Don Arnold

Structure-guided discovery of Otopetrin 1 inhibitors reveals druggable binding sites at the intrasubunit interface Nature Communications - Otopetrins form proton channels in animals ranging from nematodes to humans. Here, authors identify small molecule inhibitors and characterize their binding in the...

Excited to report the identification of small molecule inhibitors of OTOP1 and their binding sites. Congratulations to first authors Batuuji Burendei from Ward/Forli labs at TSRI and Josh Kaplan for great team work! rdcu.be/eMpV9

Hi Farin, we have had mixed results with transgenic reporters. I would say that using them with ATLAS is “off-label”, but you are welcome to try. We are currently trying to figure out what is causing the variation and hope to be able to publish something on it in the near future.

ATLAS is more specific than previous anterograde tracers like AAV1 because it can trace from genetically determined cells and is strictly transsynaptic. It is not as efficient as rabies (maybe 50%), but also likely causes less toxicity.

Use this handy link to find the ATLAS plasmids at Addgene. Otherwise, they are kind of tricky to find.

Manipulating neuronal circuits Newly developed tools that eliminate specific synapses could make it easier for researchers to precisely control how neurons communicate in rodents.

Want to edit brain circuits with precision?

🧠 A new toolbox lets researchers erase specific excitatory or inhibitory synapses on demand, using light or chemicals.

Only problem is that it doesn’t work in cells without synaptotagmin 1 (inhibitory neurons, dopaminergic neurons, etc.). Any chance you have developed nanobodies against other synaptotagmins?

Synaptotagmin 1 nanobody is great! Far superior to vamp2 overexpression.

Congrats to my undergrad student Amanda on graduating yesterday. She even got to bring her family by the lab to see where she's been working. We also recently learned that Amanda has been awarded a Fulbright!

ATLAS: a rationally designed anterograde transsynaptic tracer - Nature Methods ATLAS is a tool for circuit tracing, demonstrated here in rodents. It allows anterograde transsynaptic tracing, starting from genetically defined neurons.

ATLAS, a rationally designed transsynaptic tracer is out today! Plasmids will soon be available on
@addgene.bsky.social
addgene nature.com/articles/s41...

Many thanks to first authors Jackie Rivera and Haoyang Huang, and to collaborators @blsabatini.bsky.social @beherring.bsky.social

Manipulating neuronal circuits Newly developed tools that eliminate specific synapses could make it easier for researchers to precisely control how neurons communicate in rodents.

New tools for ablating excitatory and inhibitory synapses quickly, specifically, and without toxicity elifesciences.org/digests/1037...

I signed up for research kick on march 19 for $30/month. Now when i sign in it has no memory of me and there doesn’t seem to be a way of stopping the payments. You can’t be messaged, so i need to do this in public unfortunately. Please give me instructions for how to stop my subscription.

GO CANADA!!!!

This account is for sharing info with US scientists, both extramural and intramural to NIH, about attacks on science in the US.

Education is power, and we can help advocate for science and medicine together. 💪🧪

We are a team of NIH people. Please ask us questions you might have.

I see some suggestions, in the reporting regarding the OMB impoundment order, that a mere delay in spending appropriated funds is legal. But that's not really true. The delay OMB has ordered specifically contradicts the Impoundment Control Act. A thread.

I’m scrolling through news a day after the Trump admin shut down coms, travel, and function from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and I don’t see any mainstream media coverage for an impact upon our society & economy that is going to be multiples of 100s of billions and science and health.

He was just being honest- probably a mistake. He also said some very nice things about Barkley. Must be difficult to watch others do what you are no longer able to.

Thanks, Nathalie! Hope you and Emre are keeping warm and enjoying the northern lights.

The problem seems to be that even though it is possible to acquire followers on bluesky, engagement seems to be <10% of what it was on X.

We believe that these tools will work even if they don’t have an impact factor.

Our new paper on recombinant tools for reversibly ablating excitatory and inhibitory synapses is out in eLife. Congrats to first author, Aida Bareghamyan!
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Plasmids, and hopefully AAVs, will be available soon on Addgene.

Taste bud showing OTOP in magenta and actin in green, demonstrating apical localization of OTOP1.

For your thanksgiving reading pleasure: OTOP1, the sour and ammonium sensor in taste cells, is apically localized, and not restricted to Type III taste cells. www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...

First post on bsky to highlight our latest work on smell receptors (www.nature.com/articles/s41...). Odorant receptors are notoriously challenging to work with - we used a classic strategy from protein engineering to get a peek into how these receptors recognize such a diversity of smells.

Simulated mPSC data

Recording synaptic minis (mEPSCs)? We have a new paper trying to better understand how recorded datasets match synaptic changes. In short, they don't..
More info below, and the preprint here:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.26.620084v1

Reviewer 3!

Sorry to hear that. It’s incredibly frustrating when innovation is penalized.