Portman Lab

We study neural circuits, behavior, genetics, and sex differences using the amazing nematode C. elegans.

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

How are innate behaviors tuned to allow animals to make adaptive choices as their environment changes? New work in C. elegans led by postdoc @Luo_Jintao provides some insight! #celegans #chemosensation #foraging #feeding #pheromone @URNeuroscience @urmcbmg https://t.co/WHP4CAtAWJ

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

Our first paper in which the word “hermaphrodite” appears more than “male”! New preprint from great postdoc @Luo_Jintao on flexibility in C. elegans pheromone avoidance and its role in optimizing foraging decisions. #celegans @URNeuroscience @URMCBMG https://t.co/XCeEhntXRw 1/

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

Our paper on flexibility in the cellular encoding of sexual state in C. elegans is out today! Great work from @TheScientistHan, @LeighWexler (former @portmanlab graduate students) and Hayley Wnuk (current graduate student). Here’s a synopsis. #celegans https://t.co/fOmqTrYQ93 1/

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

Happy to share our paper on sex- and state-dependent plasticity in chemosensory function in C. elegans, out today! It's the thesis research of terrific ex-@portmanlab PhD student @leighwexler, now postdoc w/ @maxwellheiman. #celegans Free access here: https://t.co/yxBO6CprW3 1/

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

New @portmanlab preprint: @leighwexler (defending tomorrow!) identifies a negative feedback loop linking food detection to food sensitivity, helping C. elegans males dynamically prioritize feeding vs. exploration. Feedback welcome! #celegans #sexandfood https://t.co/4oH3hxWM4N

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

Congrats to @dumpyunc, Scott Emmons and many more on this amazing achievement: finally, the complete #connectome of the #celegans male! Full paper below, my 2¢ on its significance for neuroscience here: https://t.co/pyI6weAdrV

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

Congrats to @thescientisthan, whose paper on the #lncRNA lep-5 and the Makorin lep-2 is out today in @eLife! By regulating LIN-28, these genes control the time at which the #celegans nervous system becomes sexually mature https://t.co/orM4gOhhpT

[Portman Lab @portmanlab]

@KarpXantha Thanks, Xantha... just saw your tweet! Glad you liked Hannah's story. The paper just came out in eLife today: https://t.co/YJCMkPJT6D

[Portman Lab @portmanlab]

@jslab_wpi @Dev_Cell Thanks, Jagan!

[Portman Lab @portmanlab]

The final version of our paper on the #lncRNA lep-5 and its role in #celegans developmental timing is out... no subscription to @dev_cell necessary if you use this link! https://t.co/ieXo1aQ1r7

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

So sorry to hear of the passing of Sydney Brenner, a scientific hero whose brilliant vision in the 1960s opened up possibilities that continue to inspire us today. RIP, Sydney.

[Portman Lab @portmanlab]

@irinakitop @NYUBiology @ErichMSchwarz Me too! "Old-fashioned" screens still have so much potential. We got really lucky with a point mutant that disrupts a key part of the lep-5 secondary structure.

[Portman Lab @portmanlab]

Delighted that our work with the Fitch lab (@NYUBiology) and @ErichMSchwarz has finally borne fruit. Using forward genetics (yay!) we identified an lncRNA, lep-5, that acts in the heterochronic pathway to promote the #celegans larval-to-adult transition. https://t.co/ZawZ2erLS3

[Sandhya Koushika @WormlockHolmes]

DCV release in #Celegans neurons is regulated by distinct Ca2+ dependent exocytosis mechanisms at high & low neuronal activity. DCV distribution in cell body & axon is dependent on neuronal activity. From Patrick Laurent & Mario de Bono @MRC_LMB @PNASNews https://t.co/kudwH3aPAu

[Richard Benton @bentonlab]

https://t.co/rrsZX7yUhk

[Aditi Chaubey @aditichaubey]

It's out! Cool paper from my labmate Alexander Bowitch, looking at methylation as a post-translational modification in GPCR. #ferkeylab #G3 #worms #celegans
https://t.co/m5Oug7utbA

[Portman Lab @portmanlab]

Excited to try this! Looks like a great way to keep #celegans immobilized for long-term fluorescence imaging. https://t.co/LnpFqOsB8n

[Communications Biology @CommsBio]

Read about a new method for keeping tiny animals (#Celegans, jellyfish, pygmy squid) in place for long-term #microscopy using a polyethylene glycol #hydrogel https://t.co/ZeTULAKnLO Image credit: Dirk Albrecht

[Doug Portman 🐛🏳️‍🌈🧬 @dougp.bsky.social @doug_p]

Cool new work from the Korswagen lab: "RNA tomography" on adult males and herms! https://t.co/icB9andiyN

[Steve McCarroll @s_mccarroll]

Excited to share this cell-atlas resource on the mouse brain: >500 cell populations and their RNA expression patterns.
https://t.co/fX2pSEcqje
Data available at https://t.co/TzQLfzOpta
Hope this helps advance the work of many good colleagues. Feedback+questions welcome.