David Ashbrook

Quick plug for our new resource, the Drosophila Species Stock Exchange. This is a database and mailing list that documents species currently in culture and the labs holding them. If you want to know more or sign up then please get in touch. See attached for more info and please share!

🚨New paper alert🚨
We built a fully standardized, integrated hardware and software solution for real-time welfare monitoring in mice. We used it to look at pain management after brain surgery.
Not much has changed from the preprint (see below).
Brief: hold back on opioids!
doi.org/10.1038/s416...

Replication studies: a win-win for early-career training and behavioral ecology Replicating previous research builds confidence that results are real and meaningful. But close replications are rare due to limitations in resources and d

How do we know our research results are REAL? We replicate them! Most folks agree but lament on how hard it is to publish these replications.

My dearest gentle reader, lament no more! Delighted to unveil: Replication Studies, a new section of Behavioral Ecology 1/

academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

Super excited to present out work at @mitotalks.bsky.social this Thursday!! Hope to see you there!

Twins Early Development Study receives £5 million MRC funding | King's College London This is the seventh consecutive Medical Research Council (MRC) grant for the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), totalling 35 years of continuous funding.

Twins Early Development Study (led by @thaliaeley.bsky.social, largest and one of the longest-running (over 30 years!) longitudinal twin study in the UK, receives £5 million from the Medical Research Council
www.kcl.ac.uk/news/twins-e...

These results from over 231 regions of interest provide an important reference for testing Alzheimer's drugs in preclinical trials. (3/3)

@davidashbrook.bsky.social
@dukemedschool.bsky.social
@uthsc.bsky.social
@edinburgh-uni.bsky.social

The team, led by Drs. Yuqi Tian & Kathryn Hornburg, found:
- Significant swelling in the neocortex, hippocampus, and amygdala
- Corresponding shrinkage in the thalamus, brainstem, and white matter
- Higher variation in females than males
- Notable changes in fear and memory
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We know #Alzheimers disease drastically alters brain structure. But are there structural benchmarks we can use to test potential drugs? A new study combines MRI & #SmartSPIM microscopy to map brain-wide structural effects of mutations associated with Alzheimer's: bit.ly/46AAYzK 🧵 (1/3)

Magnetic resonance microscopy maps widespread effects of Alzheimer's disease on brain structures and behavior in mice Habes, M. et al. Disentangling heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias using data-driven methods. Biol. Psychiatry 88, 70–82 (2020). Negash, S. et al. Resilient brain aging: characterization of discordance between Alzheimer’s disease pathology and cognition. Curr. Alzheimer Res. 10, 844–851 (2013). Arnold, S. E., Hyman, B. T., Betensky, R. A. & Dodge, H. H. Pathways to personalized medicine—embracing heterogeneity for progress in clinical therapeutics research in Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Dement. 20, 7384–7394 (2024). Ringman, J. M. et al. Genetic heterogeneity in Alzheimer disease and implications for treatment strategies. Curr. Neurol. Neurosci. Rep. 14, 499 (2014). Ryman, D. C. et al. Symptom onset in autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurology 83, 253–260 (2014). Ryan, N. S. et al. Clinical phenotype and genetic associations in autosomal dominant familial Alzheimer’s disease: a case series. Lancet Neurol. 15, 1326–1335 (2016). Murdy, T. J. et al. Leveraging genetic diversity in mice to inform individual differences in brain microstructure and memory. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 16, 1033975 (2022). Gurdon, B. et al. Detecting the effect of genetic diversity on brain composition in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Commun. Biol. 7, 605 (2024). Williams, R. W. Herding cats: the sociology of data integration...

Magnetic resonance microscopy maps widespread effects of Alzheimer's disease on brain structures and behavior in mice
->Nature | More on "Alzheimer's disease brain mapping mice" at BigEarthData.ai | #Health #Disease

Every senator who voted to confirm RFK Jr owns this tragedy. Every single one.

In #EDAW understanding GLP-1 use in those with eating disorders is one of the most pressing clinical considerations over the past couple of years. If you are over 16, based in UK, have expereince of an ED and using or attempted to obtain GLP-1 please do take part! Survey and then optional interview!

More worryingly, two crosses never developed breast cancer, despite being kept for over a year (on the FVB background normally used, females develop breast cancer by 6 months of age). If these had been the original background, the model would not have worked at all.

Identification of susceptibility loci using a novel murine model for triple-negative breast cancer A novel mouse model was developed for a target audience of cancer genetics researchers. Cancer-prone C3(1)-T-antigen mice were crossed with genetically div

First off, a breast cancer model, with Drs. Sipe and Makowski and their labs doi.org/10.1093/g3jo.... We found by crossing the #C3Tag mice to different BXD strains, we could identify genetic loci influencing different aspects of disease.

Catching up on putting some of our recent work out there, all on the general theme of 'genetic background is really important and is ignored way too often'. Breast #cancer, #Alzheimer’s disease, #neuroanatomy, and #ageing.

I have an opening for a staff scientist or bioinformatician in my group at the Sanger Institute (closing date 24 March). Our current projects focus on disentangling rare and common variant contributions to rare neurodevelopmental conditions and to neurodevelopmental and perinatal traits. 1/2

Single-cell and isoform-specific translational profiling of the mouse brain - Nature Post-transcriptional regulation of mRNA translation was explored using Ribo-STAMP and single-cell RNA sequencing to reveal cell-type-specific and isoform-specific translation patterns across hipp...

Chuffed to see our paper with @geneyeo.bsky.social finally published in @nature.com.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Very grateful to Fede, Susie, and Dave from my lab, and Sammi, Eric, and Pratibha from Gene's lab. What did we find? ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

@wytamma.bsky.social 's WASM tools have transformed my experience of teaching Python to first year undergraduate biologists this year. Since last year, I've been teaching ~400 undergrads how to code (functions, lists, dictionaries, loops) over (one hour intro lecture +) two 2-hour practicals. 1/n

Submit Your Abstract Today!

Deadline to submit: Friday, February 20, 2026 11:59PM EST

www.ibnsconnect.org/meetings

I am so proud to share @forrestdrogers.bsky.social’s postdoctoral magnum opus, now out in @nature.com! Forrest discovered a novel role for Agouti in the MPOA of the hypothalamus to integrate socio-environmental information to flexibly tune paternal behavior
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thread! 👇🏻

If you're an #EcoEvo #PhD candidate anywhere in the world looking for project funding, consider applying for the @asn-amnat.bsky.social Student Research Award.

Ten proposals for $2k in research funds will be awarded. Due 13 March 2026.

Please share widely! 🧪 #grants #ecology #evolution #behavior

Our data show adolescence is a key period for the development and stabilisation of top-down connections to L1. This seems to mirror findings from human studies where feedforward networks develop prior to the emergence of feedback during adolescence. e.g www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New preprint from the lab on synapse development in the nascent neocortical hierarchy!

Using mice that label MAGUK proteins developed by Seth Grant we find key differences in the laminar maturation of association and sensory motor cortices, including delayed, cortex-wide maturation of L1 synapses.

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

It’s beyond insane that the BBC World Service might end in 7 weeks when its funding runs out. A beacon of information, education and UK soft power - Ministers would be crazy not to find money to support it

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

JOB ALERT! Lecturer in Biological Sciences Come and join us in the world class Life Sciences Building at the University of Bristol! Closing date: Sunday 8 March

JOB ALERT! Lecturer in Biological Sciences Interested in our research areas? Click the link in our bio to discover more! Closing date: Sunday 8 March

JOB ALERT!

We are excited to announce that we are recruiting three new academics at lecturer level!

Click the link below for more info on how to apply, and don’t forget to explore our research themes too!

We look forward to receiving your applications!

www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Do you work or study in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, computer science, artificial intelligence, or philosophy?

What does the term 'representation' mean to you?

We invite you to participate in a brief survey on key conceptual questions across fields.

eu.surveymonkey.com/r/VX9GNXM

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

A portrait of Charles Darwin as an older man, with long white beard, balding head, looking to the viewer's right and down, as if contemplating great things. "Estate of LEONARD DARWIN (1850-1943) Portrait of Charles Darwin. Carbon print, the image measuring 4 5/8x3 5/8 inches (11.8x9.2 cm.), the mount 8 1/2x5 1/4 inches (21.6x13.3 cm.), with a printed facsimile signature on mount recto, and notations, in pencil, in an unknown hand, on mount verso. Circa 1884"

Happy Darwin Day 2026! 🧪

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science."

- Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871).

📢 Call for abstracts: present your research poster at CNS2026!

🧠This call is open to ALL neuroscience researchers, with a particular focus on students and early career researchers - from Cambridge and beyond!

See the CNS2026 website for more info and register now: lnkd.in/dTB9W3Ph

#TellUsAboutYourResearch:

Meet Dr. Florian Javelle @npi-dshs.bsky.social, Head of the NeuroPsychoImmunology research unit and Postdoctoral Fellow at GSU Cologne! Dr. Javelle studies how the immune system, brain, and exercise interact in mental health, focusing on kynurenine–inflammation links

Our group (PI Jonathan Terhorst) is looking for a talented postdoc in computational biology, statistics, population genetics to work on quantitative genetics and ARG, as part of a larger collaboration with groups in Oxford and Edinburgh. Details to follow.
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