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Lisa Fenk

@fleyes.bsky.social
754 followers 673 following 6 posts

Vision, active sensing, eye movements, flies | Lise Meitner Research Group Leader at MPI for Biological Intelligence

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Reposted by Lisa Fenk
International Society for Neuroethology @neuroethology.org · 21/09/2026
🚨Last day to vote 🚨 Dear #ISN members, until TOMORROW you have the chance to have a say in the future leadership of our society and you can choose you favourite site for #ISN2030 - Vienna 🇦🇹 or Los Angeles 🇺🇲? Please vote 🗳 if you have not alredy done so and share widely 🤗 #Neuroethology 🧠🧪
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Lisa Fenk @fleyes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Many thanks to @lochlanw.bsky.social and @prelights.bsky.social for highlighting our preprint!
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Kit D. Longden @theflyside.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Revised preprint on mitochondria in central brain of Drosophila now online: much new analysis + details of largest resource for analyzing neuronal mitochondria generated so far, with ~6M mitochondria, >20k neurons, >5k cell types. Much thanks to all coauthors, enjoy! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Connectomic Analysis of Mitochondria in the Central Brain of Drosophila
Mitochondria are integral to the metabolism and cell biology of a neuron. Electron microscopy images of fly brain volumes, taken for connectomics, can be analyzed for mitochondria as well as the cells...
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Todd Oakley @ostratodd.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
🧵 New paper! We’re excited to release OPTICS: software that immediately predicts color sensitivity from any opsin protein sequence. In other words: give OPTICS any opsin sequence, and it predicts the wavelength of light the pigment is most sensitive to 🌈👁️ academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
academic.oup.com
Accessible and Robust Machine Learning Approaches to Improve the Opsin Genotype-Phenotype Map
Abstract. Predicting phenotypes from genetic variation is a central challenge in biology. Here, machine learning (ML) offers great promise, but its use is
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MPI for Biological Intelligence @mpiforbi.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
A day full of science, curiosity, and connection! It was wonderful to see the community come together to share knowledge and push the boundaries of interdisciplinary neuroscience – exactly what the Munich Brain Day is all about. 🧠 ✨ ➡️ munichbrainday.com @mpi-psychiatry.bsky.social @lmu.de @tum.de
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Wei-Chung Allen Lee @darbly.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Now published - the #BANC! A full central nervous system (CNS) connectome of a limbed animal at single-synapse resolution, enabling us to follow sensory-motor arcs and understand how the CNS controls the body. rdcu.be/fncjS. #neuroscience. Video by @quorumetrix.bsky.social 1/18
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Madalena M. Reimão Pinto @madalenamrp.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Last call for this awesome opportunity: www.czbiohub.org/program-mpi-.... If you hold a US-PhD degree and want to join one of the labs at the @mpi-cbg.de or @mpipks.bsky.social for a fully-funded postdoc, apply! Deadline is May 20.
czbiohub.org
Global Science Scholars - Max Planck Society
Learn about the international postdoctoral fellowship program from Biohub and the Max Planck Society.
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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
I am hiring a PhD student to join our group in Lund, Sweden working on an ERC-funded project to untangle color and polarization vision in some amazing crustaceans – minute water fleas and pugnacious mantis shrimp! Please forward this to promising students. Apply here: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
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MPI for Biological Intelligence @mpiforbi.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
🐟+🐚 =🏠 Shell-dwelling cichlids are true underwater architects, instinctively transforming empty snail shells into protective nests. New research shows: They improve with practice, remember what they learned, and adapt to unusual conditions. 🔗 Press release: www.bi.mpg.de/news/2026-04...
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MultiplEye Lab @multipleye-lab.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
If you'd be interested in a postdoc with us using CT scans of trilobite eyes to model their visual abilities, watch this space...!
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Vivek Nityananda @viveknityananda.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
New #PhD on #bees (BeeHd?)! Despite the ad saying "UK Students only", a limited number of scholarships are available for international candidates. So please apply!
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Yvette Fisher @yvetteefisher.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
*First preprint from our lab* !!!!! How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭 led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman: “Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Thread ⬇️
Schematic of how ER-EPG plasticity enables the bump of activity in EPGs to accurately track visual cues. As a fly makes a counter-clockwise turn (top to bottom) it will view visual cues (e.g. the sun) from a new angle and the EPG activity bump (red) will swing clockwise around the network by integrating self motion signals with these visual inputs. When the fly faces a different angle, distinct visual ER neurons are active. Plasticity forms a trough of weak synapses (large circles - strong synapses, small circles - weak synapses) that allow ER neurons with distinct visual tuning to move the EPG bump via disinhibition.
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John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
How do neural circuits generate the walking rhythm? Using connectome simulations, @sarahpugly.bsky.social found a minimal central pattern generator (CPG) that produces oscillations in leg motor neurons. Same circuit motif for each 🪰 leg. w @bingbrunton.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Andrew Straw @andrewstraw.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Have you ever wondered what you would find if you could keep your eyes on a bee for more than a few meters? Us, too! preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵 Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/9
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eLife @elife.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
Jumping spiders can recognise one another. This ability to learn, remember and represent images is quite surprising for such a tiny-brained animal! buff.ly/dCkwPr0
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IMP @impvienna.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
🌍Open call: Junior Group Leader positions! Join a world-class biomedical research institute at the heart of the Vienna BioCenter, where curiosity drives discovery. Lead your own lab, pursue bold ideas, and shape the future of science at the IMP: www.imp.ac.at/career/open-...
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Catherine (Katie) Schretter @ceschretter.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Excited to announce our new pre-print (www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...)! This collaborative work (co-led by Adriane Otopalik and Gerry Rubin) examines how neuronal circuits regulate social behaviors, like courtship🫶 and aggression🥊, across sexes. #neuroscience #Drosophila #WomenInSTEM 🧪1/
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Greg Jefferis @jefferis.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint: “Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We describe the #connectomics reconstruction and analysis of an entire adult #maleCNS #drosophila central nervous system. 1/10
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MPI for Biological Intelligence @mpiforbi.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Apply now to become a speaker at our Institute! We invite excellent postdocs in neuroscience, ecology and other fields related to our research to apply for our Emerging Scientist Talk Series. Apply by October 24: www.bi.mpg.de/ess @chr-mayer.bsky.social @fleyes.bsky.social @michaelahau.bsky.social
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Horst Obenhaus @octoscience.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Come to the MBL in Woods Hole @mblscience.bsky.social for a GRASS FELLOWSHIP @grassfoundation.bsky.social 🦑 🐙🐛 There are two application deadlines this year: Oct 15, 2025 (submit by then to receive feedback on your application!), and Dec 1, 2025 (final deadline). grassfoundation.org/application-...
Grass Fellowship application flyer
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Oliver Bossdorf @bossdorf.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Job Alert! The University of Tübingen is hiring a FULL PROFESSOR (W3) in FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY! Come and join our institute, and maybe our new excellence clusters @terra-cluster.org and @greenrobust.de. @gfoesoc.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social Please repost!
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Meg Younger @megyounger.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
New preprint from @darbly.bsky.social‬ @briandepasquale.bsky.social‬ and my labs! If you love (or hate) mosquitoes, have a look: doi.org/10.1101/2025... We used TEM to describe the circuitry used for CO2 detection by mosquitoes. As usual with mosquitoes, nothing is as expected! 🌬️🦟
doi.org
Recurrent connectivity supports carbon dioxide sensitivity in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
The mosquito Aedes aegypti′s human host-seeking behavior depends on the integration of multiple sensory cues. One of these cues, carbon dioxide (CO2), gates odorant and heat pathways and activates hos...
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Matt Collie @mottcallie.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Happy Friday! The female adult fly brain-and-nerve-cord (BANC) connectome is now LIVE! Explore the data here: codex.flywire.ai?dataset=banc Check out the preprint here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
media.tenor.com
a man with a mustache in a blue suit says tiny celebration in front of a group of people
ALT: a man with a mustache in a blue suit says tiny celebration in front of a group of people
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Christian Mayer @chr-mayer.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Now out in @natneuro.nature.com: Temporal control of progenitor competence shapes maturation in GABAergic neuron development in mice. Congrats to first authors @annrosebright.bsky.social, Yana Kotlyarenko, @flo-neuhaus.bsky.social, and thanks to all collaborators! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/n
nature.com
Temporal control of progenitor competence shapes maturation in GABAergic neuron development in mice - Nature Neuroscience
Unlike cortical progenitors, ventral telencephalic progenitors retain the ability to generate diverse neuron types during neurogenesis. Here, the authors show that ventral telencephalic progenitor mat...
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Mike Moore @moore-evo-eco.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
cool new paper in @nature.com about moth migration, showing they use the stars to navigate up to the mountains in the summer 🧪🌍🐙 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night - Nature
Every spring, Bogong moths use the starry night sky as a compass to navigate up to 1,000 km towards their alpine migratory goal.
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Paul Katz @pkatz.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
The Neural Systems & Behavior Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory is going to be looking for a co-director. If you're a faculty member who is interested in helping to organize and run this incredible course, submit a brief statement and your CV at this website. www.mbl.edu/education/ad...
mbl.edu
Faculty Opportunities in MBL Courses | Marine Biological Laboratory
MBL courses bring experts in research and industry to offer lectures and serve as course faculty. To build on this incredible convening power and expand our footprint, we are posting this open call fo...
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Portugues Lab @portugueslab.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Are you interested in visual systems? How are they similar or different across species? Read the review by Ryosuke @ryosuketanaka.bsky.social and Ruben published today in @natrevneuro.nature.com. It is available here: rdcu.be/enlpC
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Richard Merrill @dickmerrill.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Interested in a PhD connecting sensory ecology and evolutionary genetics? Applications are now open for a project on the Speciation Genomics of Eye Size Variation in Heliconius Butterflies in our lab at LMU Munich: www.evol.bio.lmu.de/research/mer... Please repost!
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Jerome Beetz @beetzjerome.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Today, I signed my first contract as a principal investigator @uni-wuerzburg.de. My Emmy-Noether group can now officially start on 1st of May. If someone is interested working with me on the spatial memory of 🐝 as a PhD student or postdoc, contact me. More details: www.spatial-navigation.com
spatial-navigation.com
Beetz Lab
Our group studies the neural mechanisms underlying spatial memory in insects. As central place foragers, honeybees begin their foraging trip at a fixed location, i.e., their nest. This site fidelity.....
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François Leulier @francoisleulier.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
😳 #FirstInFly as often! www.nature.com/articles/s41... #DrosoFeed
nature.com
Whole-body physics simulation of fruit fly locomotion - Nature
Nature - Whole-body physics simulation of fruit fly locomotion
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Michael Reiser @michaelreiser.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
I know there's a 𝒍𝒐𝒕 going on right now, but I couldn’t be prouder to share this long-incubated labor of love: the complete connectome of the male 𝐷𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑎 optic lobe 🧠🪰 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Connectome-driven neural inventory of a complete visual system - Nature
A connectome of the right optic lobe from a male fruitfly is presented together with an extensive collection of genetic drivers matched to a comprehensive neuron-type catalogue.
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Janelia Research Campus @hhmijanelia.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
🪰A connectome of the fruit fly visual system & classification of its 53K neurons unlock new possibilities for probing vision in fruit flies hhmi.news/3XyqYCy 🔗Read more about these #openscience tools from our FlyEM Project Team & collaborators, first published as a 2024 #preprint: hhmi.news/4iIsavL
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Jerome Beetz @beetzjerome.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Let me introduce our new lab homepage. www.spatial-navigation.com We are looking for PhD students and one Postdoc that can start in November 2025. Contact me if you are in to studying spatial memory of honeybees. @uni-wuerzburg.de @neuroethology.org
spatial-navigation.com
Beetz Lab
Our group studies the neural mechanisms underlying spatial memory in insects. As central place foragers, honeybees begin their foraging trip at a fixed location, i.e., their nest. This site fidelity.....
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Anna Schroeder @annaschroeder.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
📢 🚨 Postdoc Opportunity 📢 🚨 Join us at @lmumuenchen.bsky.social to study how neural circuits 🧠 drive adaptive behavior. The lab uses state-of-the-art neuroscience technologies and offers a supportive environment 🤗! ⏳ Deadline: 15. April 2025 Learn more and apply: www.fens.org/careers/job-...
Munich city skyline
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Frank Schnorrer @frankschnorrer.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Spatial transcriptomics in fly brain and body. Wonderful collaboration with @steinaerts.bsky.social led by @jasperjanssens.bsky.social @pierremangeol.bsky.social Nikolai Hecker & Gabriele Partel - look at mRNA patterns in muscles and brains spatialfly.aertslab.org elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
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MPI for Biological Intelligence @mpiforbi.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
From receptors to circuits: Join our next keynote lecture on mechanisms of adaptive behavior by neuroscientist @rockefelleruniv.bsky.social Vanessa Ruta! TODAY, February 18 at 11am in NQ105 in Martinsried Art by @somedonkey.bsky.social
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Lucia Prieto Godino @neuroluci.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
We are hiring a new (Senior) Lab Research scientist to work in our team together with @antoniotorm.bsky.social to understand how virus alter neural circuit function to manipulate behavior. More details and how to apply: crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...
crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
(Senior) Laboratory Research Scientist - Prieto Godino Lab
Salary for this Role: LRS - From £31,675 with benefits subject to skills and experience. SLRS - From £39,950 with benefits, subject to skills and experience. Job Title: (Senior) Laboratory Research Sc...
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Science Magazine @science.org · 23/01/2025
A single gene underlies male mating morphs in ruff sandpipers, a new Science study finds. The results show how evolutionary changes in a single gene's structure, sequence, and regulation can drive significant diversity within a single species. Learn more in our new issue: scim.ag/4arzNmU
A breeding ruff male (Calidris pugnax) in alert posture scans the breeding area for mating opportunities at Liminka Bay, Finland. Ruff males deploy one of three mating tactics that differ in aggressive and courtship behaviors. Differences in aggression between tactics are tied to concentrations of circulating androgens, which are modulated by the actions of a single gene.
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Philipp Brand @pbrand.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
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.
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Rory Coleman @rorycoleman.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Sharing my new paper again since moving from the other place 🙂 We shed light on some of the most rapidly evolving animal behaviors—those surrounding mating.
nature.com
A modular circuit coordinates the diversification of courtship strategies - Nature
Peripheral and central circuit adaptations can be flexibly coordinated in Drosophila, and such a modular circuit organization may facilitate the evolution of mate recognition systems by allowing novel...
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David L. Stern @gallseeker.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Want to perform HIGH EFFICIENCY Homology Directed Repair in Drosophila spp? Try Atalanta plasmids. About 10X higher efficiency than other methods! Tag or delete genes, invert chromosome regions, make scarless site-specific modifications. All with easy cloning. This paper is proudly bioRxiv only!
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Tom Baden @neurofishh.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Early vision Neuroscience community, Vol 1 We are talking eyes, retinas, and some of the more ancestral bits of visual brains. No species restrictions. List is close to full, will start building Vol 2 before too long Addition requests, please see link in the below thread go.bsky.app/BotZr1g
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John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Wireless recordings from dragonfly target detecting neurons during prey interception flight. Interestingly, the classic target detector neurons (TSDNs) appear to control foveating head movements during flight, not prey capture. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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