Trevor Sorrells
Assistant Professor, Yale | HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar | Mosquito Behavior and Evolution | he/him 🏳️🌈
In case it wasn’t obvious, opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsA lifelong passion for writing helped rising star @doctheagrif.bsky.social land a book deal and publish 15 chapter books for early readers, covering topics ranging from what the cerebellum does to how a cake bakes. By @avaskham.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsVery excited to share the work by Alice Gadau. We found that D. suzukii (the invasive pest that loves ripe fruit) doesn’t hate CO₂, while classic lab flies avoid it. That tiny sensory shift helps explain a big ecological transition. journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrellswww.cell.com/cell/fulltex... We had a lot of fun working on this project (led by Itzel Ishida, not on bluesky). Some interesting highlights from the paper -
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsVery pleased to have had a small part in this new paper showing that the greater chestnut weevil is not, as feared, extinct.
- "Rediscovery of the greater chestnut #weevil highlights the power of digital platforms in biodiversity research and conservation" spkl.io/63326Ad07u @Michael A. Charles & colleagues @currentbiology.bsky.social
- Undergraduates who are interested in summer research please consider the HHMI Cech Fellows Program. There are many great HHMI labs to choose from including ours!
- Calling all rising juniors & seniors: Interested in biological or biomedical research? Applications for our ’26 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program are now open! Nine weeks, hands-on research, & mentorship from some of the nation’s top scientists — learn more: bit.ly/CechFellows
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrellspeople are actually very susceptible to just-so stories about human origins because listening to bullshit helped us survive on the savanna
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsWhat does mating look like when you only have a single shot at getting it right? Very excited to share our work on an almost-invisible female control, rapidly evolving mating recognition systems, and species that break the rules and take over the world. IN MOSQUITOES>
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells🦟 We've just published the world's first head-to-toe single-cell atlas of the Aedes aegypti mosquito in @cp-cell.bsky.social! The #MosquitoCellAtlas maps 69 cell types across 19 tissues, revealing surprising biology. Read it here: shorturl.at/dJWT3
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells🦟 The mosquito is the most deadly animal in the world. The Mosquito Cell Atlas is an incredible new resource to help us understand more about their ability to transmit pathogens to humans. Data is available on the UC Santa Cruz @genomebrowser.bsky.social at mosquito.cells.ucsc.edu
- Excited to announce the final version of the Mosquito Cell Atlas is out now in @cellpress.bsky.social!! 🦟🩸 There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsExcited to announce the final version of the Mosquito Cell Atlas is out now in @cellpress.bsky.social!! 🦟🩸 There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Mosquito cell atlas is now published! Congratulations to @nadavshai.bsky.social and @oliviagoldman.net and the many other collaborators that contributed to this resource. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrellsdoi.org/10.1126/scie... This seems rad: overexpressing FruM in a set of proboscis-motorneuron-projecting neurons makes melanogaster males add food-sharing to their courtship repertoire. It is fascinating to see evolutionary shifts in behavior be tied so concretely to shifts in brain development!
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsExcited 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
- A seminal study no doubt
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsDark taxa are extremely diverse organisms that remain largely undescribed due to small size, subtle differences, & few experts. Take this quiz to find out what you are - I'm a gall midge! whatdarktaxonareyou.static.domains/insect-quiz.... by @vivianfeng.bsky.social & @flyliceresearch.bsky.social
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells@trevorsorrells.bsky.social seminar for @tamubiology.bsky.social cues waft on the wind #mosquito neurons light up blood thirst wanes post-bite #sciku #neuroscience #biology
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells🚨 Only 3 days left to register! 🚨 Yale postdocs, don’t miss the Oct 9th @kavliatyale.bsky.social Chalk Talk event, featuring tips by @schandralab.bsky.social & a mock talk by @trevorsorrells.bsky.social! Register Today!👇 yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells📢New preprint on the impact of dengue virus genetic diversity on inhibition by Wolbachia 🦟🦠🧬 Project led by Afeez Sodeinde, @emiliefinch.bsky.social, and @keli5734.bsky.social! ✨ Key findings in thread below 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsStarting to accumulate quite a few species in the mosquito gallery:
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsOur paper Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus was published in Science today! It features inversions, selection in action, museum specimens and putative new ecotypes. doi.org/10.1126/scie...
- Preprint is out! We investigated the genomic diversity and evolutionary history of Anopheles funestus mosquitoes, one of the main species transmitting human malaria across Africa. Here’s a visual summary. Art by @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social . 1/8 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsTired of doom scrolling? Want to help a PhD student out? Check your collection for Promachus (and friends) and I'll be forever indebted! If you need an excuse to get outside and go collecting this weekend, this is it! #Asilidae #Diptera
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsA bluetorial on NIH funding and out year commitments: A historical perspective
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells"The unknown is made up of small organisms, such as insects, mites, and crustaceans. These species are the nuts and bolts of ecosystems. And most of them have yet to be identified." www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsI am thrilled to announce that I just opened my lab at New York University in @nyucns.bsky.social and Biology! Our work will explore the richness of animal behavior, dissecting the genetic and circuit mechanisms that shape its evolution.
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells🚨 🐜 is there a Bluesky starter pack for researchers who don’t study ants but who get lightheaded every time there’s an awesome ant paper? CC @mariusw.bsky.social @jrichardalbert.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsUtterly devastating: FlyBase zapped. www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha... #modelOrganism
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsNew paper on the role of H3K4me3 at enhancers! We (led by Haoming Yu) used dCas9 epigenome editing to add H3K4me3 to intergenic enhancers. This was (1) sufficient to turn up transcription at open, active regions and (2) has no effect on target gene transcription. genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsMorinaga, @agloriasoria.bsky.social @jsoghigian.bsky.social develop two de novo chromosome-scale genomes for Aedes aegypti formosus and A. mascarensis, finding extensive chromosomal rearrangements between major lineages of mosquitoes. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf142 #genome #evolution
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsWho do I know that breeds or has access to Mudskippers? I have some questions! Rt appreciated 🧪
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsOh hey, we did a thing!!! Fun collab between the Coughlan and @mollyschumer.bsky.social labs!!! www.cell.com/trends/genet... Lead by the absolutely ✨STELLAR✨ @hybridzones.bsky.social, @nemovrobles.bsky.social, and @majorodriguezb.bsky.social.
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsWith @megyounger.bsky.social's lab, et al., we present the first connectomics work in the disease-vector mosquito Aedes aegypti, revealing how its brain is wired to detect host cues. Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025... #Neuroscience #Connectomics #vEM #VectorBiology 🧪
- New preprint from @darbly.bsky.social @briandepasquale.bsky.social and my labs! If you love (or hate) mosquitoes, have a look: doi.org/10.1101/2025... We used TEM to describe the circuitry used for CO2 detection by mosquitoes. As usual with mosquitoes, nothing is as expected! 🌬️🦟
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsHow is the nervous system organized to coordinate behavior? To approach this massive question, a team led by @asbates.bsky.social, @jasper-tms.bsky.social, @mindyisminsu.bsky.social, & Helen Yang present the BANC: a Brain and Nerve Cord connectome. Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🧪#Neuroskyence
- Public access to the first fly connectome that spans the whole CNS - BANC!: codex.flywire.ai?dataset=banc Different from prior connectomes - it is brain + cord (think spinal cord) We use it to ‘embody’ the system and find it resembles ‘subsumption architecture’ doi.org/10.1101/2025...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsI am delighted to be starting as an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology at the University of Florida in January 2026. The lab is broadly interested in the functional, developmental, and evolutionary genetics of cell types and organs across flies and beyond 🪰🧬
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells🚨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! 🧵⬇️
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsA pair of Desert Firetail damselflies making more damselflies. The male is bright red and he's using claspers at the of his abdomen to hold the female behind her head. She bends her abdomen around to pick up a sperm packet from him. The more you know! 💫 (Telebasis salva) Portal, AZ #DamselflyJuly
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsThe thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than anything you could imagine on your own. Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsApply to this program and share with students in your networks! We will work 1:1 with you on your applications, CVs, interviews, etc bsky.app/profile/stan...
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsThese are called “Ensign Wasps” for how they move their little butts like flags.
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsParacantha fruit fly, just cranking the style slider to 100 and seeing what happens. I love it, is what happens. 💛
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsGave a talk at my parents’ retirement community to describe how science is done, and what is at stake. There was a ton of interest, and anyone can do this. Get the word out about how science affects everyone. I’m happy to share slides with anyone who asks- just get in touch! youtu.be/BY_SFgi-Cig
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsHow do animal #brains evolve to support ecological specialization? Yaoyu Jiao & @trevorsorrells.bsky.social explore a @plosbiology.org study revealing that #glia show the most dramatic changes in brains of #FruitFlies adapted to a toxic niche 🧪 Paper: plos.io/4js7Rms Primer: plos.io/42VHcHw
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsTrump has cut the NIH budget by more than half in defiance of Congressionally mandated appropriations for the agency. No comparison historically, not even the Great Recession. This is clearly not legal and Congress needs to address it.
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsSome beautiful maize diversity at the CIMMYT germplasm bank plus some really weird looking maize mutants.
- Reminder: apply for our research assistant position!
- The Sorrells Lab is hiring a recent college graduate interested in neurobiology of mosquitoes! The position is ideal for someone interested in gaining skills for graduate school. Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/164849
- The Sorrells Lab is hiring a recent college graduate interested in neurobiology of mosquitoes! The position is ideal for someone interested in gaining skills for graduate school. Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/164849
- Please repost!
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsBIG NEWS! The Mosquito Cell Atlas preprint is live! 🦟🧬 My first senior author paper! Massive and accessible snRNA-seq dataset and a lot of cool mosquito biology. A true collaborative achievement! #MCA biorxiv.org/content/10.1... See @oliviagoldman.net thread here
- I am thrilled to present the Mosquito Cell Atlas! We analyzed 367K nuclei from 19 tissues in male & female mosquitoes, creating a comprehensive resource for vector biology & infectious disease research. Plus we made some surprising discoveries! 🦟🧵 biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsAnother great addition to our program @standupforscience.bsky.social !!!
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsMosquitoes spread viruses to >400 million people/year. Importantly, our work led to a complete parts list of gene expression. This will help develop hypotheses & spur discoveries into the unique biology of the mosquito. mosquito.cells.ucsc.edu Thank you UCSC Cell Browser team! 2/n
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsBloodfeeding triggers dramatic physiological & behavioral changes in female mosquitoes. We looked in the brain after feeding to understand which cellular substrates might underlie this shift. Unexpectedly, our data highlight the glia as possible mediators of this change! 6/n
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsI am thrilled to present the Mosquito Cell Atlas! We analyzed 367K nuclei from 19 tissues in male & female mosquitoes, creating a comprehensive resource for vector biology & infectious disease research. Plus we made some surprising discoveries! 🦟🧵 biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n
- Reposted by Trevor Sorrells#scicomm resources from @500womensci.bsky.social
- This is amazing 😍😍 @500womensci.bsky.social has made cards for each state on funding for NSF and NIH avail for download bit.ly/NSF_bystate & bit.ly/NIH_bystate if they are helpful for folks
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsCheck out the scientific journey behind the newest FDA-approved pain medication! 💊 Learn how NIH-funded research played a crucial role—both directly and indirectly—in bringing this breakthrough to life. 🧪
- Reposted by Trevor SorrellsIn light of policies to defund biomedical research, and with judicial hearings happening today, we hope to highlight the many ways biomedical research improves people's lives, and to convey how damaging the proposed cuts would be... not just for us researchers, but for everyone.
- Patrick Mitchell (@psmitchej.bsky.social), Thornton Thompson and I wrote an OpEd, with support from 650+ biomedical researchers across Washington State (450+ at time of submission). www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comm... List: www.moltkelab.com/s/NIH-OpEd-S...
