What does it take to evolve a new trait? We have a new paper out that uses the Drosophila sex comb—a male-specific grasping structure found in a subset of drosophilids—as a model to answer this question 1/11

PLOS Biology@plosbiology.org · last mo.

What are the genetic mechanisms for the #evolution of novel traits? This study by @brhopkins92.bsky.social &co links #Drosophila sex comb teeth to expression changes within ancestral cells, leading to diverged metabolic/developmental rates, and a novel structure. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4gQOnZK

Now that the cat’s out of the bag: Excited to announce I will be starting a research group as a Sandler Fellow this August at UCSF! We will study the evolution of protein toxins at the host-pathogen interface across scales of biological organization. Learn more here: www.tarnopollab.org

We’re excited to announce @tarnopol.bsky.social as the recipient of the 2026 Larry Sandler Award! 🎉 She’ll present the Larry Sandler Memorial Lecture during the #Dros26 opening session on March 4—she'll share how her research explores how protein toxins evolve to shape host–parasite interactions.

What happens if the germline goes on without (most of the) piRNAs for 45 generations? Come find out at my talk at the evolution session on Saturday at #dros26 @genetics-gsa.bsky.social 🪰🔬🔎⁉️🤔

To learn about how glucose #metabolism interacts with the #mTor pathway to regulate #Drosophila larval brain growth, come to my talk on Saturday at 5 pm in Physiology, Metabolism and Aging II session. Come for the science and stay for the most hilarious lab picture 🤭 #Dros26 #phdlife

Looking forward to #Dros26 this week. My lab is recruiting and I would be delighted to chat with anyone interested in grad school/postdoc positions in evolutionary cell biology and developmental genetics. Please reach out if interested!

#Dros26 community — we’d love to see you at our workshop this Friday! [1/8] Organizers: @ritamgraze.bsky.social @marbeitman.bsky.social @lydiagrmai.bsky.social @gavinrrice.bsky.social @brhopkins92.bsky.social Artyom Kopp

Hello fellow scientists, I'm thrilled to share with you a state of the art review that @lydiagrmai.bsky.social , the bsky-less Deepika Vasudevan and I have been working on for >1 year! Keep reading...! febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

FEBS Press

Integrated stress response (ISR), an evolutionarily conserved eukaryotic stress-adaptive program in eukaryotes, has also been implicated in homeostatic functions. This review covers a broad body of l....

febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

new review alert❗️ thought your neighborhood stress response pathway (ISR) only dealt in stress adaptation? well, maybe so. but many cells are apparently quite “stressed out” - even healthy ones. see quoted thread by my phenom co-author @shyama13.bsky.social for a summary! ⬇️

Shyama Nandakumar@shyama13.bsky.social · last yr.

Hello fellow scientists, I'm thrilled to share with you a state of the art review that @lydiagrmai.bsky.social , the bsky-less Deepika Vasudevan and I have been working on for >1 year! Keep reading...! febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Rebeiz Lab took over San Diego for the Fly Meeting this week! Couldn’t have asked for a better time!

#Dros25 workshop alert! Today at 8pm, Pacific Ballroom C - Go Big or Go Home : Polyploidy on the Fly. Excited to host this with @gavinrrice.bsky.social

two more days to submit for consideration in this workshop! looking forward to hearing about all your amazing science :)

Lydia Grmai, Ph.D.@lydiagrmai.bsky.social · 2y ago

Calling all fly biologists: submit your research for consideration in the “Everything you ever wanted to know about sex” workshop at #Dros25! We hope to highlight diverse science, researchers, and career stages. Email submission to rmgraze@auburn.edu by Wed, Jan 15.

Drosophila folks, new workshop alert for #dros25: @gavinrrice.bsky.social and I are organising a workshop on Polyploidy, please consider submitting an abstract by 15 January to shyama.n@pitt.edu #polyploidy #drosophila

Closing out the year with a new pre-print! Here, we show that the stress response factor Atf4 is more abundant in female vs male fat (likely directly Doublesex-regulated). This dimorphism renders females more resilient to starvation-induced death. Lots of follow-up work to come!

bioRxiv Cell Biology@biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social · 2y ago

Sexually dimorphic ATF4 expression in the fat confers female stress tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.27.630478v1

Sexually dimorphic ATF4 expression in the fat confers female stress tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.27.630478v1

Sexually dimorphic ATF4 expression in the fat confers female stress tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.27.630478v1

Research topics to be covered include sex differences, sex determination, molecular evolution of sex traits, and many other related topics. We look forward to hearing about your exciting science!

Calling all fly biologists: submit your research for consideration in the “Everything you ever wanted to know about sex” workshop at #Dros25! We hope to highlight diverse science, researchers, and career stages. Email submission to rmgraze@auburn.edu by Wed, Jan 15.

Calling #Drosophila #grad students #postdoc and #pretenure #faculty to participate in FlyCROSS and be matched by a #mentor of your preferences to gain guidance to your unique needs ! #genetics #dros25 #phdlife @flybase.bsky.social @bdsc.bsky.social

New review on the evolution of insect male terminalia I wrote with Daniela Nunes: www.cell.com/trends/genet...

Developmental evolution in fast-forward: insect male genital diversification

Insect male genitalia are among the fastest evolving structures of animals. Studying these changes among closely related species represents a powerful approach to dissect developmental processes and g...

cell.com

@mcgregorlab.bsky.social and I had the pleasure of writing a dispatch article discussing the latest work from @gavinrrice.bsky.social and @rebeizlab.bsky.social. You can find it over on this link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

After mentor surveys, Calling #Drosophila early career scientists - including #grad students, #postdoc and #pretenure #faculty . It's time for you to fill the mentee survey !! 👇🏽 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #genetics #Development #Dros25 #AcademicTwitter #phdchat #academia #gradlife #phdchat

FlyBase@flybase.bsky.social · 2y ago

The Fly Board introduced a new Mentor-Mentee program, which aims to foster the development of early-career scientists by connecting them with mentors beyond their immediate circles. Fill out a brief survey to volunteer to be a mentor docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F....

Our paper, identifying all the cell types in the Drosophila melanogaster female reproductive tract (uterus, female-limited glands, sperm storage organs) is out today! We used single-nuclei RNA sequencing and a lot of in situ cross-validation www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2409850121 🪰 🧬🧪 1/n

Our new pre-print exploring the role and interactions of leg patterning genes in developing Drosophila terminalia - great work by @amberridgway.bsky.social

bioRxiv Developmental Biology@biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social · 2y ago

Rewired gene interactions during development of serially homologous appendages in male and female Drosophila https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.19.618997v1

If that wasn’t exciting enough, feast your eyes on the C15 stain in the developing female terminal - very fitting for the Halloween season. Have fun reading! Thank you @mcgregorlab.bsky.social for the support and guidance during this project. It was a blast!

Our new @CurrentBiology paper provides a rare glimpse into a morphological novelty in Drosophila eugracilis In it, @gavinrrice and colleagues, infer and reproduce the likely initial steps of a novelty's formation www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...