Meet Zandawala

The paper characterizes the synaptic connectome of neurosecretory cells in Drosophila, revealing their regulatory roles in physiology and behavior through input and output pathways.

The paper presents the first densely reconstructed adult fruit fly connectome integrating the brain and ventral nerve cord, revealing distributed control circuits involving local and long-range neural connections.

This study identifies an aversive gut-brain axis in Drosophila that detects toxin-induced gut damage and triggers both innate and learned anticipatory emesis.

The paper investigates how neuromodulatory inputs control insulin-producing cells in Drosophila using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, connectomics, and electrophysiology, revealing heterogeneous receptor profiles and differential modulation.

The paper maps the synaptic connectome of the Drosophila circadian clock, revealing additional neurons, contralateral connectivity, and novel peptidergic signaling.

This study shows that Drosophila tachykinins function as diuretic hormones by activating ion transport in Malpighian tubules, aiding in hydromineral balance.

NP-HMMer identifies neuropeptides across diverse species by using HMMs for 46 families, discovering novel peptides in Priapulida and Rotifera.

The paper investigates the relationship between PDF release and BRP-labelled active zones in Drosophila clock neurons, finding that PDF release is independent of BRP-organised active zones during circadian plasticity.

This paper characterizes the ITP signaling system in Drosophila, identifying ITPa as an anti-diuretic hormone that acts via the Gyc76C receptor to modulate osmoregulation and metabolic homeostasis.

This paper identifies a neuroendocrine pathway in Drosophila that modulates osmotic and ionic stress tolerance through the interaction of Corazonin and CAPA neuropeptides.

This study identifies a single pair of leucokinin neurons that regulate sleep-metabolism interactions by responding to feeding state and nutrient levels.

This study identifies the role of leucokinin (LK) neurons in coordinating post-feeding physiology and behavior in Drosophila by regulating water homeostasis, metabolism, and insulin signaling.

This study identifies abdominal neuroendocrine cells that release diuretic peptides regulating stress physiology in Drosophila, showing distinct roles in fluid balance and feeding.

The paper identifies novel neuropeptide precursors in brittle stars and analyzes their evolutionary changes over 270 million years.