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Raffaele Sarnataro

@rafsarnataro.bsky.social

230 followers 840 following 45 posts

Fulford Junior Research Fellow @SomervilleCollege.bsky.social | Sleep(ing) Neuroscientist @ox.ac.uk 🧠 | Alumnus @SNS.it @WellcomeTrust.bsky.social | 🇮🇹🇪🇺

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Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Jul 22

1/ 🚨 Our new paper is online in @nature.com! As its first author, I’m enthusiastic to finally share it with you all! 🎉 🧠 We discovered a mechanistic link between cellular energy metabolism and the control of the need to sleep 💤 👉 rdcu.be/ewwrA @oxforddpag.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk @medsci.ox.ac.uk 🧵 👇

Nature @nature.com · Jul 22

Nature research paper: Mitochondrial origins of the pressure to sleep

go.nature.com/40oC7Y4

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.

go.nature.com

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Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · 24d

😂 I think metabolic reactions hate everyone

Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · 24d

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

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Reposted by Raffaele Sarnataro

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 29d

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...

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.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Reposted by Raffaele Sarnataro

Liuba Dvinskikh @ld-light.bsky.social · Sep 2

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

Optica Publishing Group

doi.org

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Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Sep 3

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

Liuba Dvinskikh @ld-light.bsky.social · Sep 2

We demonstrate our method on biological samples with a range of RIs, including a whole fly brain 🧠 (imaged in < 3 min⚡) and > 1 cm long mouse bone 🐭🦴 (🧵 5/6).

Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Sep 2

💡 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

Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Sep 2

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

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Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Sep 2

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.

Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Sep 2

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

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Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Sep 2

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.

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Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨 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

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...

physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Raffaele Sarnataro

Scienza in rete @scienzainrete.bsky.social · Aug 29

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...

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...

www.scienzainrete.it

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Reposted by Raffaele Sarnataro

Nick Petrić Howe @nickpetrichowe.bsky.social · Jul 18

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:

‘Stealth flippers’ helped this extinct mega-predator stalk its prey

Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 16 July 2025

www.nature.com

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Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Aug 28

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

Raffaele Sarnataro @rafsarnataro.bsky.social · Aug 28

Beautiful work, congratulations!

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Reposted by Raffaele Sarnataro

Sainsbury Wellcome Centre @sainsburywellcome.bsky.social · Aug 8

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