Molecular Physiology of Behavior

Behavior is the ultimate manifestation of brain and hormonal activities, and it represents the unmet challenge of neuroscience. Our aim is to understand the neuroendocrine control of animal behavior in response to environmental and internal cues and its links with several neurological diseases using Drosophila as a model system. Our experimental approach combines genetic, physiological and molecular biology tools, as well as diverse quantitative analysis of behavior. The aim of the project is to determine the role of ptth in adult behavior (such as circadian activity, visual and olfactory long term memory) and physiology (oviposition, starvation). By using different environmental conditions and ptth loss-of-function mutant flies, the student will quantify different behaviors and test the neuronal activity in different brain structures.