Vlad Susoy

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

Evolution of sensory systems underlies the emergence of predatory feeding behaviors in nematodes | PNAS Understanding how animal behavior evolves remains a major challenge, with few studies linking genetic changes to differences in neural function and...

How does evolution turn a harmless bacterial feeder into an active predator?
Our new study led by @marianneroca.bsky.social and published in @pnas.org explores how sensory systems were rewired to enable prey detection and predatory behaviour in nematodes.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🧵below!

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.

Several fly larvae are crawling on an agar surface.

The second paper from the lab is now available on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We discovered that cannibalistic behavior in fly larvae is social-context dependent. Larval groups avoid dead conspecifics; individuals show high attraction. They only do it when no one is watching 😉

Check out our preprint investigating host use in sympatric Caenorhabditis nematodes! We found three Caenorhabditis species in a local community are associated with different invert taxa, and document a strong association between one species and invasive nitidulid beetles.
doi.org/10.64898/202...

Laboratory Manager II - Boyden Lab Primary Work Address: 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. The Synthetic Neurobiology Group (Boyden Lab) at the MIT McGov...

We are hiring a lab manager, for our research group, the Synthetic Neurobiology group (aka Boyden Lab) at MIT/HHMI (on the MIT campus, Cambridge, MA)! Please apply if you're qualified and interested, and spread the word! hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...

Today's highlighted project is from Group Leader Christian Rödelsperger:
🔍 Explore how transcription and translation evolve across populations of the nematode Pristionchus pacificus.
💡 Work at the frontier of genomics, combining data, evolution, and biology.
📅 Apply by 19 Jan.
🔗 lnkd.in/dJ_8j2BM

TT faculty job opening in #Neuroscience!
We are looking for a colleague to join us in our fantastic Biology Department and Neuroscience Program at Brandeis. We are a group of *very* collaborative, supportive, and productive scientists (& humans!) so please apply
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30961

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

Our group at the Allen Institute is recruiting a technician and postdoc to work on light microscopy-based connectomics. Please DM me or share with anyone you think may be interested in this NIH BRAIN CONNECTS funded project.

Male CNS Connectome A team of researchers has unveiled the complete connectome of a male fruit fly central nervous system —a seamless map of all the neurons in the brain and nerve cord of a single male fruit fly and the ...

Exciting news for #drosophila #connectomics and #neuroscience enthusiasts: the Drosophila male central nervous system connectome is now live for exploration. Find out more at the landing page hosted by our Janelia FlyEM collaborators www.janelia.org/project-team....

Please help me to celebrate Mei Zhen, an innovator and tremendous collaborator, named to the Royal Society of Canada Academy of Science on September 4, 2025

🧠 Janelia researchers have developed a new way to map how individual connections between neurons change across the entire brain during learning, giving scientists a new view into how changes in behavior show up in the brain. www.janelia.org/news/new-ima...

EM reconstruction of mouse CA1 neurons. Congratulations @helenelab.bsky.social and co-authors!

The first paper from the lab is out on biorxiv - enjoy reading! Social context and interactions influence our behavioral decisions - the same is true for the little fly larva!

FIB-SEM dataset visualized with Microscopy Nodes, data from Mocaer et al 2023

Microscopy Nodes is now up on bioRxiv! 🚀

This is a Blender extension that seamlessly integrates and visualizes 3D microscopy data (TIF & @zarr.dev).

High-quality volume rendering for anyone, in both EM and fluorescence, regardless of computational expertise! 🔬

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

Among the most agile of flying creatures, dragonflies have evolved to perform quick aerial maneuvers both to attract mates and to catch prey midair.

Now, researchers have documented and explained a unique stunt the insects perform so quickly most people never see it. scim.ag/40mKKBI

We thought these might work as a filter, but I like your velcro idea :)

This from my PhD work -- I wish I could follow up on this :) We did do TEM of the filaments. I should have some pictures

I don't think so. These are some kind of cuticular filaments. We've never seen anything like this in other nematodes and have no idea what they do.

This is my personal favorite -- the nematode Pristionchus borbonicus, which can be found in figs

Excited to share our single-cell study on aging mouse brain! We found 2,449 cell-type specific age-DE genes, and an aging hotspot in specific hypothalamic cell types involved in energy homeostasis, which show both decreased neuronal function and increased immune response. doi.org/10.1038/s415...