Felix Baier
Natural behavior, brain evolution, & ecological change, with a focus on wild 🐭 and 🦎. Currently a Postdoc @mpibrain.bsky.social; PhD from @harvardmcb.bsky.social. he/him
felixbaier.github.io
- Reposted by Felix BaierWhy do some worms graze on bacteria while others hunt and kill? Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes. Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.
- Reposted by Felix BaierI’m excited to share my PhD work on localized mRNAs and protein synthesis in cortical layer 1 on bioRxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Localized mRNAs and protein synthesis in cortical layer 1 biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
- Reposted by Felix BaierAs a longtime fan of cool papers in @currentbiology.bsky.social, I am really thrilled to see this out! This study sets the stage for understanding the origins of novel (vocal) behaviors. Big shout out to the main architects of this work @xmikezheng20.bsky.social and @cliffscience.bsky.social
- Great @currentbiology.bsky.social study by @xmikezheng20.bsky.social @cliffscience.bsky.social @arkarupbanerjee.bsky.social 🧪🧠🐭🎶 Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node www.cell.com/current-biol...
- Reposted by Felix BaierHow does life evolve to adapt to modern cities? Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation. 🧵(1/n) @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
- Reposted by Felix Baier🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity! We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have: (1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs) (2) better hand dexterity (3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵
- Evolutionary expansion of the corticospinal system is linked to dexterity in Peromyscus mice biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
- Reposted by Felix BaierExcited to share our new #biorxivpreprint We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion. Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit shorturl.at/gGYm7
- Reposted by Felix BaierOur new study modeling selection for (behavioral) variability has been covered in a lovely @genetics-gsa.bsky.social podcast featuring first author Shraddha Lall and @ecoevogal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...
- Reposted by Felix Baier🚨Hiring Alert! Join Gregor Schuhknechts’s new group Brain Algorithms and Circuits @mpibrain.bsky.social ! 🧠 Fully funded PhD & Postdoc 🐟 Larval #zebrafish model 🔬 Imaging, electrophysiology, EM 💻 #SystemsNeuroscience 👉 brain.mpg.de/schuhknecht
- Reposted by Felix BaierWe are looking for a Postdoc (up to 5 years) who wants to study neural mechanisms of spatial memory in honeybees. This includes tetrode recordings in behaving honeybees. Application Deadline is 1st of October 2025. More details: www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/services/...
- Reposted by Felix BaierHow do animals decide if they should forage for food or stay home to take care of newborn offspring? Whose needs come first? For my PhD work now out in Nature, we examined how hunger and parenting neurons interact and are reshaped postpartum in mice 🧵⬇️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Felix BaierNew preprint! tl;dr — We ran around late at night to record wild rats in NYC and figured out how to quantify their behavior and environment. 🧵 w/ Dima Batenkov, @zamakany.bsky.social, Emily Mackevicius www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- 🚨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! 🧵⬇️
- 🧵2/8 Inspired by work in lab mice, Hopi and I asked how wild-derived deer mice respond to visual threat. With help from undergrad Tori Tong, we discovered robust variation: while P. maniculatus escaped, much like Mus, sister species P. polionotus, from open habitats in Florida, briefly froze!
- 🧵3/8 We were curious: where did evolution act in the brain to adjust behavior? To narrow down our search, we exposed mice to an auditory stimulus – and observed the same behavioral differences. This suggested a mechanism downstream of sensory detection, relevant across modalities.
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View full thread🧵8/8 We conclude that evolution adjusted the role of the dPAG in the computation of escape, thereby raising the escape threshold in P. polionotus. Special thanks to co-first Katja Reinhard and co-last Karl Farrow for superb collab, to @hhmi.org for 💰, and to the 🐭 for holding fascinating insights 🥳
- Reposted by Felix BaierVery happy to share the latest from my postdoc! 10 yrs of mouse social networks + 1.25 yrs of acoustic data ➡️ insight into vocalization & sociality in a wild population of your favorite lab model 🐁 paper: bit.ly/4n93yyD data: bit.ly/4lfFBEk code: bit.ly/4kNnMwx #bioacoustics #neuroskyence 1/8
- Reposted by Felix Baier🧬 New study out: we report a chromosome-level assembly of the deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus! A launching pad for chemosensory-evolution research. Read more 👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Felix BaierA nice, layperson writeup of my latest work, which is now out on eLife! TLDR: Using snRNA-seq, we find cell type abundance differences and sex-biased gene expression differences that may explain innate differences in mating + parenting behavior elifesciences.org/digests/1031...
- Reposted by Felix Baier🎉 so excited to share my first first-author paper is out in @Nature.com, from my PhD work in the Gallio Lab! we uncover the neurobiological mechanisms that drive the evolution of temperature preference behavior in flies of the genus Drosophila 👇 go.nature.com/4i1VQn9
- This is a few weeks old, but LIZARDS NEVER GET OLD 🦎😇 Find out what makes them so interesting in our Creature Column @naturemethods.bsky.social
- The bearded dragon 🦎 has become a model system to study sleep and the evolution of the brain. A short review by Lorenz Fenk, Felix Baier & Gilles Laurent. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Having flashbacks to my time in the US during Trump‘s first term. Lots of sympathy and hugs to everyone on the ground. Hang in there ❤️
- Congrats Saikat, amazing work!!
- How does the brain work in natural scenarios, in multi-animal societies of wild animals? 🧠 🧪 🦇 doi.org/10.1126/scie... (1/n)
