Ariel K. Frame

@arielframe

BSc Biology || PhD Neuroscience || Postdoc with Andrew Lin @andrewclin.bsky.social at University of Sheffield @sheffielduni.bsky.social || Drosophila, aging, learning and memory, neurobiology. Host: bit.ly/ArielFrame_GoogleScholar

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Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· 24d

Newest episode of Quite Curious featuring Mikko Juusola! We talk about #electrophysiology in eyes of #flies Musca domestica showing #synapse jumping at such high frequency that it brings into question what the minimum delay is between sensing and reality. Take a listen! linktr.ee/quitecurious

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Jun 2

#Drosophila #neuroscience researchers you still have time to make it for early bird registration and abstraction submission deadline for #neurofly 2026 - it’s June 7th. neurofly.org See all you #fly folks there!

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· May 19

Calling #Drosophila #neuroscience researchers! Listen to @andrewclin.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social speak on 2 @jphysiol.bsky.social fly papers: #brain #mushroombody #homeostaticplasticity, #genetic #neuron tools, NaChBac advice, & #mathematicalmodelling tiny.cc/qcu2 #sciencecommunication

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Apr 26

Sounds like a very useful new method to me! I’m always intrigued by new and improved balancers too. I think I might even go ahead and order your new 4th balancer from @bdsc.bsky.social now! BDSC #90851 + #90852

We tested the general utility of this marker by constructing a new fourth chromosome balancer by insertion of GMR-eya(shRNA) into the gat gene on the fourth chromosome. This balancer, GATeya, has a morphological phenotype more robust and easier to score than existing fourth chromosome balancers, and is also much healthier than the commonly used CiD balancer. Stocks of the new balancer have been deposited at the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Centre (GATeya/CiD, BDSC #90852; GATeya/CrkdsRed, BDSC #90851).

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Mar 6

This cool new preprint shows how hypothalamic astrocytes use oxytocin signalling to control social behaviour. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Credit to @thetransmitter.bsky.social for bringing this to my attention www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ast...

Graphical abstract: mouse brain neuron releases oxytocin that binds astrocyte receptors causing Aldh1a1 expression which triggers retinoids acid release which feeds back to the original neuron to trigger more oxytocin production in a feed forward loop.

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Feb 26

Thank you so much for generating these lines! Exciting new tools for #drosophila optogenetic activation of the Gal4 UAS system! Drosophilists rejoice: here’s the list of lines->

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Feb 22

For all #Drosophila #neuroskyence researchers that have explained to someone, yes #insects have #brains: Here is @scottishwaddell.bsky.social & Annie Park's excellent argument for four 'cognitive primitives' underlying fundamental brain function conserved from humans to flies. tiny.cc/4cog

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Feb 18

I’ve really been enjoying this podcast since it started a few months ago: The Rest is Science. tiny.cc/restsci Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce's Michael Stevens are amazing at #sciencecommunication Highly recommend! Even better: partners with a good cause @cancerresearchuk.org

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Oct 4

This November, I am raising money for prostate #cancer research in Canada @ccsresearch.bsky.social by getting people to pay me to have a goofy looking face. Join in on the Movember fun and support a good cause, join the team or make a donation. Any amount makes a difference! tiny.cc/MapleMovember

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Sep 4

First episode is out! I spoke with Professor James Marshall @sheffielduni.bsky.social @opteran.bsky.social about his research on modelling the #brain of #bees and implications for #ai . Take a listen! #neuroscience #sciencecommunication

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Jul 25

Watch this pharate podcast eclose from its concept pupal case and emerge free on any #podcast player. First episode coming soon! Listen for fun #sciencecommunication #brain #science #biology #neuroscience #drosophila #aging and more! linktr.ee/quitecurious

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Jun 21

I had a great time at #CANfly2025 @mcgill.ca! Thanks to Vincent Archambault, @emery-lab.bsky.social, David Hipfner, Nam-Sung Moon, Laura Nilson, Frieder Schöck, @biologists.bsky.social @ircm.bsky.social @genomejournal.bsky.social @genetics-gsa.bsky.social @healthcare.nikon.com et al. #drosophila

Drosophila flies with little name tags and coffee conversing at a poster session at a conference

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Mar 14

Great argument for developing #tardigrades water bears into a powerful neuroscience model! arxiv.org/abs/2501.06606 they “exhibit complex behaviors, including multi-limbed walking gaits, individual limb grasping, phototaxis, and transitions between active and dormant states” @tardi-neuro.bsky.social

Graphical abstract showing tardigrade diagram, overlapping characteristics with worms and flies, actions that should be taken (genetics tools, connectomics, live neuron imaging) and rationale for model, 1) modular neural hierarchy 2) stereo vision & taxis 3) coordinated limbed locomotion 4) neural resilience and repair.

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Dec 20

I spy with my little eye (I think)

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Dec 6

Never thought of using #drosophila for mass producing proteins, but turns out they are not only suitable, but environmentally sustainable!

An animated fly in a white coat next to a bioreactor

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Dec 5

Holy smokes. Step aside DREADDs, make way for PAGERs! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Programmable Antigen-Gated G protein-coupled Engineered Receptor (PAGER) is auto-uninhibited until bound by a user specific antigen, then it can be activated by a drug of choice, then output signal of choice (gene expression, G protein pathway activation, or fluorescence).

Three classes of PAGER: PAGERTF (for transagene expression output), PAGERFL (for fluorescence output) and PAGERG (for G protein pathway activation, including 4 variants with different downstream pathways)

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Nov 9

Wonderful work! I can imagine many eureka moments were involved in this #drosophila #learning and #memory study showing the immediate early gene Arc we all know and love actually has some non-synaptic tricks up its sleeve. Check out a few of those beautiful figures then read paper!

Figure 5b dArc1 form a capsid structure that is preventable with a particular mutation.

Figure 4c certain dopaminergic neurons respond more strongly to sugar

Figure 5f dArc1 present in serotonergic neurons

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Nov 2

@twisteddoodles.bsky.social nailed it as usual. #halloween #scientists

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Oct 11

I suspect that the most commonly consumed artificial sweeteners are in diet soda, which I typically see containing acesulfame and/or aspartame. Kinda wondering why these weren’t tested in this study as well. Can anyone with more knowledge on #diet #sweeteners #diabetes #sugar #angiogenesis explain?

ASBs contain sugar alcohols and polyols, such as sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol, mannitol, erythritol, isomalt, and lactitol.

The D-glucose (Sigma, G7021-100g), L-glucose (Sigma, G5500-1g; J&K, 981195-1g), D-fructose (Sigma, F0127-100g), L-rhamnose monohydrate (Aladdin, R108982), D-sorbitol (Sigma, S1876-100g), D-mannitol (Sigma, M4125-100g), D-(-)-ribose (Sigma, V900389-25g), L-(+)-arabinos (Sigma, V900920-25g), mannose (Sigma, M2069-25g), and sucrose (Sigma, V900116-500G) were dissolved in E3 solution.

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Oct 2

Absolutely phenomenal body of work using #FlyWire! Here's a list of all 10 papers out today in Nature, plus 3 papers from earlier this year in Nature Neuroscience and Nature Communications. www.nature.com/collections/... #drosophila #neuroskyence #connectome #projectome #effectome #circuits

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Jul 17

I’m happy to announce, my second large paper from my PhD is now out in iScience! Cognition in ♂ and ♀ mice had interesting changes when we altered neuronal lactate metabolism. Check it out if you're interested in #lactate #brainmetabolism #aging #cognition #ANLS doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110342

Graphical Abstract for Altered neuronal lactate dehydrogenase A expression affects cognition in a sex- and age-dependent manner.

Highlights
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Altered neuronal Ldha expression elicits cognitive changes depending on sex and age

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Induced neuronal Ldha causes cognitive deficits in old mice

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Knockout of neuronal Ldha causes cognitive improvements in old mice

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Neuronal lactate production may help or hinder cognition depending on the context

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Jan 30

Don’t forget to read this excellent new exposé about an inspirational #neuroscience researcher doing groundbreaking work on memory processing and engrams: Sheena Josselyn @uoft.bsky.social #neuroskyence 🧠

Photo of Sheena Josselyn from The Transmitter with blurb quoting her: “Of mice and memory: Engram research in rodents will point the way to methods for manipulating memories in people, Josselyn says.”

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Jan 13

Check out this summary of the split-GAL4 method development over the past 10 years. Excellent resource for Drosopholists everywhere. Kudos to Geoffrey Meissner and the rest of the FlyLight Project Team #DrosoFeed #Drosophila www.janelia.org/news/janelia...

Table 1. Publications reporting split-GAL4 lines from the cell-type-specific collection.
Publications are listed by year. The number of lines from the collection in each publication is listed, along with the CNS regions and/or cell types most commonly labeled. Many of these publications describe additional lines that were not included in the collection described here.

A catalog of light microscopy images from more than 3,000 split-GAL4 fly lines that express different cell types in the adult fruit fly central nervous system. These lines represent the top split-GAL4 strains created by Janelia’s FlyLight Project Team and collaborators over nearly a decade. Credit: FlyLight/HHMI Janelia Research Campus

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Oct 25

For those interested in a PhD position studying why we sleep, here's a great opportunity! Alice French at University of Bristol is taking applications for a SWBio 4 year PhD studentship in her lab. Here's the link to apply: t.co/J2k5NqvoFK #NeuroJobs #neuroskyence #Drosophila

Job Description:
Divergent sleep behaviour - An evolutionary approach to understand why we sleep
Supervisory team:
Main supervisor: Dr Alice French (University of Bristol)
Second supervisor: Prof Helen White-Cooper (Cardiff University)
Prof James Hodge (University of Bristol)
Host institution: University of Bristol
Project description:
Getting a full night of high-quality sleep is vital for our health and well-being- we've all heard this mantra a
thousand times: So how can an African elephant survive on just 2 hours? The pervasiveness of sleep across the
animal kingdom suggests that it serves vital functions, yet we see astonishing variation in the amount different
species exhibit. "Why?" remains one of the most fascinating conundrums of the natural world and prompts the
following: Do all animals sleep for the same reasons?

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Oct 2

New organelle just dropped: "Exclusome" was discovered in mammalian cells. It's a double membrane container of extrachromosomal DNA. This includes plasmids used for transfection and DNA derived from telomeres. Exciting! Check out the paper: www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/...

Model of an exclusome in an interphase cell. Overview of a cell with nucleus, ER and exclusome (inlet: the magnified exclusome with details)

The exclusive is depicted as a circular structure coming off of the ER surrounded by a double membrane connected to the ER.

Screenshot of the title and abstract including authors and editors.

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Oct 2

You’ve heard about the Hallmarks of Aging. How about the “three-wheeled gears” model? @drdorotask.bsky.social doi.org/10.59368/agi... proposes a holistic view of aging integrating hallmarks of aging into a model that focuses on their temporal relationship. Concise and nuanced, this is worth a read.

Figure with three interlocking gears depicting a schematic overview of the molecular, cellular, and phenotypic processes of aging, grouped into early, intermediate, and late events, emphasizing the sequential and temporal character of the process of aging.

Ariel K. Frame@arielframe· Sep 19

Fun little guessing game: metazooa.com It took me 17 guesses to get today’s animal. Kinda neat way to brush up on taxonomy if you have a few minutes to spare.