit flies on a small food patch. flies on white background

Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint

We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.

Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit

shorturl.at/gGYm7

A seminal study no doubt

A dark, hairy gall midge fly on a white sheet. It has long legs and antennae and a red neck.

Quiz results showing I'm a gall midge or cecidomyiid

Dark taxa are extremely diverse organisms that remain largely undescribed due to small size, subtle differences, & few experts.

Take this quiz to find out what you are - I'm a gall midge! whatdarktaxonareyou.static.domains/insect-quiz....

by @vivianfeng.bsky.social & @flyliceresearch.bsky.social

@trevorsorrells.bsky.social seminar for @tamubiology.bsky.social

cues waft on the wind
#mosquito neurons light up
blood thirst wanes post-bite

#sciku #neuroscience #biology

Flyer for The Chalk Talk event on Oct 9.

🚨 Only 3 days left to register! 🚨
Yale postdocs, don’t miss the Oct 9th @kavliatyale.bsky.social Chalk Talk event, featuring tips by @schandralab.bsky.social & a mock talk by @trevorsorrells.bsky.social!

Register Today!👇
yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Heterogeneity in inhibition of genetically diverse dengue virus strains by Wolbachia The release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transinfected with the virus-inhibiting Wolbachia bacterium has the potential to reduce the burden caused by dengue virus (DENV). However, the robustness of thi...

📢New preprint on the impact of dengue virus genetic diversity on inhibition by Wolbachia 🦟🦠🧬

Project led by Afeez Sodeinde, @emiliefinch.bsky.social, and @keli5734.bsky.social! ✨

Key findings in thread below 👇

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

Mosquitoes - Alex Wild Mosquitoes comprise a large family, Culicidae, of slender, scale-covered flies found worldwide. We think of mosquitoes as voracious blood-feeders, but the primary food of adult mosquitoes is actually ...

Starting to accumulate quite a few species in the mosquito gallery:

Our paper Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus was published in Science today! It features inversions, selection in action, museum specimens and putative new ecotypes. doi.org/10.1126/scie...

A poster saying "Wanted: Robber flies, Promachus and Allies. Wanted: freshly caught specimens of Promachus or other large robber flies for DNA extraction. Contact Teagan Mulford at teaganmulford@gmail.com with any questions or leads. Thank you! PC: Steve Collins"

Tired of doom scrolling? Want to help a PhD student out? Check your collection for Promachus (and friends) and I'll be forever indebted! If you need an excuse to get outside and go collecting this weekend, this is it! #Asilidae #Diptera

a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

A bluetorial on NIH funding and out year commitments:

A historical perspective

The search for Earth’s most mysterious creatures is turning up extraordinary results We still haven’t documented 90 percent of animals on Earth

"The unknown is made up of small organisms, such as insects, mites, and crustaceans. These species are the nuts and bolts of ecosystems. And most of them have yet to be identified."

www.vox.com/down-to-eart...

I am thrilled to announce that I just opened my lab at New York University in @nyucns.bsky.social and Biology! Our work will explore the richness of animal behavior, dissecting the genetic and circuit mechanisms that shape its evolution.

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

🚨 🐜 is there a Bluesky starter pack for researchers who don’t study ants but who get lightheaded every time there’s an awesome ant paper? CC @mariusw.bsky.social @jrichardalbert.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Exclusive: Harvard University lays off fly database team The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.

Utterly devastating: FlyBase zapped.

www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...

#modelOrganism

New paper on the role of H3K4me3 at enhancers! We (led by Haoming Yu) used dCas9 epigenome editing to add H3K4me3 to intergenic enhancers. This was (1) sufficient to turn up transcription at open, active regions and (2) has no effect on target gene transcription. genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...

From Macro to Micro: De Novo Genomes of Aedes Mosquitoes Enable Comparative Genomics Among Close and Distant Relatives Abstract. The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is an organism of high medical importance because it is the primary vector for diseases such as yellow

Morinaga, @agloriasoria.bsky.social @jsoghigian.bsky.social develop two de novo chromosome-scale genomes for Aedes aegypti formosus and A. mascarensis, finding extensive chromosomal rearrangements between major lineages of mosquitoes.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf142

#genome #evolution

Who do I know that breeds or has access to Mudskippers? I have some questions! Rt appreciated 🧪