Alex M Winsor
@amwinsor.bsky.social
active sensory processing
Early-Career Rep @neuroethology.org
Ph.D. candidate in evolutionary biology
https://alexmwinsor.com
Early-Career Rep @neuroethology.org
Ph.D. candidate in evolutionary biology
https://alexmwinsor.com
Pinned
Alex M Winsor
@amwinsor.bsky.social
· Jun 25
Biological point-light displays scanning by the principal eyes of a jumping spider
The semi-rigid structure of bodies forces animals to move in rhythmic patterns shared by all creatures with skeletons, exoskeletons, or limb connections. This pattern, known as biological motion, is i...
doi.org
Can jumping spiders extract implied object shape from motion? Check out our new preprint to find out. Collab with Massimo De Agrò @neuroethology.org
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Do you work (/want to work) with caterpillars? Or sensory systems? Or BOTH?! Well good golly do we have the paper for you! We explain the senses that caterpillars have, what they use them for, and how anthropogenic sensory pollution might be messing it all up 🐛 doi.org/10.1007/s003...
The sensory ecology of caterpillars - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
Caterpillars (larval Lepidoptera) are one of the most ecologically and evolutionarily significant taxa on Earth. As both feeders and food, they shape the dynamics of enumerate ecosystems on land. Key ...
doi.org
November 10, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Do you work (/want to work) with caterpillars? Or sensory systems? Or BOTH?! Well good golly do we have the paper for you! We explain the senses that caterpillars have, what they use them for, and how anthropogenic sensory pollution might be messing it all up 🐛 doi.org/10.1007/s003...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Applications are now open for the @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social Alan Kanzer Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Deadline: December 16, 2025
bit.ly/KanzerFellows
Deadline: December 16, 2025
bit.ly/KanzerFellows
Alan Kanzer Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
bit.ly
November 8, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Applications are now open for the @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social Alan Kanzer Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Deadline: December 16, 2025
bit.ly/KanzerFellows
Deadline: December 16, 2025
bit.ly/KanzerFellows
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Me: *Flipping on all our porch lights at sundown*
My partner: Why are you doing that?
Me: I'm expecting ..... friends :D
My partner: Why are you doing that?
Me: I'm expecting ..... friends :D
If your porch lights are on this spooky season, you may be attracting spiders! 🕷️🕸️🎃 Grad student extraordinaire Wes Walsh just published his work in @animbehsociety.bsky.social . Check it out!
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Me: *Flipping on all our porch lights at sundown*
My partner: Why are you doing that?
Me: I'm expecting ..... friends :D
My partner: Why are you doing that?
Me: I'm expecting ..... friends :D
If your porch lights are on this spooky season, you may be attracting spiders! 🕷️🕸️🎃 Grad student extraordinaire Wes Walsh just published his work in @animbehsociety.bsky.social . Check it out!
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
November 1, 2025 at 9:31 PM
If your porch lights are on this spooky season, you may be attracting spiders! 🕷️🕸️🎃 Grad student extraordinaire Wes Walsh just published his work in @animbehsociety.bsky.social . Check it out!
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Do flies feel pain?
Spooky new preprint from our lab on the cells and circuits that mediate nociceptive behaviors in adult Drosophila, led by graduate student (and newly minted PhD!) @jonesjes.bsky.social.
🪰⚡👻🎃
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Spooky new preprint from our lab on the cells and circuits that mediate nociceptive behaviors in adult Drosophila, led by graduate student (and newly minted PhD!) @jonesjes.bsky.social.
🪰⚡👻🎃
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 29, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Do flies feel pain?
Spooky new preprint from our lab on the cells and circuits that mediate nociceptive behaviors in adult Drosophila, led by graduate student (and newly minted PhD!) @jonesjes.bsky.social.
🪰⚡👻🎃
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Spooky new preprint from our lab on the cells and circuits that mediate nociceptive behaviors in adult Drosophila, led by graduate student (and newly minted PhD!) @jonesjes.bsky.social.
🪰⚡👻🎃
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity!
We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
October 22, 2025 at 8:41 PM
🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity!
We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint
We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.
Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit
shorturl.at/gGYm7
We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.
Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit
shorturl.at/gGYm7
October 16, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint
We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.
Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit
shorturl.at/gGYm7
We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion.
Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit
shorturl.at/gGYm7
The next Future of Neuroethology webinar is Oct 15th at 21:00 UTC!
October 14, 2025 at 11:33 PM
The next Future of Neuroethology webinar is Oct 15th at 21:00 UTC!
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Don't miss this piece in @thetransmitter.bsky.social by @vcallier.bsky.social on @danielkronauer.bsky.social's latest work! His lab discovered that a protective screen of spurious transcriptional activity enables each olfactory neuron to express exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.
Ant olfactory neurons reveal new gene regulation mechanism
The mechanism enables each olfactory neuron in the ant to express exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.
www.thetransmitter.org
October 14, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Don't miss this piece in @thetransmitter.bsky.social by @vcallier.bsky.social on @danielkronauer.bsky.social's latest work! His lab discovered that a protective screen of spurious transcriptional activity enables each olfactory neuron to express exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools, writes @neurograce.bsky.social. Hear from 10 experts in the field.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
Connecting neural activity, perception in the visual system
Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools. I asked nine experts to weigh in.
www.thetransmitter.org
October 13, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools, writes @neurograce.bsky.social. Hear from 10 experts in the field.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
The final version of our paper on how ants and possibly other insects use a crazy mechanism involving extensive transcriptional interference to regulate odorant receptor expression is now open access in my favorite journal, @currentbiology.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
authors.elsevier.com
September 19, 2025 at 3:44 PM
The final version of our paper on how ants and possibly other insects use a crazy mechanism involving extensive transcriptional interference to regulate odorant receptor expression is now open access in my favorite journal, @currentbiology.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
👁️The retina — strikingly conserved across vertebrates, but an oddity among bilaterians!
So how did it evolve?
With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
So how did it evolve?
With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out .
ALT: a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out .
media.tenor.com
September 12, 2025 at 12:58 PM
👁️The retina — strikingly conserved across vertebrates, but an oddity among bilaterians!
So how did it evolve?
With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
So how did it evolve?
With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Excited to share our new paper!
✨Natural habitat and wild behaviors of the dwarf cuttlefish, Ascarosepion bandense✨
tinyurl.com/bdew5x3s
Our first cuttlefish expedition - diving in the dark to observe our cuttlefish in the wild...
Check out the paper & new expedition tool on Cuttlebase.org 🧠
✨Natural habitat and wild behaviors of the dwarf cuttlefish, Ascarosepion bandense✨
tinyurl.com/bdew5x3s
Our first cuttlefish expedition - diving in the dark to observe our cuttlefish in the wild...
Check out the paper & new expedition tool on Cuttlebase.org 🧠
September 8, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Excited to share our new paper!
✨Natural habitat and wild behaviors of the dwarf cuttlefish, Ascarosepion bandense✨
tinyurl.com/bdew5x3s
Our first cuttlefish expedition - diving in the dark to observe our cuttlefish in the wild...
Check out the paper & new expedition tool on Cuttlebase.org 🧠
✨Natural habitat and wild behaviors of the dwarf cuttlefish, Ascarosepion bandense✨
tinyurl.com/bdew5x3s
Our first cuttlefish expedition - diving in the dark to observe our cuttlefish in the wild...
Check out the paper & new expedition tool on Cuttlebase.org 🧠
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
A digital atlas of every cell in a developing marine worm reveals how networks across the body coordinate sensing and movement, and provides insights into the evolution of the nervous system.
buff.ly/6vTDWVS
buff.ly/6vTDWVS
September 7, 2025 at 10:28 PM
A digital atlas of every cell in a developing marine worm reveals how networks across the body coordinate sensing and movement, and provides insights into the evolution of the nervous system.
buff.ly/6vTDWVS
buff.ly/6vTDWVS
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
I am recruiting PhD students to join my lab at Wake Forest University Fall 2026. Current projects focus on the neurobiology, behavior, and development of identity processing in paper wasps. Contact me if interested. Deadline to apply is Dec. 15th 2025. Please share!
#PhDposition #PhD #wasplove
#PhDposition #PhD #wasplove
August 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I am recruiting PhD students to join my lab at Wake Forest University Fall 2026. Current projects focus on the neurobiology, behavior, and development of identity processing in paper wasps. Contact me if interested. Deadline to apply is Dec. 15th 2025. Please share!
#PhDposition #PhD #wasplove
#PhDposition #PhD #wasplove
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Our findings on bees' photoreceptors are now officially published in Biology Letters of the Royal Society Publishing!! Thanks again for a productive collaboration @jjfosterlab.bsky.social and @gregoeur.bsky.social !!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
I'm really happy to share the first preprint of my PhD work in @jjfosterlab.bsky.social! During a fruitful collaboration with @gregoeur.bsky.social, we uncovered a surprising feature of bees' eyes!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
September 3, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Our findings on bees' photoreceptors are now officially published in Biology Letters of the Royal Society Publishing!! Thanks again for a productive collaboration @jjfosterlab.bsky.social and @gregoeur.bsky.social !!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Now accepting applications for the 2026 Grass Fellowship!
Do you have a great idea for a project you can do next summer in the Grass Lab at the @mblscience.bsky.social?
Get working on that proposal!
grassfoundation.org/apply-for-th...
Do you have a great idea for a project you can do next summer in the Grass Lab at the @mblscience.bsky.social?
Get working on that proposal!
grassfoundation.org/apply-for-th...
September 2, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Now accepting applications for the 2026 Grass Fellowship!
Do you have a great idea for a project you can do next summer in the Grass Lab at the @mblscience.bsky.social?
Get working on that proposal!
grassfoundation.org/apply-for-th...
Do you have a great idea for a project you can do next summer in the Grass Lab at the @mblscience.bsky.social?
Get working on that proposal!
grassfoundation.org/apply-for-th...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Scientists have mapped the entire connectome of a 3-day-old marine worm larva (Platynereis dumerilii), including over 9,000 cells and 200+ neuronal types. This resource can help us understand how nervous systems evolved and coordinate whole-body movement.
buff.ly/IPxFCHs
buff.ly/IPxFCHs
September 1, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Scientists have mapped the entire connectome of a 3-day-old marine worm larva (Platynereis dumerilii), including over 9,000 cells and 200+ neuronal types. This resource can help us understand how nervous systems evolved and coordinate whole-body movement.
buff.ly/IPxFCHs
buff.ly/IPxFCHs
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
At long last, the version of record of our paper on the #platynereis #connectome
"Whole-body connectome of a segmented annelid larva" is out.
Explore the rich online presentation with all the videos, figures and source data here:
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.97964
@eLife
@biology […]
"Whole-body connectome of a segmented annelid larva" is out.
Explore the rich online presentation with all the videos, figures and source data here:
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.97964
@eLife
@biology […]
Original post on biologists.social
biologists.social
August 28, 2025 at 12:26 PM
At long last, the version of record of our paper on the #platynereis #connectome
"Whole-body connectome of a segmented annelid larva" is out.
Explore the rich online presentation with all the videos, figures and source data here:
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.97964
@eLife
@biology […]
"Whole-body connectome of a segmented annelid larva" is out.
Explore the rich online presentation with all the videos, figures and source data here:
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.97964
@eLife
@biology […]
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
✨ It’s published! ✨
🕷️ Social spiders have bigger brains… but only in the right places! Our new study shows that in social huntsman spiders, regions for memory & vision processing are proportionally larger, supporting group living.
Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🕷️ Social spiders have bigger brains… but only in the right places! Our new study shows that in social huntsman spiders, regions for memory & vision processing are proportionally larger, supporting group living.
Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Volumetric Comparison of Overall Brain and Neuropil Size Between Social and Non‐social Spiders: Exploring the Social Brain Hypothesis
Brain size may be influenced by the cognitive demands of sociality (social brain hypothesis). We used microCT to compare CNS and brain volumes in social versus solitary huntsman and crab spiders. Soc...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 28, 2025 at 6:11 AM
✨ It’s published! ✨
🕷️ Social spiders have bigger brains… but only in the right places! Our new study shows that in social huntsman spiders, regions for memory & vision processing are proportionally larger, supporting group living.
Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🕷️ Social spiders have bigger brains… but only in the right places! Our new study shows that in social huntsman spiders, regions for memory & vision processing are proportionally larger, supporting group living.
Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Dear ISN Members, the Program Committee is now soliciting symposia proposals for the 2026 ICN in Vancouver. The symposium organizers must be ISN members, but they can recruit non-members as speakers. EXTENDED DEADLINE! Proposals are now due by 17 Sept. 2025: ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... 🔈
https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4GBEKR3C2xXEfiu🔈
August 25, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Dear ISN Members, the Program Committee is now soliciting symposia proposals for the 2026 ICN in Vancouver. The symposium organizers must be ISN members, but they can recruit non-members as speakers. EXTENDED DEADLINE! Proposals are now due by 17 Sept. 2025: ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... 🔈
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
Exciting new Ruta lab preprint by @annaryba.bsky.social et al. on the neural underpinnings of intraspecific behavioral variation: Strain variation identifies a neural substrate for behavioral evolution Drosophila
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Strain variation identifies a neural substrate for behavioral evolution in Drosophila
Sexual selection acts on heritable differences within species, driving the parallel diversification of signal production in one sex and behavioral responses in the other. This coevolution implies that...
www.biorxiv.org
August 21, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Exciting new Ruta lab preprint by @annaryba.bsky.social et al. on the neural underpinnings of intraspecific behavioral variation: Strain variation identifies a neural substrate for behavioral evolution Drosophila
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
To identify fundamental neuroscientific principles that generalize across species, systems and circuits, neuroscientists must embrace an evolutionary perspective, argue Karl Farrow and @katjareinhard.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
Systems and circuit neuroscience need an evolutionary perspective
To identify fundamental neuroscientific principles that generalize across species, neuroscientists must frame their research through an evolutionary lens.
www.thetransmitter.org
July 16, 2025 at 2:02 PM
To identify fundamental neuroscientific principles that generalize across species, systems and circuits, neuroscientists must embrace an evolutionary perspective, argue Karl Farrow and @katjareinhard.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
New paper from our lab! This was such a fun project to be a part of - proof that sometimes following a spurious observations down the rabbit hole leads to awesome findings.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
A cell type in the visual system that receives feedback about limb movement
Hartman et al. describe a cell type in the Drosophila visual system that is activated
during head grooming through visual and non-visual signals arising from foreleg movements.
These neurons inhibit a...
www.cell.com
July 17, 2025 at 3:08 PM
New paper from our lab! This was such a fun project to be a part of - proof that sometimes following a spurious observations down the rabbit hole leads to awesome findings.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Alex M Winsor
A single neuron in fruit flies can trigger two different behaviors in response to the same odor.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Divergent synaptic dynamics originate parallel pathways for computation and behavior in an olfactory circuit
Kim et al. investigate how the Drosophila olfactory system dynamically transforms
odor information. They discover that distinct synaptic dynamics from individual projection
neurons underlie different ...
www.cell.com
July 13, 2025 at 2:21 PM
A single neuron in fruit flies can trigger two different behaviors in response to the same odor.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...