HHMI

🪰 A new ‘Eyemap’ developed by a team led by Arthur Zhao & @michaelreiser.bsky.social reveals how visual information detected by the fly’s eye shows up in neurons deep in the brain. Remarkably, the eye’s shape determines how flies see motion.👁️
🔗 hhmi.news/4kSZjou

By pinpointing where specific genes are active, Cox aims to decode the molecular signals between plant cells and microbes, paving the way for new strategies to improve crop yields and help feed more people.

As an Assistant Professor at the Washington University in St. Louis and Assistant Member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, he analyzes gene activity cell by cell to understand how plants resist—or succumb to—microbial attacks.

🌿 How do plants defend themselves against microbial invaders?

HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow @kcox-bioguy.bsky.social is working to uncover the cellular-level interactions that shape plant immunity.

Prime editing treats childhood brain disease in mice Scientists use a precise form of gene editing called prime editing to correct the most common genetic mutations that cause alternating hemiplegia of childhood, a rare and severe neurological disorder ...

Partnership between David Liu, @jacksonlab.bsky.social, and rare disease group RARE Hope leads to first use of prime editing for a brain disease that reduced symptoms, extended lifespan in mice, offering hope for other rare genetic diseases. #Science #PrimeEditing

Download these images and discover more: www.hhmi.org/beautifulbio...

Credit: Igor Siwanowicz, @hhmijanelia.bsky.social

A male diving beetle's front foot evolved as a means of attaching to the back of a female during and after mating. Female diving beetles don’t like giving piggyback rides to males and evolved structures on their backs to make it more difficult for the males to stay attached.

Igor Siwanowicz created these images of the underside of the front foot of a male diving beetle. You can see suction cups that are used during mating, as well as a broad plate and exterior spines that aid in swimming.

Portrait of Kyndall Nicholas smiling, labeled as an HHMI Gilliam Fellow from the University of Pennsylvania, set against a soft-focus background.

Meet Kyndall Nicholas, an HHMI Gilliam Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania (@upenn.edu). She studies how our everyday diet can build resilience against traumatic brain injury, asking what we can eat daily to help protect our brains.

Loss of FCoV-23 spike domain 0 enhances fusogenicity and entry kinetics - Nature The molecular mechanisms of cell entry for the recently identified highly pathogenic feline coronavirus FCoV-23 are characterized in detail.

Our paper describing how in-host evolution of a recently emerged, highly pathogenic coronavirus modulates entry into cells, membrane fusion and likely pathogenicity has now been published in its peer-reviewed form!

Led by Ale Tortorici!

@hhmi.org

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

Download this image and discover more: hhmi.news/44mvy9y

Credit: Andy Moore, HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus

Images like this can provide a deeper understanding of the cytoskeleton's structure and function. This knowledge could be the basis for future research on how our cells function and how cellular function relates to human health.

Andy Moore at @hhmijanelia.bsky.social created this image to visualize the organization of microtubules in several adjacent cells. Like a spider web, cells use a network of molecular “highways” called microtubules to move cellular and molecular components around.

A new class of simplified computational models developed by @hhmijanelia.bsky.social researchers could help shed light on how we see.

Read more: hhmi.news/3Gs5aDa 👀

Using both worm and mouse models, they’re uncovering conserved and divergent processes that help explain how neuronal maturation works across species.

His research could lead to deeper insights into how our brains develop and adapt throughout life. ✨

At The University of Alabama at Birmingham, his lab (@mus-elegans.bsky.social) is investigating how these genetic programs and environmental factors shape brain development.

Promotional image featuring HaoSheng Sun, a Freeman Hrabowski Scholar from The University of Alabama at Birmingham, with a quote about the impact of basic science on developing therapeutics for diseases.

🧠 How does your brain mature over time?

HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar HaoSheng Sun is exploring the genetic timing mechanisms that guide the maturation of the nervous system.

This workshop aims to foster learning, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of modern theoretical neuroscience techniques, all in a uniquely student-driven format.

Travel, accommodation, & registration are covered for accepted participants.

📅 Learn more, apply by August 5: janelia.news/THE25

🔍 Participants will:

• Present 20-minute research talks
• Lead in-depth, whiteboard-style tutorials
• Engage in detailed, small-group technical discussions
• Connect with a supportive community of peers

ATTN: students & postdocs in #theoreticalneuroscience!

Applications are now open for @hhmijanelia.bsky.social's "by the students, for the students" #neurotheory workshop, which will take place Nov. 9 - 14, 2025.

Zoning out could be beneficial—and may actually help us learn faster Actions that may seem unproductive – like aimlessly wandering around a city or exploring a new mall – could play an important role in how our brains learn, according research from HHMI’s Janelia...

🧠Zoning out could be beneficial—and may actually help us learn faster.

🥼New research led by @zhong-lin.bsky.social @marius10p.bsky.social @computingnature.bsky.social

🔗 www.janelia.org/news/zoning-...

🚶Aimlessly wandering around a city or exploring the new mall may seem unproductive, but new research led by @zh0ng0.bsky.social @marius10p.bsky.social @computingnature.bsky.social suggests it could play an important role in how our brains learn.‬‬ 🧠
🔗 www.janelia.org/news/zoning-...

Download this video and learn more: www.hhmi.org/beautifulbio...

Credit: Geoffrey Meissner and The Flylight Project Team, @hhmijanelia.bsky.social

Videos like these can give researchers a more complete understanding of the organization and communication between neurons in the VNC. This could be the foundation for future research on neuronal communication and organization in more complex animals such as humans.

In this video you can see a visual map of some of the neurons within a fruit fly’s ventral nerve cord (VNC), like that of a human’s spinal cord. Neurons progressively stack on top of each other and at the end of the video, you can see a rough neuronal map of the VNC.

Frank is working with other lab members to study how and why bacteria grow proliferate, communicate, and move.

“Basic scientific research is so appealing to me because, despite it being very frustrating and a lot of work, the payout is so amazing,” explains @fsantoriello.bsky.social‬, a postdoctoral researcher in HHMI Investigator Bonnie Bassler’s lab at Princeton.

2025 McKnight Scholar Awards The Board of Directors of The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience is pleased to announce it has selected ten neuroscientists to receive the 2025 McKnight Scholar Award.

Congratulations to all the awardees! Read more here: www.mcknight.org/news-ideas/2...

Congrats to HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholars @channyskye.bsky.social , Josefina del Mármol (@delmarmollab.bsky.social), @yvetteefisher.bsky.social and Theanne Griffith (@doctheagrif.bsky.social), named 2025 McKnight Scholars for their demonstrated commitment to neuroscience & mentoring others! 🌟

2025 McKnight Scholar Awards The Board of Directors of The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience is pleased to announce it has selected ten neuroscientists to receive the 2025 McKnight Scholar Award.

Read more here: www.mcknight.org/news-ideas/2...