Molecular and Genetic Dissection of Neuronal networks for insect behavior

The complex human visual system allow us to perceive the external world

by translating light into neuronal encoded information.

Light is perceived by photoreceptor neurons in the eye and transmitted

to first order interneurons in the brain.

Central and fundamental questions in neurobiology revolve around the

development of

the nervous system. The analysis of the central nervous system of the

fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster impacts our understanding of the

brain.

Though much is known about the development of the adult

visual system, very little is known about the much simpler larval

visual circuit.

Deciphering such neural circuitry will be the main aim of my thesis

project. I will be investigating at the morphology and anatomy of the

larval

visual neurons at higher resolution by using flip out techniques thereby

resolving their properties. Further I will delineate pre- versus

post synaptic

structures using genetic labeling. Functional aspects will be addressed

by calcium imaging analysis using genetically encoded calcium sensors.