Garrity Lab
Brandeis University
In the News
2020
> Our first mosquito paper is now out! Greppi, Laursen et al. "Mosquito heat seeking is driven by an ancestral cooling receptor." (2020) Science 367:681-684.
> Great perspective accompanying Greppi, Laursen et al. from Claudio Lazzari. "In the heat of the night." (2020) Science 367: 628-629.
> Very nice interview of Willem Laursen providing lots of the flavor of life in a mosquito lab. "Why mosquitoes find your warm blood so appealing." Smithsonian magazine.
2019
> Our paper with the Nicastro, Benton and Samuel labs on the importance of Ionotropic Receptors and cooling detection for thermosensory behavior is now available. Budelli et al., 2019. "Ionotropic Receptors Specify the Morphogenesis of Phasic Sensors Controlling Rapid Thermal Preference in Drosophila." Neuron 101:738-747. There's a video abstract, too.
> Nice preview of Budelli et al. from Moilanen and Voet: "A Fly's Cool Way to Escape the Heat" Neuron 101: 550-552.
2018
> Congratulations to Zach Knecht on successfully defending his PhD thesis. We will miss the groan-inducing puns, the world-class sandwiches, and all the other wonderful things Zach brought to the lab. Gonzalo captured some measure of the esteem in which we all hold Zach by presenting him with a Meritorious Service Award, in the form of a meticulously personalized bust of Justice Louis Brandeis (see below). Dr. Knecht is moving on to study Planaria regeneration as a post-doc in Peter Reddien's lab at MIT.
> Excited to get NIAID R21 support for our mosquito work with the Catteruccia lab.
> Congratulations to Belinda Barbagallo, who is starting her lab as an Assistant Professor at Salve Regina University this fall.
> Congratulations to Joyner Cruz, who is leaving us after two short years to start graduate school at UC Berkeley this fall.
> Congratulations to Chloe Greppi on receiving a National Research Service Award fellowship from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases!
2017
> A big welcome to Tatevik Sarkissian, who has joined the lab as a PhD student, and Willem Laursen, who has joined us as a post-doc from Elena Gracheva's lab at Yale.
> Congratulations to Lina Ni, who is starting her lab as an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech this summer. (And don't forget to download her FlyGenetics app from the App Store.)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flygenetics/id1104791246?mt=8
> Congratulations to Zach Knecht on publishing (with an assist from our friends in the Benton lab) his discovery of the cellular and molecular basis of moisture sensing in Drosophila. Knecht et al., (2017)
2016
> Upcoming Music of Reality "Impulse" performance exploring "the edges of sensory perception and impulse through music, scientific lecture, demonstration and art". Featuring David Ibbett (electronics), Sophia Subbayya Vastek (piano), and Stephen Marotto (cello), with compositions from David Ibbett, Nico Muhly, James Tenney and Salvatore Sciarrino. Can't wait to hear David's sonifications of Gonzalo and Lina's recordings of gustatory receptor spike trains. I will give a short talk on "The Evolution of Sensation". Should be fun. David and his colleagues are really talented. (Perfomance scheduled for 7:30 to 9:30 PM, Nov 15th, at Arts at the Armory in Somerville)
> Our papers with the Benton and Samuel labs on the molecular basis of cold and moisture sensing in Drosophila are now available in full open access. Ni et al. (2016) "The Ionotropic Receptors IR21a and IR25a mediate cool sensing in Drosophila" eLife 5, 13254 & Knecht et al. (2016) "Distinct combinations of variant ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate thermosensation and hygrosensation in Drosophila" eLIfe 5, e17879.
> Excited to get NIAID R01 support for our move into mosquitoes with the Catteruccia lab.
> Belated congratulations to Katie Svec who has moved on to get her PhD at the University of Vermont!
> Congratulations to Zach Knecht on receiving a National Research Service Award fellowship from the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders.
2013
> Our paper with the Griffith lab and Doug Theobald on a gustatory receptor protein functioning as a fly's warmth detector is now available. Ni et al. (2013) " A gustatory receptor paralogue controls rapid warmth avoidance in Drosophila" Nature 500: 580-584.
> Zach Knecht decided to come back for more and has officially joined us as a PhD student.
> Congratulations to Vince Panzano on successfully defending his PhD thesis. Here Vince breaks tradition to give out presents at his own defense party.
> Check out the excellent work from our former undergrad Alex Dainis as a "YouTube Next EDU Guru" with her Bite-Sci-zed science videos.
> Congratulations to Jessica Whited on her appointment as an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. Jessica now studies limb regeneration in salamanders. She's terrific, so if you're interested in regeneration research, make sure to consider her lab.
2012
> Juliette Flam successfully defended her senior research thesis and was awarded highest honors in Biology. Juliette starts medical school at Boston University this fall. Nice work!
>Brittney Gardner has joined us as a PhD student. We'll have to figure out how to put that physics degree to good use.
>Congratulations to KJ on his new faculty position at Sungkyunkwan University!
2011
Kang et al. (2011) "Modulation of TRPA1 thermal sensitivity enables sensory discrimination in Drosophila." Nature, in press.
>Science Daily:"Addressing Pain and Disease on the Fly: How fruit flies can teach us about curing chronic pain and halting mosquito-borne diseases."
>Science at Brandeis Blog: "Turn up the heat, flies still eat" Vince Panzano
> Alex Dainis' reflections on "My life as a fly barista" as an undergraduate in our lab. Alex successfully defended her senior research thesis and was awarded highest honors in Biology (with a double major in Film, Television and Interactive Media) as well as the Biology Dept. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Alex will be entering the PhD program in Genetics at Stanford after completing her internship at Richard Lewis Media group. Another step toward her eventual reign as biology's Carl Sagan, perhaps?
2010
Kang et al. (2010) “Analysis of Drosophila TRPA1 reveals an ancient origin for human chemical nociception.” Nature, 464, 597-600.
> Nature Chem. Biology: "Channels: Flies feel your pain" L. Macpherson and A. Patapoutian
> The Boston Globe: “On the hunt of makes us all recoil” Carolyn Johnson
> Cell, Leading Edge: "Flies flee the sushi bar" Michaeleen Doucleff
> The WhyFiles: “Holy horseradish! Ancient Roots of Pain” David J. Tenenbaum
> Live Science: “Onions made pre-human ancestors cry too, study suggests”
2009
Congratulations to Vince on the publication of his top-secret research paper from a past life (corresponding author, no less).
Congratulations to Fumika on her new faculty position at Children's Hospital Cincinnati.
2008
Hamada et al. (2008) “An internal sensor controlling temperature preference in Drosophila.” Nature, 454, 217-220.
>TerraDaily: Taking the temperature of the no-fly zone
2005
Our first paper in the field of sensory transduction and behavior. Mark Rosenzweig did the knockdowns by injecting dsRNA into every animal later tested for behavior, a heroic effort that transformed our lab.
Rosenzweig et al. (2005) “The Drosophila ortholog of vertebrate TRPA1 regulates thermotaxis.” Genes and Development, 19, 419-424.