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New paper from the lab that shows when flies are startled, the response to pause, which lasts only a few seconds, is mediated by a set of serotonergic neurons in the ventral nerve cord (VNC). Serotonergic release also serves as a constitutive break on walking speed and when this break is not functional, flies walk faster than normal, in a wide variety of situations. For example, when flies  are hungry they walk faster than normal, but they walk even faster when the serotonergic break is not functional.

Read the paper here

Our most recent paper, published in PLOS Genetics, showing that low affinity binding sites for the Hox protein Ubx and its cofactors Exd/Hth are used to reduce the levels of Ubx transcription in the proximal compartment of the haltere. In transgenes, if these binding sites are killed, down regulation of Ubx does not occur, and if the affinity of these binding sites is increased, Ubx down regulation is even stronger.

Reluctantly, the Mann lab had to say farewell to three recent PhD students this year.

Dr. Clare Howard is back at Columbia Medical School to finish her M.D. and will start a residency in January.

Dr. Lalanti Venkatasubramanian just began a postdoc in Prof. Marta Zlatic's lab at the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Judith Kribelbauer just began a postdoc in Prof. Bart Deplancke's lab at the EPFL, Lausanne.