Alastair MacDonald

Photograph of a pika amongst rocks

A very vocal rodent in the wild, Pika @ Mammoth Lakes, CA

A simple action reduces high-fat diet intake and obesity in mice Diets that are high in fat cause overeating and weight gain in multiple species of animals, suggesting that high dietary fat is sufficient to cause ob…

This was a really fun project: We blocked obesity in mice by making them do a tiny bit of work for their food. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Excited to share my first paper from my postdoc! In this study, we demonstrate that the mu opioid receptor produces a second wave of G protein activity on endosomes in a manner that doesn’t require receptor internalization. Check it out! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Excited to share our preprint: "A Cellular Basis for Heightened Gut Sensitivity in Females."
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

We address the question: Why do women feel more gut pain? We found that estrogen boosts communication between L-cells and EC cells, triggering increased gut sensitivity.

£1.2M awarded through inaugural Partnerships and impact funding call Awards to catalyse the transfer of 3Rs models, tools and technologies between labs, helping to build confidence and accelerate their adoption.

Excited to receive follow-up funding from @nc3rs.bsky.social for our project refining mouse oral glucose tolerance testing by removing gavage & minimising handling. Excited to work with Bristol 3Hs initiative colleagues & others internationally.

Our initial paper in next post

tinyurl.com/2j9zbyp2

Amy Cao

Excited to share my first post here! Our new paper reveals a top-down breathing circuit that slows breathing to ease anxiety & fear. A step forward in understanding how brain-breathing interactions shape emotion. Published in Nature Neuroscience—grateful to my team!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Validation of a refined protocol for mouse oral glucose tolerance testing without gavage A glucose tolerance test (GTT) is routinely used to assess glucose homeostasis in clinical settings and in preclinical research studies using rodent models. The procedure assesses the ability of the b...

We developed a simple mouse glucose tolerance test protocol for diabetes research with voluntary oral glucose dosing instead of gavage. More physiological/aligned to the human test & better for animal welfare 👇🏻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Please DM for detailed info or to arrange a chat

Back from a lovely few days at Janelia for the Sensory Biology of Ingestion Conference 🧠👅🍽