June 2026

The Zarin Lab celebrates the acceptance of our manuscript, A Drosophila Tonic Motor Neuron Reinnervates Ectopic Muscles Fully Deprived of Native Tonic and Phasic Inputs, in iScience. Congratulations to Lizzy Olsen, Parinita Mandhyan, Sara Arredondo, Komal Kaur, Ankura Sitaula, and all co-authors.

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June 2026

We are proud of Sara Arredondo-Miramontes, former undergraduate researcher and post-baccalaureate researcher in the Zarin Lab, for her admission to medical school.

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May 2026

The Zarin Lab celebrates the acceptance of our manuscript, Motor Neurons Decode Cholinergic Inputs via Spatially Distinct nAChR Subunits to Drive Locomotion in Drosophila Larvae, in PNAS Nexus. Congratulations to Ankura Sitaula, Lizzy Olsen, Arianna Mogharrabi, and all co-authors.

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April 2026

The Zarin Lab received an NIH/NINDS R01 award to support our work on Cross-neuronal Structural Plasticity in Drosophila Motor Circuits. This project investigates how motor circuits remodel after neuronal loss and how surviving neurons, glia, and muscles contribute to circuit repair and functional recovery.

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March 2026

The Zarin Lab received support from the Texas A&M Division of Research Targeted Proposal Teams Proposal Planning Grant for our project on Investigating the Role of Ionotropic Neurotransmitter Receptors in Glia (Astrocytes).

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January 2025

Congratulations to Dr. Yuhan Huang on successfully defending her Ph.D. in Biology/Neuroscience. Yuhan was the first Ph.D. student trained in the Zarin Lab.

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2025

The Zarin Lab received a Strategic Transformative Research Program award from the Texas A&M College of Arts and Sciences for our project on Investigating the Role of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Motor Neurons, Astrocytes, and Insecticide Toxicity/Resistance in Drosophila melanogaster Larvae.

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2025

The Zarin Lab received a Texas A&M Division of Research Targeted Proposal Teams: Grants on the Edge award for our project on Multifunctional Sensorimotor Circuits Generating Bilateral Synchronous and Asynchronous Locomotor Behaviors.

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2025

Our collaborative paper, Bioinspired Model for Drosophila Larva Crawling Locomotion, was published in the IEEE Dallas Circuits and Systems Conference Proceedings. Congratulations to all co-authors.

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2021–2026

We are proud of our former undergraduate researchers who continued into medical, dental, and health professional training, including Niloofar Ardekanian, Weston Aymond, Nicholas Shen Zhang, Hannah Solene Crowe, Sonya Kan, Bella Strash, and Arianna Mogharrabi.

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December 2024

Our protocol paper, Application of a Dual Optogenetic Silencing-Activation Protocol to Map Motor Neurons Driving Rolling Escape Behavior in Drosophila Larvae, was published in Bio-protocol. Congratulations to Ankura Sitaula, Yuhan Huang, and all co-authors.

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2024

The Zarin Lab received a Strategic Transformative Research Program award from the Texas A&M College of Arts and Sciences for our project on Neural Circuits Underlying Forward and Backward Locomotion in Drosophila Larvae.

 

December 2023

Our paper, Neuromuscular Basis of Drosophila Larval Escape Behavior, was published in PNAS. Congratulations to Patricia Cooney, Yuhan Huang, and all co-authors.

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July 2022

Our collaborative paper, Electrophysiological Validation of Monosynaptic Connectivity Between Premotor Interneurons and the aCC Motoneuron in the Drosophila Larval CNS, was published in Journal of Neuroscience.

 

2021

The Zarin Lab received a Texas A&M T3 Program grant for the project Transvection as a General Means to Synchronize Gene Expression, in collaboration with James Erickson and Gregory Reeves.

 

2021

Our collaborative paper, A Developmental Framework Linking Neurogenesis and Circuit Formation in the Drosophila CNS, was published in eLife.

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2021

Our review, The Drosophila Larval Locomotor Circuit Provides a Model to Understand Neural Circuit Development and Function, was published in Frontiers in Neural Circuits.

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January 2020

The Zarin Lab opened at Texas A&M University in the Department of Biology and the Texas A&M Institute of Neuroscience. Our lab began its research program focused on the development, function, plasticity, and molecular regulation of sensorimotor circuits in the Drosophila larval motor system.