Adrian Rothenfluh

Adrian Rothenfluh, PhD, MSci

Languages spoken: English, German, French

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Psychiatry , Adjunct - Neurobiology , Adjunct - Human Genetics

Divisions: Adult Psychiatry

Research Statement

Dr. Rothenfluh's research focuses on the genetics of psychiatric disorders, especially addiction. His lab uses Drosophila to model various neuropsychiatric conditions and to investigate the molecular, signaling, and neuronal mechanisms that mediate behavior. His lab has a continued commitment to translate his findings to human studies.

Education History

Graduate Training University of Basel
 MSci
Doctoral Training Rockefeller University
 PhD
Postdoctoral Fellowship Rockefeller University
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellowship University of California, San Francisco
 Postdoctoral Fellow

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Pinzón JH, Reed AR, Shalaby NA, Buszczak M, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh A (2017). Alcohol-Induced Behaviors Require a Subset of Drosophila JmjC-Domain Histone Demethylases in the Nervous System. Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 41(12), 2015-2024.
  2. Chang L, Kreko T, Davison H, Cusmano T, Wu Y, Rothenfluh A, Eaton B (2013). Normal dynactin complex function during synapse growth in Drosophila requires membrane binding by Arfaptin. Molecular biology of the cell, 24(11), 1749-64, S1-5.
  3. Rothenfluh A, Threlkeld RJ, Bainton RJ, Tsai LT, Lasek AW, Heberlein (2006). Distinct behavioral responses to ethanol are regulated by alternate RhoGAP18B isoforms. Cell, 127(1), 199-211.
  4. Peru Y Colon de Portugal RL, Acevedo SF, Rodan AR, Chang LY, Eaton BA, Rothenfluh (2012). Adult neuronal Arf6 controls ethanol-induced behavior with Arfaptin downstream of Rac1 and RhoGAP18B. The Journal of neuroscience, 32(49), 17706-13.
  5. Acevedo SF, Peru y Colon de Portugal RL, Gonzalez DA, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2015). S6 Kinase Reflects and Regulates Ethanol-Induced Sedation. The Journal of neuroscience, 35(46), 15396-402.
  6. Butts AR, Ojelade SA, Pronovost ED, Seguin A, Merrill CB, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2019). Altered Actin Filament Dynamics in the Drosophila Mushroom Bodies Lead to Fast Acquisition of Alcohol Consumption Preference. The Journal of neuroscience, 39(45), 8877-8884.
  7. Ojelade SA, Jia T, Rodan AR, Chenyang T, Kadrmas JL, Cattrell A, Ruggeri B, Charoen P, Lemaitre H, Banaschewski T, Büchel C, Bokde AL, Carvalho F, Conrod PJ, Flor H, Frouin V, Gallinat J, Garavan H, Gowland PA, Heinz A, Ittermann B, Lathrop M, Lubbe S, Martinot JL, Paus T, Smolka MN, Spanagel R, O'Reilly PF, Laitinen J, Veijola JM, Feng J, Desrivières S, Jarvelin MR, IMAGEN Consortium., Schumann G, Rothenfluh (2015). Rsu1 regulates ethanol consumption in Drosophila and humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(30), E4085-93.
  8. Jia T, Macare C, Desrivieres S, Gonzalez DA, Tao C, Ji X, Ruggeri B, Nees F, Banaschewski T, Barker GJ, Bokde AL, Bromberg U, Buchel C, Conrod PJ, Dove R, Frouin V, Gallinat J, Garavan H, Gowland PA, Heinz A, Ittermann B, Lathrop M, Lemaitre H, Martinot JL, Paus T, Pausova Z, Poline JB, Rietschel M, Robbins T, Smolka MN, Muller CP, Feng J, Rothenfluh A, Flor H, Schumann (2016). Neural basis of reward anticipation and its genetic determinants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(14), 3879-84.
  9. Chan CC, Scoggin S, Wang D, Cherry S, Dembo T, Greenberg B, Jin EJ, Kuey C, Lopez A, Mehta SQ, Perkins TJ, Brankatschk M, Rothenfluh A, Buszczak M, Hiesinger P (2011). Systematic discovery of Rab GTPases with synaptic functions in Drosophila. Current biology, 21(20), 1704-15.
  10. Chen P, Tu X, Akdemir F, Chew SK, Rothenfluh A, Abrams J (2012). Effectors of alcohol-induced cell killing in Drosophila. Cell death and differentiation, 19(10), 1655-63.
  11. Gonzalez DA, Jia T, Pinzón JH, Acevedo SF, Ojelade SA, Xu B, Tay N, Desrivières S, Hernandez JL, Banaschewski T, Büchel C, Bokde ALW, Conrod PJ, Flor H, Frouin V, Gallinat J, Garavan H, Gowland PA, Heinz A, Ittermann B, Lathrop M, Martinot JL, Paus T, Smolka MN, IMAGEN Consortium., Rodan AR, Schumann G, Rothenfluh (2018). The Arf6 activator Efa6/PSD3 confers regional specificity and modulates ethanol consumption in Drosophila and humans. Molecular psychiatry, 23(3), 621-628.
  12. Peru Y Colon de Portugal RL, Ojelade SA, Penninti PS, Dove RJ, Nye MJ, Acevedo SF, Lopez A, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2014). Long-lasting, experience-dependent alcohol preference in Drosophila. Addiction biology, 19(3), 392-401.
  13. Mishra P, Yang SE, Montgomery AB, Reed AR, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2021). The fly liquid-food electroshock assay (FLEA) suggests opposite roles for neuropeptide F in avoidance of bitterness and shock. BMC biology, 19(1), 31.
  14. Ojelade SA, Acevedo SF, Kalahasti G, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2015). RhoGAP18B Isoforms Act on Distinct Rho-Family GTPases and Regulate Behavioral Responses to Alcohol via Cofilin. PloS one, 10(9), e0137465.
  15. Maples T, Rothenfluh (2011). A simple way to measure ethanol sensitivity in flies.LID - 10.3791/2541 [doi]LID - 2541 [pii]. Journal of visualized experiments, (48),
  16. Shalaby NA, Sayed R, Zhang Q, Scoggin S, Eliazer S, Rothenfluh A, Buszczak (2017). Systematic discovery of genetic modulation by Jumonji histone demethylases in Drosophila. Scientific reports, 7(1), 5240.
  17. Shalaby NA, Pinzon JH, Narayanan AS, Jin EJ, Ritz MP, Dove RJ, Wolfenberg H, Rodan AR, Buszczak M, Rothenfluh (2018). JmjC domain proteins modulate circadian behaviors and sleep in Drosophila. Scientific reports, 8(1), 815.
  18. Evangelou E, Gao H, Chu C, Ntritsos G, Blakeley P, Butts AR, Pazoki R, Suzuki H, Koskeridis F, Yiorkas AM, Karaman I, Elliott J, Luo Q, Aeschbacher S, Bartz TM, Baumeister SE, Braund PS, Brown MR, Brody JA, Clarke TK, Dimou N, Faul JD, Homuth G, Jackson AU, Kentistou KA, Joshi PK, Lemaitre RN, Lind PA, Lyytikäinen LP, Mangino M, Milaneschi Y, Nelson CP, Nolte IM, Perälä MM, Polasek O, Porteous D, Ratliff SM, Smith JA, Stan¿áková A, Teumer A, Tuominen S, Thériault S, Vangipurapu J, Whitfield JB, Wood A, Yao J, Yu B, Zhao W, Arking DE, Auvinen J, Liu C, Männikkö M, Risch L, Rotter JI, Snieder H, Veijola J, Blakemore AI, Boehnke M, Campbell H, Conen D, Eriksson JG, Grabe HJ, Guo X, van der Harst P, Hartman CA, Hayward C, Heath AC, Jarvelin MR, Kähönen M, Kardia SLR, Kühne M, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Lahti J, Lehtimäki T, McIntosh AM, Mohlke KL, Morrison AC, Martin NG, Oldehinkel AJ, Penninx BWJH, Psaty BM, Raitakari OT, Rudan I, Samani NJ, Scott LJ, Spector TD, Verweij N, Weir DR, Wilson JF, Levy D, Tzoulaki I, Bell JD, Matthews PM, Rothenfluh A, Desrivières S, Schumann G, Elliott (2019). New alcohol-related genes suggest shared genetic mechanisms with neuropsychiatric disorders. Nature human behaviour, 3(9), 950-961.
  19. Schellinger JN, Sun Q, Pleinis JM, An SW, Hu J, Mercenne G, Titos I, Huang CL, Rothenfluh A, Rodan A (2022). Chloride oscillation in pacemaker neurons regulates circadian rhythms through a chloride-sensing WNK kinase signaling cascade. Current biology, 32(6), 1429-1438.e6.
  20. Merrill CB, Montgomery AB, Pabon MA, Shabalin AA, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2022). Harnessing changes in open chromatin determined by ATAC-seq to generate insulin-responsive reporter constructs. BMC genomics, 23(1), 399.
  21. Merrill CB, Pabon MA, Montgomery AB, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2022). Optimized assay for transposase-accessible chromatin by sequencing (ATAC-seq) library preparation from adult Drosophila melanogaster neurons. Scientific reports, 12(1), 6043.
  22. Merrill CB, Titos I, Pabon MA, Montgomery AB, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2024). Iterative assay for transposase-accessible chromatin by sequencing to isolate functionally relevant neuronal subtypes. Science advances, 10(13), eadi4393.
  23. Yip C, Wyler SC, Liang K, Yamazaki S, Cobb T, Safdar M, Metai A, Merchant W, Wessells R, Rothenfluh A, Lee S, Elmquist J, You Y (2024). Neuronal E93 is required for adaptation to adult metabolism and behavior. Molecular metabolism, 84, 101939.
  24. Chvilicek MM, Titos I, Merrill CB, Cummins-Beebee PN, Chen JD, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2025). Alcohol induces long-lasting sleep deficits in Drosophila via subsets of cholinergic neurons. [accompanied by Commentary/Dispatch in same issue]. Current biology, 35(5), 1033-1046.e3.
  25. Chvilicek MM, Seguin A, Lathen DR, Titos I, Cummins-Beebee PN, Pabon MA, Mi¿¿evi¿ M, Nickel E, Merrill CB, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2024). Large analysis of genetic manipulations reveals an inverse correlation between initial alcohol resistance and rapid tolerance phenotypes. Genes, brain, and behavior, 23(1), e12884.
  26. Chvilicek MM, Seguin A, Lathen DR, Titos I, Cummins-Beebe PN, Pabon MA, Miscevic M, Nickel EA, Merrill CB, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2023). Large genetic analysis of alcohol resistance and tolerance reveals an inverse correlation and suggests 'true' tolerance mutants. bioRxiv,
  27. Karatas M, Yavuz A, Newman B, Peters A, Johnson B, Richards S, Rawal P, Rothenfluh A, Arain (2026). Cenobamate's effect on mood and seizure frequency. Epilepsy & behavior, 176, 110913.
  28. Philyaw TJ, Titos I, Cummins-Beebee PN, Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2025). Bitter Sensing Protects Drosophila from Developing Experience-Dependent Cocaine Consumption Preference. [Featured by >150 news outlets in >20 countries, including Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, on NPR] . The Journal of neuroscience, 45(27),

Review

  1. Narayanan AS, Rothenfluh A (2016). I Believe I Can Fly!: Use of Drosophila as a Model Organism in Neuropsychopharmacology Research. [Review]. Neuropsychopharmacology, 41, (6), 1439-46.
  2. Rothenfluh A, Cowan C (2013). Emerging roles of actin cytoskeleton regulating enzymes in drug addiction: actin or reactin'?. Current opinion in neurobiology, 23(4), 507-12.
  3. Kaun KR, Rothenfluh (2017). Dopaminergic rules of engagement for memory in Drosophila. Current opinion in neurobiology, 43, 56-62.
  4. Ojelade SA, Acevedo SF, Rothenfluh (2013). The role of the actin cytoskeleton in regulating Drosophila behavior. Reviews in the neurosciences, 24(5), 471-84.
  5. Rodan AR, Rothenfluh (2010). The genetics of behavioral alcohol responses in Drosophila. International review of neurobiology, 91, 25-51.
  6. Lathen DR, Merrill CB, Rothenfluh (2020). Flying Together: Drosophila as a Tool to Understand the Genetics of Human Alcoholism. International journal of molecular sciences, 21(18),
  7. Chvilicek MM, Titos I, Rothenfluh (2020). The Neurotransmitters Involved in Drosophila Alcohol-Induced Behaviors. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 14, 607700.
  8. Philyaw TJ, Rothenfluh A, Titos (2022). The Use of Drosophila to Understand Psychostimulant Responses. Biomedicines, 10(1),
  9. Cummins-Beebee PN, Chvilicek MM, Rothenfluh (2023). The Stage-Based Model of Addiction-Using Drosophila to Investigate Alcohol and Psychostimulant Responses. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(13),
  10. Bhandari A, Seguin A, Rothenfluh (2024). Synaptic Mechanisms of Ethanol Tolerance and Neuroplasticity: Insights from Invertebrate Models. International journal of molecular sciences, 25(13),

Commentary

  1. Titos I, Rothenfluh (2021). From single flies to many genes: Using Drosophila to explore the genetics of psychostimulant consumption. [Invited commentary on paper PMID 34074789]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(31),
  2. Blau J, Kloss, B, Rothenfluh (2018). A speedy version of the double-time story. [Invited commentary on 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]. Japanese Society for Chronobiology, Journal of Chronobiology, 24, 45-49.