Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · Aug 14

www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...

Exclusive: Harvard University lays off fly database team

The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.

www.thetransmitter.org

Reposted by Anne Simon

Chris Rozell @crozell.bsky.social · Jul 17

Please repost! We're hiring a postdoc to work with me and
@salagapan.bsky.social on an exciting interdisciplinary project in human neuroscience and brain-body interactions underlying effortful behavior in health and mood disorders.

siplab.gatech.edu/postdoc_ad_2...

SIPLab

siplab.gatech.edu

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Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · Jul 18

Yes, please!

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Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · Jul 11

Hi, if you are looking to come to Canada for a post-doc or a PhD, consider my lab to study the genetic basis of social interactions, using the fruit fly! My university (Western University) has a new program to welcome you! See below! #drosophila #postdoc #canada #PhD #social #behaviouralneurogenetic

Western University @westernu.ca · Jul 8

To attract top global talent, #WesternU is doubling the number of Postdoctoral Fellowship Program awards and launching the new US-CAN Doctoral Excellence Awards. #CdnPSE #HigherEd

Western expands PhD and postdoc funding - Western News

Western is boosting funding for postdoctoral fellows and PhD candidates from the U.S. and other countries with expanded and new award programs.

news.westernu.ca

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Reposted by Anne Simon

Gordon Hodson @gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social · Jul 1

I wish journals could figure out how to make this work, cooperating w one another

Want to submit? Review first please

Yes, this sounds somewhat tedious

But think of

✳️ faster reviews
✳️ less exploitation by unscrupulous peers (ie. more fairness)
✳️ (possibly) more thoughtful review

#AcademicSky

Scott McGrath @smcgrath.phd · Jul 1

How to speed up peer review: make applicants mark one another

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

#AcademicSky

How to speed up peer review: make applicants mark one another

‘Distributed peer review’ of grants makes process more than twice as fast — and includes some cheat-prevention measures.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Anne Simon

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · Jun 25

Research in flies suggests #circadian systems differ in #males and #females. In PNAS Journal Club: www.pnas.org/post/journal...

#CircadianRhythm #SleepWakeCycles #Drosophila #neurons

Adult female fruit flies proved less sensitive to disturbances of their circadian system through experimental disruptions of a peptide in their brains (green).

Image credit: Eva Scholz-Carlson, Indiana University Bloomington.

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Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · Jun 27

Thank you :)

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Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · May 20

Started during Covid years, this review is finally seeing the light of day! The comments from the editor and reviewers at Current Research for Insect Science made this article a lot better, and we are very thankful.

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Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · May 20

"The Drosophila adult brain: short overview of structure, function, and resources Graphical Review Paper": www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@arielframe.bsky.social
@ibangs.bsky.social
@brentsinclair.bsky.social
‪@westernu.bsky.social‬

The Drosophila adult brain: short overview of structure, function, and resources Graphical Review Paper

This short review is targeted at researchers new to the Drosophila model (thereafter: a Drosophilist) in the field of neuroscience. We aim to provide …

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Anne Simon

Andreas Prokop @poppi62.bsky.social · Apr 10

If using Bloomigton #Drosophila Stock Center stocks, pls. acknowledge them & their NIH funding (P40 OD018537). Papers listing this no. are being harvested as evidence. We massively depend on the @bdsc.bsky.social & they need our support in these dire times! @flybase.bsky.social @fly-eds.bsky.social

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Reposted by Anne Simon

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Apr 7

The fly as a model for unravelling the mechanisms of #sleep regulation. @giorgio.gilest.ro explores a @plosbiology.org study which refines the key neuronal circuits involved in the regulation of sleep in fruit flies #Drosophila 🧪 Paper: plos.io/42uPczp Primer: plos.io/4iVHgxR

Dissecting dFB regulation of sleep in Drosophila. Left: The commonly used 23E10 GAL4 drives expression in the green cells located in the brain and the ventral nerve cord. Jones and colleagues have obtained a refined split-GAL4 line that limits expression in the brain cells only, excluding the peripheral VNC-SP cells. Top right: Optogenetic stimulation of the dFBsplit cells at frequencies higher than 10 Hz for 24 h leads to an increase in baseline sleep and promotes long-term memory consolidation. Chronic inactivation also paradoxically leads to an increase in baseline sleep and mildly affects sleep homeostasis. Bottom right: Optogenetics activation of cholinergic neurons also leads to an increase in baseline sleep, while inactivation leads to a decrease in sleep rebound but only in stronger regimes of thermogenetic silencing.

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Reposted by Anne Simon

UWO Faculty Association @uwofa1.bsky.social · Feb 26

🗳️ Tomorrow is Election Day—let’s prioritize the future of Ontario’s universities. Underfunding affects education quality and affordability. Vote for a stronger, more accessible education system! #OntarioElection2025 #ONpoli #ONpse

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Reposted by Anne Simon

CAUT/ACPPU @caut.bsky.social · Feb 26

“The lack of substantive consultation with faculty, or the imposition of pseudo-consultative gestures, undermines the spirit and functionality of collegial governance.”

Read the latest President’s Message: https://buff.ly/4gYuHA9

Promotional image for the January-February 2025 issue of the CAUT Bulletin.

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Reposted by Anne Simon

UWO Faculty Association @uwofa1.bsky.social · Feb 18

Low funding forces universities to rely on contract faculty who often reapply every term, earn less, and lack benefits. Stable, permanent jobs and increased funding will strengthen campuses and communities. 🗳️ Make your voice heard — vote on Feb 27th! #ONpoli #equalpayforequalwork @ocufa.bsky.social

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Reposted by Anne Simon

UWO Faculty Association @uwofa1.bsky.social · Feb 20

🚨 Western is considering outsourcing first-year international student programming to Navitas, a for-profit provider. This threatens academic integrity, job security, and faculty governance. UWOFA stands against privatization—reinvest in our own programs and people!

📰 Link to release in bio.

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Reposted by Anne Simon

Anita Devineni @anitadevineni.bsky.social · Feb 13

Amidst all the terrible things, it's nice to have some good news - our paper on the architecture of fly taste circuits is published now! Led by Emory undergrad Sydney Walker and grad student Marco Peña Garcia.
Paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Summary here: devinenilab.org/news/connect...

Connectomic analysis of taste circuits in Drosophila - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Connectomic analysis of taste circuits in Drosophila

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Anne Simon

The Interactive Fly @interactivefly.bsky.social · Feb 5

Brown, M. P., Verma, S., Palmer, I., Guerrero Zuniga, A., Mehta, A., Rosensweig, C., Keles, M. F., Wu, M. N. (2024). A subclass of evening cells promotes the switch from arousal to sleep at dusk. Curr Biol, 34(10):2186-2199 www.cell.com/current-biol...

A subclass of evening cells promotes the switch from arousal to sleep at dusk

Brown et al. show that E1 clock neurons in Drosophila promote the switch from wake to sleep at dusk in a light- and time-dependent manner. By contrast, E2 neurons regulate canonical evening anticipati...

www.cell.com

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Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · Mar 27

I.B.A.N.G.S
@ibangs.bsky.social
Genes, Brain & Behavior 2024 Western University, June 3-6 Early registration until March 30th Program:https://conftool.pro/ibangs2024/index.php?page=browseSessions… Details: ibangs.org/genes-brain-...

https://ibangs.org/genes-brain-and-behavior-2024…

Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · Feb 7

Come and enjoy great science at the 2024 Genes, Brain and Behaviour conference at Western University!

x.com/ibangstweets...

Reposted by Anne Simon

Esther Verheyen 🇨🇦 @estherverheyen.bsky.social · Dec 7

Not yet, but the Interactive Fly posts all sorts of fly-related papers! bsky.app/profile/inte...

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Reposted by Anne Simon

I.B.A.N.G.S @ibangs.bsky.social · Nov 19

Call For Symposia Proposals Genes, Brain and Behavior 2024 Western University, London, Ontario, Canada June 3-6th, 2024. Details here: www.ibangs.org/genes-brain-... @karlakaun.bsky.social @simonsocial.bsky.social

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Anne Simon @simonsocial.bsky.social · Nov 9

Petition to the Prime Minister
Whereas:
Canada demand an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict;
Read more here:

petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/...

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Reposted by Anne Simon

Elizabeth Rideout @ejrideout.bsky.social · Nov 4

So grateful for the opportunity to sit down with amazing interviewer and author @kristalamb.bsky.social to share why it’s important to consider biological sex as a variable in research!

Krista Lamb @kristalamb.bsky.social · Nov 2

Season three of Diabetes: From Beta Cells to Bicycles is out! @ejrideout.bsky.social discusses the importance of considering biological sex at every level of research - including in beta cells. Listen now. diabetes-from-beta-cells-to-bicycles.simplecast.com/episodes/dr-...

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Reposted by Anne Simon

Scott Waddell @scottishwaddell.bsky.social · Oct 25

It took us 11 years but: Dopaminergic systems create reward seeking despite adverse consequences

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

Dopaminergic systems create reward seeking despite adverse consequences - Nature

In Drosophila, a subpopulation of reward-encoding dopaminergic neurons antagonizes punishment-encoding neurons and can override punishment or hunger cues in favour of reward-seeking behaviour.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Anne Simon

Ariel K. Frame @arielframe.bsky.social · Oct 25

For those interested in a PhD position studying why we sleep, here's a great opportunity! Alice French at University of Bristol is taking applications for a SWBio 4 year PhD studentship in her lab. Here's the link to apply: t.co/J2k5NqvoFK
#NeuroJobs #neuroskyence #Drosophila

Job Description:
Divergent sleep behaviour - An evolutionary approach to understand why we sleep
Supervisory team:
Main supervisor: Dr Alice French (University of Bristol)
Second supervisor: Prof Helen White-Cooper (Cardiff University)
Prof James Hodge (University of Bristol)
Host institution: University of Bristol
Project description:
Getting a full night of high-quality sleep is vital for our health and well-being- we've all heard this mantra a
thousand times: So how can an African elephant survive on just 2 hours? The pervasiveness of sleep across the
animal kingdom suggests that it serves vital functions, yet we see astonishing variation in the amount different
species exhibit. "Why?" remains one of the most fascinating conundrums of the natural world and prompts the
following: Do all animals sleep for the same reasons?

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