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Denise Walker

@denisewalker.bsky.social
622 followers 854 following 91 posts

Neuroscientist @MRC LMB, 🪱worm tamer, ion channel enthusiast, gardener

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Reposted by Denise Walker
Gaspar Jekely @jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026
If you are interested in serial sectioning for electron microscopy, we have now uploaded a revised version of our paper Shahidi et al: "Volume Electron Microscopy: Tips & Tricks on Micromanipulator-Assisted Serial Sectioning for Array Tomography" […] [Original post on biologists.social]
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Denise Walker @denisewalker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
More toxic nonsense from the Telegraph and a great @thesicktimes.org article pushing back. I’m so tired of hearing politicians going on about the rising rates of disability as if it’s a lifestyle choice, instead of actually advocating for them. thesicktimes.org/2026/09/21/c...
thesicktimes.org
COVID-19 — not TikTok — is disabling young women - The Sick Times
The Telegraph published an article titled, “How having a disability became cool." This article shores up the government narrative that rising rates of disability are being driven, not by the ongoing a...
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#ApresJ20 - Association Covid Long France @apresj20.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🧵 «Les “influenceurs malades” sont les symptômes d’un événement invalidant de masse» Dans cet article du @thesicktimes.org, Julia Doubleday s’intéresse à l’augmentation des maladies invalidantes depuis la pandémie & à la manière dont les personnes malades, notamment les jeunes femmes,sont perçues.
The Sick Times
C'est la COVID-19, et non TikTok, qui handicape les jeunes femmes.
Écrit par Julia Doubleday - 21 septembre 2026
Source : Charlotte May, Pexels
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Coleen Murphy @ctmurphy1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Oh, to have the confidence of the men who email me their "theories on aging" and offering to guide my lab in carrying out experiments to prove said theories
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Simon Bullock @simonbullock11.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
How are mRNAs linked to molecular motors in mammalian cells? In our new preprint, we show that FXR1/2 are RNA adaptors for the microtubule motor dynein. Our findings have also prompted us to rethink how activating adaptors contribute to motor-based transport (1/n)
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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky
I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. 

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review.  Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage.  To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
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Denise Walker @denisewalker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
So (like C. elegans🪱) we too have 2 brains med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
med.stanford.edu
Human brain is two separate organs, Stanford Medicine-led research finds
Stanford Health Care delivers the highest levels of care and compassion. SHC treats cancer, heart disease, brain disorders, primary care issues, and many more.
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Reposted by Denise Walker
Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
New #cat just dropped! 😻 A first in over 100 years, a genomic study in CB by Eduardo Eizirik and team reveals a new species of 'tiger cat'. 👉 www.cell.com/current-biol... Meet the Tilcayo (Leopardus tilcayo)! (photo: Fernando Faciole/National Geographic) #cats
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Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As both an academic and a writer, I am repelled by the "this looks like a long document. Would you like me to summarize it for you?" that seems to appear at the top of every pdf viewer now. NO. The *entire point* of good writing (either books or journal papers) is that every sentence has a purpose.
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Roland Pierik @roleo.eurosky.social · 08/09/2026
The number of cases of cervical cancer reported in Scotland among women given the HPV vaccine at 12-13 years of age is now zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
No cervical cancer cases in fully HPV-vaccinated women in Scotland
A study published by Public Health Scotland finds that the HPV vaccine is "highly effective".
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Daniel Colón-Ramos @dacolon.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Research
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Somerville College, Oxford @somervillecollege.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
An excellent episode of Great Lives on our alumna Iris Murdoch!
bbc.co.uk
Great Lives - Russell Kane on Iris Murdoch - BBC Sounds
Famous guests pick someone they love or admire... or both
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Denise Walker @denisewalker.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Excited to welcome @wormychew.bsky.social back to @mrclmb.ac.uk! Looking forward to hearing all about her lab’s research harnessing proximity labelling to ID proteins that are dynamically regulated during learning. Details here: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/..., including contact for non-LMB attendees.
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Amadi Lovelace @amaditalks.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Remember that if you got the Moderna Covid vaccine, you have Dolly Parton to thank, she gave the largest individual contribution toward their research to make it possible.
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
On AI curing all diseases theinformation.com/articles/ai-...
theinformation.com
Why Scientists See AI Leaders as False Prophets
Eric Topol is a prominent cardiologist known for his research into deploying AI and other technologies to improve healthcare. He considers himself a Demis Hassabis superfan, and when I spoke to him, h...
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Treat biological databases as infrastructure, not projects www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Treat biological databases as infrastructure, not projects
Letter to the Editor
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Cllr Dr Peter Rees @petercharlesrees.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
My letter to Vice-Chancellor of University of Cambridge, in the wake of the tragic death of Prof Arday, calling for an independent inquiry to the University leadership’s culture to recommend strategic and systematic changes to make the University meaningfully inclusive. @cambsgreenparty.bsky.social
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Prof Nisreen Alwan @nisreenalwan.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Sometimes a tragedy comes along & reminds us of the extreme hypocrisy we’re surrounded by. What we’re told is normal/usual & not worth reporting is what literally destroys lives and what we’re told is important is a distraction with an agenda. We only have eachother to keep reaffirming what matters.
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Prof Nisreen Alwan @nisreenalwan.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The agenda behind the obsessive coverage on Jason Arday was not only to distract but also to intimidate those who speak up and act as agents of change in a system that is far from fair. It was not just about silencing antiracism, but also anything else that threatens the status quo.
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Denise Walker @denisewalker.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
”this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son”
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Denise Walker @denisewalker.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Excited to welcome Delphine Bichet and Franck Chatelain to @mrclmb.ac.uk next month. More details (including contact for external attendees) here: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/.... Please help to spread the word!
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Reposted by Denise Walker
Turlier lab @turlierlab.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Very happy to have this work finally published! How do embryos sculpt their shape? We map the contractile & adhesive forces shaping early C. elegans embryos. With K. Yamamoto @ittoku04.bsky.social G. Charras' lab @gcharras.bsky.social & my team @turlierlab.bsky.social shorturl.at/xv7G5 1/6
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Maureen Barr @barrlab.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Get the skoup! Microglia pinch off neuronal processes containing proteolytic organelles - Shigeki Wanatabe's group terms this garbage removal SKOUPOCYTOSIS. A new class of extra-large extracellular vesicles?!?! Similar to exophers in C. elegans? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Microglia extract neuronal proteolytic organelles via skoupocytosis
Neurons face unique challenges in maintaining protein homeostasis due to their tortuous morphology and extended processes. Proteolytic organelles are typically transported retrogradely towards their s...
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Erika Dona @erikadona.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
After about a year from the preprint, our scRNAseq atlas of the developing Drosophila nerve cord has been published in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A global molecular code for birth order and neuronal identity in Drosophila - Nature
A high-resolution developmental transcriptional atlas of the Drosophila melanogaster nerve cord identifies a shared transcriptional code that records neuronal birth order and organizes neuronal d...
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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.ac.uk · 22/07/2026
In brain development, timing is everything. @sebastiancachero.bsky.social @erikadona.bsky.social & @jefferis.bsky.social have mapped 450,000+ cells from developing fly nervous systems to build an expansive atlas, revealing how neurons 'remember' when they were born. shorturl.at/tfI4s #LMBResearch🧪
Heatmap shows temporal expression of 17 transcription factors across neuron birth orders, with a UMAP plot visualising cell identity relationships.
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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.ac.uk · 24/07/2026
Thousands of possible receptor-peptide combinations. One AI-powered solution. Led by @lariferg.bsky.social, a study from @schaferlab.bsky.social & Isabel Beets has developed DeorphaNN, a neural network to identify peptide pairings for GPCRs. Read more: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... #LMBResearch
Protein structure prediction confidence for a specific region is improved when an active-state template is used.
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Black In Neuro @blackinneuro.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
📣 REGISTRATION IS OPEN 📣 Our 7th annual #BlackInNeuroWeek is coming soon 🧠 From July 27th to August 2nd, we have an ✨AMAZING✨ week of events planned for you all, free and open to the public 🤗 Don’t miss out! Register for #BINW26 here ⤵️ events.zoom.us/ev/AgaErvpe_... #BlackInSTEM #Neuroskyence 🧪
A cream-colored flyer for Black In Neuro Week registration. An arch shape in the middle of the flyer, from top to bottom has black text reading “a reimagined future”, orange text reading, “Black In Neuro Week”,  yellow text reading “2026”, pale blue text reading “July 27-Aug 2”, and orange text reading “Registration is Live!”

The arch shape has rays emerging from it in a beautiful “retro” palate of blues, oranges, yellows, and creams.

The Black In Neuro logo is in the center of the flyer and the bottom left.
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Reposted by Denise Walker
Janet Kumita @jrkumita.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
So nice to be involved with this review by @delladavid-lab.bsky.social & coworkers, examining the emerging landscape of the Extracellular Proteostasis Network & its challenges with age @proteostasisuk.bsky.social @babrahaminst.bsky.social @phar.cam.ac.uk febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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Piali Sengupta @senguptalab.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
🎉 New/updated preprint! From 🌟 GS Kirsten Judge + Most neuronal cilia form during development. Can adult neurons rebuild damaged cilia? Are functions restored? Does regrowth use different pathways from ciliogenesis? Answers (in C. elegans): Yes, yes, and partly. 1/6 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Neuron-intrinsic and glial pathways regulate sensory cilia regeneration in adult C. elegans
Primary cilia are microtubule-based organelles that mediate cellular responses to environmental cues. Although cilia disassemble and reassemble upon cell cycle entry and exit, respectively, in dividin...
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Cell Reports @cp-cellreports.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Glia-released serotonin drives nose touch responses in Caenorhabditis elegans
dlvr.it
Glia-released serotonin drives nose touch responses in Caenorhabditis elegans
Touch perception depends not only on neurons but also on active signaling from glia. Using the C. elegans nose touch mechanosensory system, Logan et al. show that glial release of serotonin in response to mechanical stimulation enables neuronal activation and tunes touch sensitivity, with additional feedback signaling refining sensory output.
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Black In Neuro @blackinneuro.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
🎉Save the date! Black In Neuro Week 2026 is July 27–Aug 2. We're celebrating our 6th annual BIN Week with returning favorites like #NeuroRacism, #NeuroAcrossTheDiaspora, and #BINRollCall plus a brand new theme: #BlackInTime. ✨ 🧠 #BINW26 #AReimaginedFuture
Promotional graphic for Black In Neuro Week 2026. The design features a retro-inspired sunburst background in shades of orange, gold, cream, blue, and green. At the center is an arch-shaped panel with the text “A Reimagined Future” curved across the top, followed by “Black In Neuro Week 2026.” The Black In Neuro logo, featuring a profile illustration with a brain motif, appears in the center. At the bottom, the dates July 27–August 2 and the hashtag #BINW26 are displayed. Decorative star accents frame the design.
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Communications Biology @commsbio.nature.com · 12/06/2026
Functional characterization of pathogenic CaV1.1 mutants reveals a pathological role of depolarization-induced calcium release in malignant hyperthermia susceptibility. doi.org/10.1038/s420...
doi.org
Pathogenic CaV1.1 Variants Cause Hyperpolarizing Shift of Depolarization-Induced Ca2+ Release in Malignant Hyperthermia Susceptibility - Communications Biology
Functional characterization of pathogenic CaV1.1 mutants reveals pathological role of depolarization-induced calcium release in malignant hyperthermia susceptibility.
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Women in Neuroscience UK @womeninneurouk.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Why does breast cancer so often spread to the brain? 🧠🎗️ New research uncovers a possible mechanism, and identifies a promising therapeutic target. Read about it in Renata’s article! 🔗 www.womeninneuroscienceuk.org/post/why-is-... #Neuroscience #BreastCancer #CancerResearch
Sketch of a female body, with a cloud of thoughts in place of a head, on a dark pink background
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Genetics Society of America @genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
A systematic analysis of claudin-like cell adhesion molecule expression in #Celegans nervous system identifies CLC-3 as a neuronally expressed claudin that regulates motor system output. 🪱 Learn more about this work from @kavita-babu.bsky.social lab in #GENETICS: 🔗 buff.ly/30wGQVN
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The Conversation UK @uk.theconversation.com · 09/06/2026
Homelessness among neurodivergent people isn’t just about housing, it reflects repeated failures across support systems.
tcnv.link
How gaps in education, work and welfare support can push neurodivergent into homelessness
Homelessness among neurodivergent people isn’t just about housing, it reflects repeated failures across support systems.
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Dr Mel T @drmel.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
My kids are both doing History in British schools ATM and I was surprised at the lack of WW2 content at GSCE or A Level. Much more US history than I expected - Ford’s new deal, Civil Rights movement. But no Holocaust / Hitler on their exams.
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Denise Walker @denisewalker.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
This is crazy!
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Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
I won't pay $4,000 for a ticket to see my Knicks play in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years, but for some reason I routinely pay three times that much for open access to papers that I wrote myself.
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Marie Kieseler, Ph.D. @mlkieseler.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Excited to share that our paper on mirror use in octopuses is published today in @currentbiology.bsky.social! This is the first time mirror-mediated spatial navigation has been demonstrated in an invertebrate. 🐙 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Octopus bimaculoides can learn to utilize a mirror to localize a reward outside the line of sight
Mirror-mediated localization of hidden objects is well documented in vertebrates1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 but has never been demonstrated in inverteb…
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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.ac.uk · 27/05/2026
Big picture, fundamental research can change lives. Building on work first begun at the LMB in the 1970s, the NHS has begun rolling out a new, injectable cancer immunotherapy. Read more about the new treatment here: www.ukri.org/news/from-mr... #LMBintheNews
ukri.org
From MRC discovery research to a one-minute cancer treatment
A new injectable cancer immunotherapy is being rolled out across the NHS, offering faster treatment for tens of thousands of patients each year.
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Genetics Society of America @genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
We’re excited to announce #Worm27 will be in Kobe, Japan, July 18–22, 2027. Join the global Worm community for science, collaboration, and connection in a stunning city between mountains and sea. Save the date—Kobe awaits! What are you most excited for? Tell us below.⬇️
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Genetics Society of America @genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
🪱 A new study in the May issue of #GENETICS establishes #Celegans as a model for #Hippo signaling, identifying Hippo-dependent and -independent signals that control WTS-1 in epithelia and intestine, respectively. 🔗 buff.ly/7WfEcYy 📷️ credit: Razan Fakieh
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Denise Walker @denisewalker.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Cambridge friends: come and join us on 14th June. 16 gardens, plant sales, live music, teas and more, all in our beautiful villages of Histon & Impington. Supporting 4 great charities, HI Feast, Deaf Reach, Cambridge Acorn Project and Breast Friends 🌷
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Teresa Lee @snickclunk.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
One last piece of news to cap off the year.... the Lee lab is now funded by an ✨NSF CAREER✨!!! We'll explore how transgenerational inheritance affects the earliest decisions in C. elegans embryos AND build new CUREs for our first-gen students. 🪱🧬 This is how we feel about being funded! 👇
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Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
“If your neighbour’s house is on fire, you don’t wait and watch. You help to put it out before the fire spreads to yours. That’s the interconnected world we live in, and an important lesson for all politicians watching the crisis unfold.” Excellent from @profdevisridhar.bsky.social
theguardian.com
Ebola in the DRC needs the world’s attention now – if your neighbour’s house is on fire, you don’t wait and watch | Devi Sridhar
In the interconnected world we live in the west can’t afford to turn away, says Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh
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eLife @elife.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The olfactory receptor SNIF-1 mediates foraging for leucine-enriched diets in <i>C. elegans</i>
buff.ly
The olfactory receptor SNIF-1 mediates foraging for leucine-enriched diets in C. elegans
Behavioral analyses combined with genetics revealed that Caenorhabditis elegans uses an olfactory receptor-ligand module to forage for essential nutrients.
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Denise Walker @denisewalker.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
“Tommy Chooses Love”. Something positive from this disgusting hate march
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Something that stung at end of being on Infinite Monkey Cage were frequent backstage invites for various anti trans activists - including to our small party for 201st episode - people who wrote vicious things about me & then lies about me after resignation. It was really rotten. www.robinince.com
Trans flag crossing
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Kavita Babu @kavita-babu.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
So great to see @usbumer1's cool story out at @commsbio.nature.com! Funding thanks DBT and India Alliance. Umer et al have found a role for the neuropeptide FLP-15 in worm foraging. Thanks to all authors and our collaborators @monikakscholz.bsky.social lab. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
nature.com
FLP-15 functions through the GPCR NPR-3 to regulate local and global search behaviours in Caenorhabditis elegans - Communications Biology
FLP-15 neuropeptide regulates foraging in C. elegans via NPR-3 in dopaminergic neurons, controlling reversal dynamics and spatial exploration during off-food search
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