Mohammed Khallaf

Predatory aggression evolved through adaptations to noradrenergic circuits - Nature Noradrenergic circuits support and balance aggressive behavioural states in predatory nematodes, distinguish predatory from non-predatory nematode species and are associated with the evolution of comp...

Why do some worms graze on bacteria while others hunt and kill?
Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes.
Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.

Congrats Johannes!!

How a sweet treat can change memories Memories must be flexible so animals can adapt when the world changes. FMI neuroscientists found that in fruit flies, simply tasting a sugar reward again can weaken all previous associated memories. T...

Now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social: neuroscientists in the lab of @felsenberg.bsky.social found that in fruit flies, re-tasting a sugar reward can weaken past memories, pointing to new ways to safely update harmful ones. www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

Congratulations! Very exciting!

The first paper from the lab is now out in Science Advances: Multimodal social context modulates larval behavior in Drosophila
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We find that fly larvae keep their distance to conspecifics in the absence of food, enjoy reading! @cbehav.bsky.social @uni-konstanz.de

Deadline for this post-doc position in my lab extended to Jan 11th!

Congrats Bassem!

Evolution of taste processing shifts dietary preference - Nature Calcium imaging of taste neurons and the ventral brain provides insight into evolutionary divergence of food choice in Drosophila species, supporting a role of sensorimotor processing in addition to p...

New from @enriberti.bsky.social how changes in taste processing reshape dietary preferences across Drosophila species

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

🤩😍 Congrats ya Hassan!! Very happy with these news!

Wow 🤩 Congrats!

From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution The vast diversity of animal behaviors has long inspired ethologists and neuroscientists, but circuit mechanisms driving this variation remain elusive…

@rorycoleman.bsky.social and I wrote an opinion piece called

'From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution'

We argue that now is a great time for neuro-evo research

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A rapidly evolving female-controlled lock-and-key mechanism determines Aedes mosquito mating success Houri-Zeevi et al. uncover a lock-and-key mating system in mosquitoes, where females control mating through genital responses to rapidly evolving male structures. Males of the invasive Asian tiger mos...

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Many thanks to the amazing team that made the weird fun (but not the fun weird): Madison Walker,
@jacoporazzauti.bsky.social, Anurag Sharma, Amalia Pasolli, and the almighty @leslievosshall.bsky.social

Congratulations! Very nice results!!

Hedgehog. Getty Images

Join us! We’re recruiting a PhD researcher to uncover how hedgehogs & other insectivores survive prey toxins. Dive into molecular evolution & protein biochemistry @shabmohammadi.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social @livuni-ismib.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social

🦔 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Congratulations!!

London Underground mosquitoes came from Egypt in Pharaohs’ time 😮

Congrats!

Congratulations! Looking forward to reading it!

I am thrilled to share our latest work: we identified a population of central amygdala neurons that promote the earliest and perhaps most important social behavior: pup suckling!... We also developed new tools for pup neuroscience
Work by @Jeff Moore now at USC, a collaboration with @Sam Pfaff lab

A fly that courts everyone 🪰. Male Drosophila santomea woo both males and females alike, driven by evolved pheromone changes and brain processing that flipped attraction and aggression. Evolution is wild!

Recent work from Joe Ouadah:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I'm looking to recruit a post-doc to help push forward our growing interests in insect ecotoxicology.
Apply here by Nov 30th!
(thanks for reposting)

career5.successfactors.eu/sfcareer/job...

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

This is amazing 👏👏 Congrats Philipp!

Congrats!

A spinal circuit for skilled locomotion Toscano et al. identify glutamatergic Pitx2+ V0 ascending neurons (V0g-aNs) that receive input from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-contacting neurons and target spinal premotor and motor neurons. Eliminati...

I really like this one 🤓. Work led by Elisa Toscano with invaluable help from many 🙏 @alesantuz.bsky.social, @lowensteined.bsky.social. A spinal circuit for skilled locomotion www.cell.com/current-biol...

A GPCR signaling pathway in insect odor detection Odor detection differs fundamentally in vertebrates, which use G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and insects, which employ ion channels. Here, we report the first evidence for a GPCR defining tunin...

Having personally sworn for years that insects don’t use GPCRs for odour detection, Suguru Takagi (@sugurutakagi.bsky.social) discovers that, in fact, they sometimes do …

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

Sam has now started her new group at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research Diseases. Congratulations! I wish her the very best for her independent career. The time Sam spent with us was hugely successful in many respects and we will all be sad to see her go..

Genomic plasticity drives olfactory adaptation in a pest fly Preference shifts in insects are often driven by changes in the olfactory system, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The worldwide pest Drosophila suzukii, which oviposits in ripe rather th...

Our first big preprint, led by the great Dr. Qi Xue
@Qi_Xue_94
. We discovered three mechanisms for olfactory adaptation in the fruit pest Drosophila suzukii, two of which are novel .Well Done Qi; you will be a great professor. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congrats Hany; amazing resource!!

We present the first subset-specific proteomic signature of electrophysiologically-defined, pain-sensing neurons. One step closer to uniting function with molecules- one neuron at a time. Thanks to all who have contributed, especially @coscialab.bsky.social @garyrlewin.bsky.social #neuroscience