Thrilled to be co-organising the EMBO Workshop Comparative (neuro)science in insects, 13–16 April 2027, Engelberg 🇨🇭 with @megyounger.bsky.social, @nkonst4.bsky.social, and Yun Ding@UPENN Abstracts due 11 Dec 2026 🔗 meetings.embo.org/event/27-ins... Register and join us! #EMBOneuroInsects

Congrats to Hofstra Biology undergrad Janpreet Kaur, who's dept. honors research project contributed to our latest publication with the Extavour and @bentonlab.bsky.social labs! You can read it here: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

Nature honors Dolly Parton's scientific legacy. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Dolly Parton dies aged 80 – researchers celebrate her contributions to science

The country singer was an advocate for vaccines, public health, literacy and marginalized communities.

nature.com

In quick succession, a fun behavior project with data collected by co-authors before I even knew what an ostracod was! Also happy for another paper with JG Morin, who discovered these ostracods in 1979. Good to have a citation for how these lil shrimp with big lights actually defend themselves

Bioluminescence Giant Squid

ALT: Bioluminescence Giant Squid

static.klipy.com

New report from @bentonlab.bsky.social in #G3journal used #GWAS, #transcriptome-to-phenotype, and mutant analyses to identify genes linked to octanoic acid resistance, revealing evolutionary pathways in the species-specific tolerance of toxins in #drosophilids. 🪰 🔗 buff.ly/FGfLc1E

Revised genomic resources for the swordtail cricket, Laupala kohalensis Otte 1994 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.02.729584v1

I’m late to this, but congrats to Janpreet, Isaiah, Parker, and Shahad on their successful presentations at Hofstra’s undergraduate research day! Always a fun end to the semester to see the culmination of student led research efforts. #PUI #proudpi

Greetings from #SRBR2026! Come see me speak about seasonal plasticity in broadly distributed and equatorial endemic Drosophila species in Amelia ballroom 1-2 on Tuesday May 12th at 8:30 AM.

I won a thing! It’s the end of the semester, I’m burnt out, and I spent yesterday fighting with a printer. This is a much-appreciated reminder of the parts of my job that make it worth it. What a gift to be able to share the science that we love with our students.

Congrats to Lynbrook HS senior Leah Pisano, who just published her Regeneron Science Talent Search project in microPublication Biology! This was a departure for my lab, which speaks to Leah's independence and originality. She no doubt has a bright future in STEM ahead of her!

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!

Hofstra Biology is hiring (again!): a tenure-track position in microbiology. Come join our collegial and rapidly growing dept. Small class sizes, hands on learning and research, manageable teaching loads and real startup. Please reach out for more info!

Very proud of our lab’s FIRST graduating students, Rose Arias and Hannah Thomas, who did a fantastic job presenting their research at Hofstra’s undergraduate research day! Congratulations!

Very excited to read this!

Philipp Brand@pbrand.bsky.social · 12mo ago

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

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).

✨🦟✨HOW DO MOSQUITOES HAVE SEX? ✨🦟✨ Join us for a wild journey into hidden female control, rapidly evolving stimulation devices, fierce species competition, and DEADLY MOSQUITOES! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Time to catch up on the past week’s news about science and medicine in the US. Whew. 1/10

How do #brain cells change over #evolution? @bentonlab.bsky.social compare #scRNAseq from ecologically distinct #drosophilid species to identify changes in composition & gene expression of different cell types, revealing higher divergence in #glia than #neurons @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4js7Rms

And more from our favorite species trio: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Comparative single-cell transcriptomic atlases of drosophilid brains suggest glial evolution during ecological adaptation

How do diverse brain cells change over evolution? By comparing single-cell transcriptomic atlases from ecologically-distinct drosophilid species, this work identifies changes in the composition and ge...

journals.plos.org

Happy to see this out now: Olfactory projection neuron rewiring in the brain of an ecological specialist: Cell Reports www.cell.com/cell-reports... In a team effort with @bentonlab.bsky.social 's lab we establish new genetic tools in #drosophila sechellia and compare single central brain neurons.

Olfactory projection neuron rewiring in the brain of an ecological specialist

Dürr et al. develop advanced genetic tools in the host specialist D. sechellia to study its olfactory system neuroanatomy. They show via single-cell labeling, tracing, and quantitative comparison of o...

cell.com

Creating the first comparative single-cell brain atlases for 3 Drosophila species was a huge effort by Daehan Lee in @bentonlab.bsky.social. With it, we describe glial cell evolution potentially associated with D. sechellia's specialization. Explore the atlases: scope.aertslab.org#/DmelDsimDse...

Comparative single-cell transcriptomic atlases of drosophilid brains suggest glial evolution during ecological adaptation

How do diverse brain cells change over evolution? By comparing single-cell transcriptomic atlases from ecologically-distinct drosophilid species, this work identifies changes in the composition and ge...

journals.plos.org

Hofstra Bio is looking to hire a microbiologist: hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/5036 Bio Dept. is an extremely collegial group of scientists. We've hired 7 new faculty in the past few years (myself included). Hofstra is a private PUI transitioning to R2 that values both education and research.

Lots of good stats and examples in the comments to write your own letter. Democracy.io let's you write all of your reps at once!

Democracy.io - Contact your Members of Congress

Democracy thrives when people’s voices are heard. Send a message to your legislatures using EFF's simple new tool.

democracy.io

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 2y ago

Started off this morning emailing my Senators and Congressman about the NIH and the potential damage being done by unnecessary disruptions. They need to hear from us loud and clear. Constituents matter to them as one of the primary purposes of a politician is to get re-elected (and its their job).

What better demonstrates that ‘biological sex’ is but a social construct than the u.s. president needing to declare it to be binary by political fiat in order to uphold its legitimacy.

If you're looking for some trans (umbrella term) STEM people to lift up and support, you can check out my starter pack. go.bsky.app/2oTAUBo Some biologists, some other fields. Lifting up more people helps everyone. (If you want to be added to the list request by leaving a response)

Wobbologist@wobbologist.bsky.social · 2y ago

Biologists need to stand up against the increased transphobia coming. Also, I'd love to see more collaboration from within the trans community as well. We need more trans people to have a voice and be lifted up! The more the better!

New pre-print #2: Jérôme Mermet profiles living and dying lineages in the olfactory system to begin to explain how these sensory pathways are robustly specified but also evolvable: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Multilayer regulation underlies the functional precision and evolvability of the olfactory system

Sensory neurons must be reproducibly specified to permit accurate neural representation of external signals but also able to change during evolution. We studied this paradox in the Drosophila olfactor...

biorxiv.org

Our new paper is out in Ecology and Evolution in which we use hemiclonal analysis in #Drosophila to document genetic variation in the strength of male mate choice for large females. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Genetic Variation in Male Mate Choice for Large Females in Drosophila melanogaster

We used hemiclonal analysis in Drosophila melanogaster to test for genetic variation in the strength of male mate choice for large females, a common male preference in insects. We found additive vari...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

I'm thrilled to be opening my own lab this Fall at the @maxplanck.de MPI for Brain Research in Frankfurt. The lab is going to investigate the neuronal and genetic underpinnings of behavioral evolution. We are hiring on all levels. Don't hesitate to share widely and reach out if interested.

Are you PhD student or Postdoc working in the field of Neuroethology? Then apply as a speaker for the Webinar Series 'The Future Of Neuroethology'

Finished grading. Time for baking!