Jeff Riffell
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riffelllab.bsky.social
Jeff Riffell
@riffelllab.bsky.social
Sensory Neuroecology Lab. Mosquitoes, moths, and chemicals. Professor at the University of Washington, Department of Biology riffelllab.org
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
This year is the first year I am not giving a talk at #entsoc2025. But I have 1 postdoc and 4 PhD students giving talks, and 3 undergrads giving posters. Please check out what we’ve been doing!! 🥳🐝
November 7, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Combining genomic and neuroanatomical data shows that #Heliconiini olfactory systems vary in their #olfactory receptor diversity and investment in individual brain structures, but are developmentally plastic in responsive to environmental conditions:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Yi Peng et al. 2025
Evolution of the olfactory system during the radiation of Heliconiini butterflies
Abstract. Sensory system evolution plays a crucial role in shaping species’ interactions with their environment, yet the extent to which olfactory system d
doi.org
October 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
1/ Hello Drosophila-philists and braino-maniacs! 👋🪰🧠🧪

The Caron lab has a new preprint, and it is about 🥁🥁🥁 democracy!

Neuro-democracy, to be precise. So: drop EVERYTHING and listen up — a 🧶!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 30, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Excited to announce the final version of the Mosquito Cell Atlas is out now in @cellpress.bsky.social!! 🦟🩸

There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields!
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito
A comprehensive single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of >367,000 nuclei from male and female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reveals sexual dimorphism in sensory systems and brain cell types and widespread co-expres...
www.cell.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
I’ll be co-chairing a session on Neural Circuits and Behavior at #Dros26! 🪰

Fly neuro friends, please submit abstracts! Our session will be 🔥

Deadline Nov 13
Abstract submission for #Dros26 is now open! 🪰

Browse abstract submission topics online and start preparing your abstract today.

Learn more: buff.ly/N0ajcpu
October 26, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
By comparing differently tuned glomeruli, this work shows that the brain uses different circuit layouts for specialised vs general smells, offering new insight into how odour meaning is encoded.
buff.ly/XDmo4Ue
October 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities?

Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.

🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito
Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...
www.science.org
October 25, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
TT faculty job opening in #Neuroscience!
We are looking for a colleague to join us in our fantastic Biology Department and Neuroscience Program at Brandeis. We are a group of *very* collaborative, supportive, and productive scientists (& humans!) so please apply
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30961
Brandeis University, Biology Department
Job #AJO30961, Assistant Professor in Biology and Neuroscience Program, Biology Department, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, US
academicjobsonline.org
October 22, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
🔎 New from the @jraslab.bsky.social at UW!

They used #Langerhans cells within the adult #zebrafish epidermis as a model to investigate roles of microtubules in immune cell tissue surveillance, phagocytosis, and directed migration.

🦓🐟 See it in @jcellsci.bsky.social : https://bit.ly/49fmQhf
October 22, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
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
October 16, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
It costs ~$70 to produce a year’s supply of insulin.

Yet, the average annual cost of insulin went from $2,864 in 2012 to $5,705 in 2016 to $18,000 in 2025. A 25,714% markup. That isn’t inflation or supply chain—It’s corporate greed.

Now—California will sell insulin for $11. Make this nationwide!
October 17, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Octopus track chemosensory plumes to find food

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
October 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Having personally sworn for years that insects don’t use GPCRs for odour detection, Suguru Takagi (@sugurutakagi.bsky.social) discovers that, in fact, they sometimes do …

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A GPCR signaling pathway in insect odor detection
Odor detection differs fundamentally in vertebrates, which use G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and insects, which employ ion channels. Here, we report the first evidence for a GPCR defining tunin...
www.biorxiv.org
October 6, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Are you paying us? Where?
October 3, 2025 at 1:52 PM
UW undergraduates (and faculty) don’t mess around
October 3, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Our #AFOSR MURI program review is starting. Led by @simonsponberg.bsky.social
September 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Open faculty position in Neuroendocrinology at St. Olaf, an amazing liberal arts college in Minnesota! www.higheredjobs.com/institution/...
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience - HigherEdJobs
Jobs in higher education. Faculty and administrative positions at colleges and universities. Updated daily. Free to job seekers.
www.higheredjobs.com
September 25, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Thrilled to announce our lab just received an NIAID DP2 New Innovator Award!! 🎉

We’re looking for discovery-hungry postdocs + grad students who want to dig into sensory mechanisms of mosquito blood feeding. 🩸🦟🧬🧪

Join our swarm! 👉 sites.uw.edu/wlaursen/
Laursen Lab
sites.uw.edu
September 18, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Folks, see a fantastic opportunity to work in an amazing lab!
Thrilled to announce our lab just received an NIAID DP2 New Innovator Award!! 🎉

We’re looking for discovery-hungry postdocs + grad students who want to dig into sensory mechanisms of mosquito blood feeding. 🩸🦟🧬🧪

Join our swarm! 👉 sites.uw.edu/wlaursen/
Laursen Lab
sites.uw.edu
September 19, 2025 at 3:30 AM
A wonderful article by Omnia Saed partly based on our work on atmospheric pollutants (funded by @kavlifoundation.org, @angiemicha.bsky.social, and NSF)

atmos.earth/science-and-...
When the World Stops Smelling Like Itself | Atmos
Climate change is erasing the aromas of daily life. Farmers say the loss is already here—from Grenada’s cocoa to Egypt’s jasmine—and affecting relationships between all living things.
atmos.earth
September 17, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
RFK Jr. has been methodically dismantling our public health system, pushing out scientists & experts who refuse to put his cuckoo-bananas nonsense over decades of hard, scientific evidence.

Today, while discussing how WA state is stepping up, I reiterated that he must be FIRED.
September 12, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Very excited about our new preprint, led by @gkafetzis.bsky.social /w @mikebok.bsky.social & @denilsson.bsky.social. We suggest that the vertebrate 'duplex' retina emerged from interconnecting two ancient median-eye microcircuits. Say goodbye to the 'simplex' retina - it probably never existed!
September 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
Come to the MBL in Woods Hole @mblscience.bsky.social for a GRASS FELLOWSHIP @grassfoundation.bsky.social 🦑 🐙🐛
There are two application deadlines this year: Oct 15, 2025 (submit by then to receive feedback on your application!), and Dec 1, 2025 (final deadline). grassfoundation.org/application-...
September 11, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Jeff Riffell
🌟Looking for a PhD? 🌟 check out this exciting opportunity in integrative biology with an amazing PI! 👇🏽👇🏽
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
September 7, 2025 at 3:32 PM