James Catterson

@scotsfriction

Researching neurodegeneration using flies. Based at Edinburgh University. UKDRI. Also Music. Politics. Ceramics. Leith4Life

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James Catterson@scotsfriction· 13d

Completely forgot to promote this wee article we wrote about ARUK 2026! pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... @britishneuro.bsky.social @alzheimersresearchuk.org #ARUK2026 #ARUKconf2026 @elizabethsimzer.bsky.social @sorayam.bsky.social

Debating dementia prevention proved to be something of a workout for the panel. From left to right: Professors Bernadette McGuinness, David Llewellyn, Paresh Malhotra, Cath Mummery, and Jonathan Schott. Photo credit: Rebecca Oliver.

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Apr 1

I nearly died when @tspiresjones.bsky.social and @janetulloch.bsky.social surprised us with this complete *YEAR LONG* study at our lab meeting. academic.oup.com/braincomms/a...

Whatsapp pic of a bunch of gold teaspoons that had appeared overnight

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Apr 1

I also had a chance to speak with HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh about our work using flies in dementia research. Everybody loves the flies. 😇😅🥰

Me chatting to HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh about the cool stuff we do with Drosophila

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Mar 6

Update: I got these cute wee flies in the post with my transgenics! 😍 Fingers crossed the lines work well! 😅

Picture shows 2 little Drosophila toys in front of 2 vials of newly generated transgenic flies.

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Feb 25

LOVE this paper - have followed it from seeing talks and posters by Ashling, @alexcammack.bsky.social, and @adrianisaacs.bsky.social then the Biorxiv last year. Exquisite use of flies🐝 and human cell models🧠 to find out that neuronal fatty acid saturation is important in the development of ALS/FTD!

Schematic showing C9 flies exposed to cold stress do better when they have a higher membrane fatty acid unsaturation. Flies that have low fatty acid unsaturation don't fare well at all.

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Jan 31

Love my colleagues 🥰 They got me these lovely gifts for the birth of my second daughter, Alice

Picture of baby toy macaw, baby grow with my micrograph of a fly brain, and dungarees covered in bugs and insects

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Dec 10

What my #SpotifyWrapped would have had as Number 1 album if this album was on Spotify. Gorgeous and spooky album. Alas, it doesn't count Youtube streams 😆 🖤 Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee 🖤 www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LJi...

The album cover for Cindy Lee's 'Diamond Jubilee' released this year.

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Dec 5

Also goodbye and Merry Christmas 🎄 to these plasmids going for injection into #Drosophila eggs all the way in California! Hopefully I’ll get some brand new transgenic flies 🪰 back in early 2025! 👋🥰

A package addressed to BestGene, a Drosophila transgenics company

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Dec 5

Putting these guys to bed now for Xmas/New Year 😴 🥶 🎄 See you in 2025, wee flies! 🪰 #Drosophila

Hundreds of Drosophila stocks in a cold incubator

A different cold incubator with hundreds of Drosophila stocks

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Dec 5

OK fine

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Nov 19

Nothing quite like the joy of seeing little colonies in the morning! 🦠 🧫 😍

Picture of a culture plate with bacterial colonies growing on it. The transformation seems to have worked!

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Nov 18

🤯 Just when you think #Drosophila neurogenetics has run out of ideas, along come Gilad Barnea's lab to show us they can not only visualise pre- and post-synaptic neurons but they can also label post-post-synaptic neurons! THREE orders! 😅 Congrats on a really amazing pre-print!

Figure 2 from the BiorXiv paper shows the schematic of the dsTango circuit and a working example below of Orco neurons and their post-synaptic and post-post-synaptic partners

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Nov 16

#nowplaying

Album cover- Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s ‘The Way It Is’ from 1986

James Catterson@scotsfriction· Nov 13

Quite cool to see the 2nd chromosome laid out like that. Anyone else ordering hundreds of Bloomington stocks for hare-brained schemes? Just me? 😅 #Drosophila