meet zandawala

Meet Zandawala

Assistant Professor

Summary

Our research group is interested in context-dependent modulation of behaviors and physiological processes by neuropeptides and their G-protein coupled receptors.

The nervous systems of animals utilize a wide variety of chemicals for neuronal communication. These include amino acids, biogenic amines, and neuropeptides amongst others. Neuropeptides are by far the most diverse, and control a range of essential physiological processes including feeding, metabolism, sleep, stress, reproduction, development and locomotion. Our working group is interested in understanding how neuropeptides mediate their effects in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We utilize multiple approaches in our lab including standard molecular techniques, CRISPR/Cas9, Drosophila genetics, behavioral analyses, optogenetics and calcium imaging. We are also developing cutting-edge genetic tools to study neuropeptide function in Drosophila.

Publications

Journals

Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain

2024

Nature

Sven Dorkenwald, Arie Matsliah, Amy R. Sterling, Philipp Schlegel, Szi-chieh Yu, Claire E. McKellar, Albert Lin, Marta Costa, Katharina Eichler, Yijie Yin, Will Silversmith, Casey Schneider-Mizell, Chris S. Jordan, Derrick Brittain, Akhilesh Halageri, Kai Kuehner, Oluwaseun Ogedengbe, Ryan Morey, Jay Gager, Krzysztof Kruk, Eric Perlman, Runzhe Yang, David Deutsch, Doug Bland, Marissa Sorek, Ran Lu, Thomas Macrina, Kisuk Lee, J. Alexander Bae, Shang Mu, Barak Nehoran, Eric Mitchell, Sergiy Popovy

Whole-brain annotation and multi-connectome cell typing of Drosophila

2024

Nature

Philipp Schlegel, Yijie Yin, Alexander S. Bates, Sven Dorkenwald, Katharina Eichler, Paul Brooks, Daniel S. Han, Marina Gkantia, Marcia dos Santos, Eva J. Munnelly, Griffin Badalamente, Laia Serratosa Capdevila, Varun A. Sane, Alexandra M. C. Fragniere, Ladann Kiassat, Markus W. Pleijzier, Tomke Stürner, Imaan F. M. Tamimi, Christopher R. Dunne, Irene Salgarella, Alexandre Javier, Siqi Fang, Eric Perlman, Tom Kazimiers, Sridhar R. Jagannathan, Arie Matsliah, Amy R. Sterling, Szi-chieh Yu, Claire

Reviews

Leptin- and cytokine-like unpaired signaling in Drosophila

2024

Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology

Meet Zandawala and Jayati Gera

This review focuses on the unpaired family of proteins in Drosophila which are evolutionarily related to mammalian leptin and the cytokine interleukin 6....