Raffaele Sarnataro

Maximum intensity projection of a fly midbrain where dorsal fan-shaped body neurons have their mitochondria labelled green, overlaid with ‘SWC Speaker Series’

Studies using fruit flies by @ox.ac.uk researchers @rafsarnataro.bsky.social & Dr Peter Hasenhuetl, are providing new insights into how sleep is controlled 💤

As two winners of the Emerging Neuroscientist Seminar Series 2025, they recently spoke at SWC ⤵️

www.sainsburywellcome.org/blog/what-fr...

A neuronal population clock for interval timing in Drosophila
#Drosophila

The mystery of sleep: How does the brain know when it’s time to sleep? Why do we feel an irresistible drive to sleep after being awake for too long? A recent study led by Prof. Anissa Kempf at the Biozentrum has revealed that in fruit flies, a small set of neurons can se...

Why do we feel an irresistible drive to sleep after being awake for too long? A recent study led by Prof. Anissa Kempf has revealed that, in fruit flies, a small set of neurons can sense when the fly needs rest. Learn more 👉
www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/news/detail/... @erc.europa.eu @snsf.ch #sleep

Raffaele Sarnataro of ox.ac.uk presents this #SymposiumReview examining the #neurobiology of mitochondrial dynamics in #sleep 🧠 💤

🔗 Read the article here: physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...

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Did you know that we are offering 4 travel grants every year? That's right! 500£ for conferences and workshops. Registration is still open for the last grant of 2025!
Need some inspiration? Read about the experiences of our Q3 winner,
@rafsarnataro.bsky.social
www.antibodies.com/promotions/t....

The Erice Statement on the Importance of Molecular Life Sciences Education (shorturl.at/BNvfv) calls for a global effort to strengthen molecular literacy through inquiry-based and evidence-driven education, for responsible citizenship💡🧬
Endorse it here: shorturl.at/PTmsh
@iapartnership.bsky.social

Congrats @rafsarnataro.bsky.social, the winner of our quarterly travel grant, who is currently at #SfN25. We are both excited and proud to support this cool research on the mitochondrial origins of the pressure to sleep! Shout out to @sfn.org!

Thanks for the support!

Presynaptic Release Probability Determines the Need for Sleep https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.16.682770v1

Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint:
“Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We describe the #connectomics reconstruction and analysis of an entire adult #maleCNS #drosophila central nervous system. 1/10

😂 I think metabolic reactions hate everyone

Thank you, luckily it didn't put you to sleep during the reading! 💤

Mitochondria set ‘ancient’ metabolic thermostat for sleep in flies, separate from circadian rhythms During waking hours, a specialized set of sleep neurons in the fly brain accumulates reactive oxygen species, which eventually trigger sleep to clean up and repair the damage they do.

Sleep might be an “inescapable consequence” of aerobic metabolism, new findings in fruit flies suggest.

By @vcallier.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/sleep/mitoch...

✨ Now out in Biomedical Optics Express: Cleared tissue dual-view oblique plane microscopy 🔬: doi.org/10.1364/BOE.... (🧵1/6)

Happy to have given a tiny contribution (as tiny as a fly brain!) to this new light-sheet microscopy technology.
Congratulations to @ld-light.bsky.social and the whole team

💡 Some open questions:
❓ Are mitochondrial state changes always causal in sleep (or other homeostatic behaviours) regulation, or secondary to altered neuronal activity?
🧠 Are there gradients of mitochondrial properties across neuron types and circuits, relevant to behaviours? #Neuroscience #Sleep

Thanks also to the
@physoc.bsky.social
for funding it and for granting me a Conference Attendance Award supporting my participation and oral communication; P. Hasenhuetl, R. Klemm, and G. Miesenböck for feedback on the draft; and the reviewers for their helpful comments
@oxforddpag.bsky.social

I would like to thank Prof. Rasmus Petersen, Prof. Ricardo Maravall, and Dr Riccardo Storchi for organising the meeting "Breakthroughs in Understanding Natural Behaviour and its Neural Underpinnings" which prompted this collection of reviews.

I also comment on our latest findings about mitochondria in fly sleep-control dFBNs, with my perspective on their neuroenergetic dynamics in light of the recent literature. 🪰
@medsci.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk

I summarise cross-species experimental findings on how mitochondrial morphology, trafficking, and turnover relate to sleep and, more broadly, to behavioural homeostasis, and I examine the underlying neurobiology.

Neurobiology of mitochondrial dynamics in sleep Abstract figure legend In neurons, variations in sleep history are accompanied by alterations in mitochondrial dynamics, including changes in size, fission and fusion events, the emergence of extra-l...

🚨 What's the interplay between sleep and mitochondrial dynamics in neurons?
I am happy to share this invited review I wrote for The Journal of Physiology
@jphysiol.bsky.social
👉 physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
🧵 Thread 👇
#Neuroscience #SleepResearch

A cosa serve il sonno? La risposta può essere nel metabolismo neuronale Perché dormiamo? La risposta a questa domanda rimane uno dei grandi misteri della biologia. Come scrisse il neurofisiologo Alan Rechtschaffen: «Se il sonno non avesse una funzione assolutamente vitale...

Un nuovo studio condotto in D. melanogaster rivela che il bisogno di sonno potrebbe nascere direttamente dal metabolismo dei neuroni. Il sonno, insomma, sarebbe una conseguenza inevitabile della respirazione cellulare

www.scienzainrete.it/articolo/cos...

‘Stealth flippers’ helped this extinct mega-predator stalk its prey Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 16 July 2025

Tired? Well that sleepy feeling may be driven by 'leaky' mitochondria, according to a new study.

I spoke to Gero Miesenboeck from @ox.ac.uk for @nature.com all about the new study.

It's here on the Nature Podcast at 12:11:

Thanks for pointing out this study... It really seems restorative sleep crucially engages a metabolic response!

Beautiful work, congratulations!

Photos of SWC Emerging Neuroscientists Seminar Series 2025/26 winners; Dimokratis Karamanlis, Sonja Blumenstock, Saurabh Vyas, Raffaele Sarnataro & Peter S. Hasenhuetl

Congratulations to the SWC Emerging Neuroscientists Seminar Series winners!

- Dimokratis Karamanlis, University of Geneva
- @rafsarnataro.bsky.social‬ & Peter S. Hasenhuetl, @ox.ac.uk
- Saurabh Vyas, @columbiauniversity.bsky.social
- @sblumenstock.bsky.social‬, University of California San Diego

Our brain's mitochondria may play a crucial role in the onset of sleep Textbooks say that mitochondria exist to supply cells with energy, but experiments in fruit flies suggest they are also involved in sleep

Mitochondria may have been labelled the "energy powerhouses" of cells, but they also seem to have an underappreciated role in sleep.

Thanks @dereklowe.bsky.social for featuring our work in @science.org blog "The Pipeline"

Mitochondrial origins of the pressure to sleep Nature - Research on Drosophila neurons shows links between the need to sleep and aerobic metabolism, indicating that the pressure to sleep may have a mitochondrial origin.

Thanks for featuring our work!
rdcu.be/eyCv5

Thanks for sharing our work!