Chris Jernigan

Assistant Prof., Department of Biology, Wake Forest University | plasticity of perception | neurobiology of vision and face learning in paper wasps |

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

I am recruiting PhD students to join my lab at Wake Forest University Fall 2026. Projects focus on the neuroethology and development of identity processing in paper wasps. Contact me if interested. Deadline to apply is Dec. 15th 2025. Please share! #PhDposition #PhD #wasplove

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

@BSanketi Thanks!

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

I am recruiting PhD students to join my lab at Wake Forest University Fall 2026. Projects focus on the neuroethology and development of identity processing in paper wasps. Contact me if interested. Deadline to apply is Dec. 15th 2025. Please share! #PhDposition #PhD #wasplove

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

For more information about the graduate programs at WFU pleas see this link: https://t.co/zbKETup6Om

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

For more information about the graduate programs at WFU pleas see this link: https://t.co/zbKETupEDU

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

I am recruiting PhD students to join my lab at Wake Forest University Fall 2026. Projects focus on the neuroethology and development of identity processing in paper wasps. Contact me if interested. Deadline to apply is Dec. 15th 2025. Please share! #PhDposition #PhD #wasplove

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

Ok… I’ll give this a try…
https://t.co/IYu1kRlDtn

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

@gVallortigara @cowbirdlab @mirkuz12 @OrsolaSalv52285 Congrats!

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

Another amazing display by Emily Jernigan:

[Cornell University Insect Collection @InsectsCornell]

The beauty of butterflies (and moths) in our collection!

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

Check out this amazing work on the genome of a strange Polistes wasp parasite led by @MariaCastanoGal and @AvispaTica 👇👇

[Computational Systems Neuroscience @nawrot_group]

Strong course program - Advanced Neural Data Analysis & Neuroinformatics School 2024.

Check out https://t.co/t0TBNQgYLI for more info.
📅 Apply by August 21, 2024

@BernsteinNeuro @crc1451 @PrutYifat @PlasticPercep

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

if you are not attending you can still learn about them in this pre-print: https://t.co/Rg5CNQMi5Y

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

If you are attending #icn2024berlin this week come see my talk about a special group of neurons in the brain of Polistes fuscatus on Thursday at 10:30AM!

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

Original article by Hart et al. https://t.co/yhRd2Qdr0z

Short dispatch: https://t.co/lKT9GWWF5h

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

This was a fun piece to write with @IDsignals about the clonal raider ants and their potential as a system to uncover the intriguing mechanisms of olfactory plasticity!

Short dispatch highlighting the amazing work by @DanielKronauer, Taylor Hart, and colleagues!

links below!

[Michael Sheehan @IDsignals]

Check out this dispatch @PlasticPercep and I wrote about the development of olfactory processing in ants from work by @DanielKronauer and Taylor Hart

Developmental biology: Wait a bit and then you’ll smell it https://t.co/4I4VOkP1nO

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

@IDsignals @DanielKronauer Original Paper by Hart et al. https://t.co/yhRd2Qdr0z

Short dispatch: https://t.co/lKT9GWWF5h

[Martin Giurfa @MartinGiurfa]

We are hiring two post docs to work on the neural bases of visual cognition in bees under virtual reality conditions! Join our team @Sorbonne_Univ_ and work in the stimulating environment of @IBPS_Paris! See the offer here:
https://t.co/WaKgRk3zeX
Apply as soon as possible!

[Chelsea Cook @PhDBee]

#Postdoc #Job Alert! The Cook Lab is hiring! We are excited to hire a postdoctoral researcher to study the mechanisms of social behavior in a changing environment #academia #academictwitter https://t.co/3mEr4Hnmjo

[Michael Sheehan @IDsignals]

New preprint from the lab led by @MatthewZipple examining the role of competition and contingency (ie, luck) in shaping the lives of rewilded lab mice 🐁 🍀 🎲

Takeaway-competition causes genetically identical individuals to go on self-reinforcing life trajectories … 1/n

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

A link to our previous paper: https://t.co/JRNPHV60MH

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

Thrilled to share a *NEW PRE-PRINT* I’ve been working on for the last few years! @IDsignals, W. Freiwald, and I describe the neural correlates of individual facial recognition in a social wasp, Polistes fuscatus.
https://t.co/Rg5CNQMi5Y 1/10

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

We can localize these selective front-facing wasp units, or neurons, to one part of the brain, the lateral protocerebrum. This is near where we had previously predicted these circuits to be located based on neuromorphological data and a social isolation treatment. 3/10

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

Lastly, I would like to again thank my co-authors and mentors @IDsignals & Winrich Freiwald as well as tons of feedback and support from too many colleagues to list over the years! 10/10

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

We argue these wasp cells are part of an independently evolved (eyes & brain!) facial recognition circuit. This finding suggests that highly selective neurons tuned to axes of variation associated with identity features are necessary for visual recognition in the brain. 8/10

[Chris Jernigan @PlasticPercep]

This work is just the tip of the iceberg as we hope to crack this system open to study the developmental tuning of this circuit, the social brain, object processing in insects, and the evolution of this circuit from closely related species that lack facial recognition. 9/10