Mike O'Donnell
@mike-od.bsky.social
Worms, bacteria and the brain. Asst Prof @MCDB Yale. odonnelllab.yale.edu
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
Excited to share my most recent postdoctoral work in the Jeanne lab @yaleneuro.bsky.social !
“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics
Extracting relevant features of a complex sensory signal typically involves sequential processing through multiple brain regions. However, identifying the logic and mechanisms of these transformations...
www.biorxiv.org
November 9, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Excited to share my most recent postdoctoral work in the Jeanne lab @yaleneuro.bsky.social !
“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
Excited to share our latest work on a new cilia disassembly pathway and a link between this pathway and the neurological disorder focal cortical dysplasia: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Brief summary: we used a genome-wide CRISPRa GOF screen to identify negative regulators of ciliary signaling...
Brief summary: we used a genome-wide CRISPRa GOF screen to identify negative regulators of ciliary signaling...
A CRISPR activation screen reveals a cilia disassembly pathway mutated in focal cortical dysplasia
A gain-of-function screen uncovers a cilia disassembly pathway linked to genes somatically mutated in neurodevelopmental disease.
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Excited to share our latest work on a new cilia disassembly pathway and a link between this pathway and the neurological disorder focal cortical dysplasia: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Brief summary: we used a genome-wide CRISPRa GOF screen to identify negative regulators of ciliary signaling...
Brief summary: we used a genome-wide CRISPRa GOF screen to identify negative regulators of ciliary signaling...
I'm thrilled to share our new preprint, in which we've found that neurotransmitters can be chemically "marked" as a way to incorporate metabolic history - such as diet or life stage. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Led by Porhathai "Un" Malaiwong, Allen Schroeder and Tia Brown. (1/6) 🧵
Nuclear receptor-neurotransmitter coupling links behavior to metabolic state
Animals must flexibly respond to environmental stimuli to survive, and optimal responses critically depend on the organism's current needs. Many organisms have evolved both cell-intrinsic and intertis...
www.biorxiv.org
October 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I'm thrilled to share our new preprint, in which we've found that neurotransmitters can be chemically "marked" as a way to incorporate metabolic history - such as diet or life stage. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Led by Porhathai "Un" Malaiwong, Allen Schroeder and Tia Brown. (1/6) 🧵
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
Despite the mess, we are grateful to be funded, have exciting science happening, and have an opening for a postdoc!
If you are interested in sensory biology and esp in cilia, thermosensation, or interoception, and would like to join an interactive & supportive group - please email.
Please RT 🙏
If you are interested in sensory biology and esp in cilia, thermosensation, or interoception, and would like to join an interactive & supportive group - please email.
Please RT 🙏
October 16, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Despite the mess, we are grateful to be funded, have exciting science happening, and have an opening for a postdoc!
If you are interested in sensory biology and esp in cilia, thermosensation, or interoception, and would like to join an interactive & supportive group - please email.
Please RT 🙏
If you are interested in sensory biology and esp in cilia, thermosensation, or interoception, and would like to join an interactive & supportive group - please email.
Please RT 🙏
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
C. elegans is a real animal and we set out to understand how it comes to have its distinctive biogeography. Its ancestral center of diversity is in the higher elevation forests of Hawaii. Its closest relatives are spread across east Asia. Did they travel from Asia? [Preprint 🧵]
September 24, 2025 at 8:33 PM
C. elegans is a real animal and we set out to understand how it comes to have its distinctive biogeography. Its ancestral center of diversity is in the higher elevation forests of Hawaii. Its closest relatives are spread across east Asia. Did they travel from Asia? [Preprint 🧵]
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
Thrilled to share a new preprint from the lab! We investigated how m6A regulates the transcriptome in chemoresistant glioblastoma through unexpected mechanisms, and the potential therapeutic applications of this discovery.
Check out the preprint here ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out the preprint here ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
N6-methyladenosine promotes temozolomide resistance through non-canonical regulation of mRNA stability in glioblastoma cells
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a critical regulator of mRNA processing and function, impacting nearly every step of the mRNA lifecycle. Changes in m6A status have been implicated in many different types ...
www.biorxiv.org
September 15, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Thrilled to share a new preprint from the lab! We investigated how m6A regulates the transcriptome in chemoresistant glioblastoma through unexpected mechanisms, and the potential therapeutic applications of this discovery.
Check out the preprint here ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out the preprint here ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
Well, none of us may ever get funded again but in the meantime, here's some new science!
Led by recent PhD Anjali Pandey w/ex-UG Maya Katz. Here we identify an asymmetric molecular mechanism that underlies symmetric context-dependent sensory plasticity in the AWC olfactory neuron pair in C. elegans
Led by recent PhD Anjali Pandey w/ex-UG Maya Katz. Here we identify an asymmetric molecular mechanism that underlies symmetric context-dependent sensory plasticity in the AWC olfactory neuron pair in C. elegans
A lateralized sensory signaling pathway mediates context-dependent olfactory plasticity in C. elegans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.25.666858v1
July 30, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Well, none of us may ever get funded again but in the meantime, here's some new science!
Led by recent PhD Anjali Pandey w/ex-UG Maya Katz. Here we identify an asymmetric molecular mechanism that underlies symmetric context-dependent sensory plasticity in the AWC olfactory neuron pair in C. elegans
Led by recent PhD Anjali Pandey w/ex-UG Maya Katz. Here we identify an asymmetric molecular mechanism that underlies symmetric context-dependent sensory plasticity in the AWC olfactory neuron pair in C. elegans
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
🚨Very happy that my PhD work is now out in @nature.com!
We discovered that evolution, by acting in the midbrain, shifted the threshold to escape in Peromyscus mice, to fine-tune defensive strategies in different environments
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This was a truly collaborative effort! 🧵⬇️
We discovered that evolution, by acting in the midbrain, shifted the threshold to escape in Peromyscus mice, to fine-tune defensive strategies in different environments
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This was a truly collaborative effort! 🧵⬇️
July 23, 2025 at 3:06 PM
🚨Very happy that my PhD work is now out in @nature.com!
We discovered that evolution, by acting in the midbrain, shifted the threshold to escape in Peromyscus mice, to fine-tune defensive strategies in different environments
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This was a truly collaborative effort! 🧵⬇️
We discovered that evolution, by acting in the midbrain, shifted the threshold to escape in Peromyscus mice, to fine-tune defensive strategies in different environments
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This was a truly collaborative effort! 🧵⬇️
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
Despite all that is going on, we are still all working on our science. Our 2nd collaboration with @jisaacmurray.bsky.social and Bob Waterston (UW) is out:
Lineage-resolved analysis of embryonic gene expression evolution in C. elegans and C. briggsae | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Lineage-resolved analysis of embryonic gene expression evolution in C. elegans and C. briggsae | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Lineage-resolved analysis of embryonic gene expression evolution in C. elegans and C. briggsae
The constraints that govern the evolution of gene expression patterns across development remain unclear. Single-cell RNA sequencing can detail these constraints by systematically profiling homologous ...
www.science.org
June 20, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Despite all that is going on, we are still all working on our science. Our 2nd collaboration with @jisaacmurray.bsky.social and Bob Waterston (UW) is out:
Lineage-resolved analysis of embryonic gene expression evolution in C. elegans and C. briggsae | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Lineage-resolved analysis of embryonic gene expression evolution in C. elegans and C. briggsae | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
Our posting for a research technologist is now live! This job is ideally suited for a recent college grad interested in lab experience. Please spread the word!
uwhires.admin.washington.edu/ENG/Candidat...
uwhires.admin.washington.edu/ENG/Candidat...
UW Human Resources
University of Washington Human Resources
uwhires.admin.washington.edu
May 28, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Our posting for a research technologist is now live! This job is ideally suited for a recent college grad interested in lab experience. Please spread the word!
uwhires.admin.washington.edu/ENG/Candidat...
uwhires.admin.washington.edu/ENG/Candidat...
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab
May 13, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
OK If we are moving to Bluesky I am rescuing my favourite ever twitter thread (Jan 2019).
The renamed:
Bluesky-sized history of neuroscience (biased by my interests)
The renamed:
Bluesky-sized history of neuroscience (biased by my interests)
December 1, 2024 at 8:29 PM
OK If we are moving to Bluesky I am rescuing my favourite ever twitter thread (Jan 2019).
The renamed:
Bluesky-sized history of neuroscience (biased by my interests)
The renamed:
Bluesky-sized history of neuroscience (biased by my interests)
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
New paper ALERT!! Mara Cowen, PhD discovered and defined how conserved autism-associated genes modify a 'social' behavior in C. elegans!! So proud of her work in the lab!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Conserved autism-associated genes tune social feeding behavior in C. elegans - Nature Communications
C. elegans aggregate in large clumps during feeding. Here, the authors find conserved autism-associated genes mediate distinct molecular and circuit signaling components that tune C. elegans feed...
www.nature.com
November 11, 2024 at 7:49 PM
New paper ALERT!! Mara Cowen, PhD discovered and defined how conserved autism-associated genes modify a 'social' behavior in C. elegans!! So proud of her work in the lab!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Mike O'Donnell
🧪 Lab's latest!! Work by PD (and now PI) Alison Philbrook.
C. elegans sensory neurons have gorgeous #cilia. We’ve always thought that a) no cilia = no sensory responses, & b) no IFT = no cilia. Punchline is we thought wrong. Read paper for more!
#neuroscience
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
C. elegans sensory neurons have gorgeous #cilia. We’ve always thought that a) no cilia = no sensory responses, & b) no IFT = no cilia. Punchline is we thought wrong. Read paper for more!
#neuroscience
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Cilia structure and intraflagellar transport differentially regulate sensory response dynamics within and between C. elegans chemosensory neurons
The relative contributions of intraflagellar transport (IFT) and cilia structure to sensory neuron responses remains unclear. This study reveals unexpected complexity in the contribution of IFT and ci...
journals.plos.org
November 26, 2024 at 11:38 PM
🧪 Lab's latest!! Work by PD (and now PI) Alison Philbrook.
C. elegans sensory neurons have gorgeous #cilia. We’ve always thought that a) no cilia = no sensory responses, & b) no IFT = no cilia. Punchline is we thought wrong. Read paper for more!
#neuroscience
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
C. elegans sensory neurons have gorgeous #cilia. We’ve always thought that a) no cilia = no sensory responses, & b) no IFT = no cilia. Punchline is we thought wrong. Read paper for more!
#neuroscience
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...