Enrico Bertolini

New lab preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A multi-lab collaborative effort and the first publication from my lab featuring a Hofstra Biology Undergraduate, Janpreet Kaur. Congrats Janpreet!

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 😉

I am very happy (and a bit scared) to present to you what we have been working on over the last 4 years. This manuscript is exactly what I dreamt of when I started the lab and I could not be happier and prouder of the outcome!

Genetic sex of enteric neurons enables ovarian relaxin to gate maternal gut plasticity Animals must align intestinal plasticity and feeding with reproductive state, yet the checkpoint that gates these adaptations is unknown. Here we show that an ovary-to-enteric-neuron axis gates the on...

📣First preprint of the lab📣 Did that really happen?😅

Enteric neurons, aka somatic postmitotic cells, must hold on to their sex identity tight, to deliver a tuned response to signals from the ovary that instruct the animal to engage sex-matched behavioural programmes.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Want to carry a PhD in London, in one of the best Universities in the world?

We have two calls for PhD students to join our lab at Imperial College. Deadline January 12th. More details for applications in the link below. Feel free to keep in touch!

AI reviewers are here — we are not ready Artificial intelligence promises rapid and polite feedback on papers — but we must first review the reviewer.

@nature.com asked me to write an op-ed on the perspective of the AI reviewing process, prompted by the recent partnership between @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social and @qedscience.bsky.social

Hope my perspective adds value to the conversation.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

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 peripheral receptor changes.

Nature research paper: Evolution of taste processing shifts dietary preference

go.nature.com/3XRWaMD

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...

Thrilled to share our new paper!
With @tomtom-auer.bsky.social team, we asked how #evolution reshapes what animals #eat to match their ecological niches. Using pan-neuronal Ca2+ imaging, we show that the changes are in how the brain processes #taste.
Link @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to share the latest work from the lab:
rdcu.be/eRWuD

Great team effort, led by @enriberti.bsky.social first at @unil.bsky.social and now @unifr.bsky.social; with fantastic collaborators @ribeirocarlitos.bsky.social and @dahaniel.muench.bio.

New work from the lab 🧠🪰🎉
Using pan neuronal volumetric brain imaging in three Drosophila species, we show that niche adaptations arise from central sensory processing, not peripheral tuning.

Great collab led by @enriberti.bsky.social @tomtom-auer.bsky.social 🤝

Out now in @nature.com
rdcu.be/eRWuD

bsky.app/profile/ribe...

bsky.app/profile/tomt...

artwork by @luciekohler.bsky.social !

we investigated the evolution of feeding specialisation in <i>Drosophila sechellia</i>! Hope you like it!

My main postdoc work is now out :) In the group of @tomtom-auer.bsky.social with Justine Pascual, @bruzz-1.bsky.social , Noemi Sgammeglia , with crucial collaboration with @dahaniel.muench.bio and @ribeirocarlitos.bsky.social

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

Bayern und die Max-Planck-Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de haben sich darauf verständigt, in Würzburg ein Max-Planck-Institut 🔬 aufzubauen. Unipräsident Paul Pauli: "Das ist ein starkes Zeichen für den Wissenschaftsstandort Würzburg." go.uniwue.de/mpg-wue 📷 Mindcore

New paper with @gili-ezranevo.bsky.social & Silvia Henriques from @ribeirocarlitos.bsky.social's lab out in @currentbiology.bsky.social. Appetite, driven by amino acid need 🥚🍖 reshapes olfactory receptor expression so flies 🪰 seek bacteria 🦠 and fermented cues 🥫 to restore nutritional balance ⚖️.

A functional clock in only two dorsal clock neurons is sufficient to restore the basal circadian activity pattern of Drosophila melanogaster | PNAS Circadian clocks form complex networks to orchestrate the behavior and physiology of animals. Elucidating the organization of these clock networks ...

A functional clock in only two dorsal clock neurons is sufficient to restore the basal circadian activity pattern of Drosophila melanogaster | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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 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...

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...

New preprint out! We identified a GPCR signaling pathway that adds a new layer of odor tuning to an otherwise ionotropic olfactory detection system.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We are seeking
postdoctoral scholars funded by the NIH Chemosensory Training Program (CTP) and the Vice-President for Research at FSU. CTP is a very unique training program in chemosensory neuroscience at FSU with 30+ years of history! For details, see:
opda.fsu.edu/fellowships-...

On cloud nine to announce that I'll be starting my own lab at the Department of Biological Science, Florida State University in Spring 2026! We'll study neuronal circuits and sensory-guided behavior by combining comparative and functional approaches using non-model Drosophila flies 🪰

In Fall '26 the Himmel Lab will open at NJIT Biological Sciences. I'm beyond stoked!

Interested in a PhD/postdoc in the function/evolution/origins of the senses (computation or experimentation)? Message me and come join a great department in the NY metro! Sharing is appreciated. Info: himmellab.org

Our lab webpage is out!
takagilab.org

We're hiring (yes, in this economy!) a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Neurophysiology. Hofstra is an R2/PUI that values both research & teaching. We offer REAL startup, manageable teaching loads, & a very collegial, growing dept. (7 new faculty in the past few years + 2 searches this year).

Two days left....
Abstract submission is opened until Sunday 15th June 2025
Clocks for Life - a life's journey in chronobiology
Farewell symposium Prof. Charlotte Helfrich-Förster
#GermanClockClub #Drosophila #CircadianClock @uni-wuerzburg.de @biologie-uniwue.bsky.social @flyneuro.bsky.social

University Professor (m/w/d) for Behavioral Physiology (grade W3) - Würzburg (Stadt), Bayern (DE) job with Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg - Faculty of Biology | 12839249 The University of Würzburg is offering a position of a University Professor (m/w/d) for Behavioral Physiology (grade W3) (Chair of Zoology II).

Open university professor (W3) position for #BehavioralPhysiology in Würzburg, Germany @uni-wuerzburg.de: ↘️ www.nature.com/naturecareer... ↙️ Share or apply 🤗 #InsectResearch 🧪🐝🐜🦟

We are #hiring! Interested in comparative neuroscience? Check details here (www.unifr.ch/bio/en/depar...). We look for a motivated #PhD student or #PostDoc to combine genetics, physiology, neural circuit tracing, and behaviour to study taste processing evolution in #Drosophila. Please repost.