How do animals know where they are?

A stable sense of direction is the basis of many navigational strategies.

Recent work has uncovered circuits that maintain an internal compass, but the mechanisms by which this “neural compass” is constructed from sensory input in an ever changing world are still mysterious.

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We study two organisms with unique experimental advantages

In fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) we can use genetic tools and established calcium imaging techniques to monitor and perturb defined populations of neurons. Desert ants (Cataglyphis nodus) have exquisite and robust navigation behaviour, which has been characterised in a defined ethological context.

We compare these models across multiple axes: anatomical structure of circuits, behaviour and eventually physiology.

More soon

Connecting circuits to behavior

Our goal is to understand how neural activity drives behavior. To get there, we combine the following techniques:

  • immersive virtual reality (VR) to simulate natural environments in the lab
  • in-vivo 2-photon calcium imaging in actively behaving flies (in VR)
  • high-resolution volume electron microscopy for connectomics
  • quantitative measurements of behavior and optogenetics

more about our VR system

News

The lab is growing

Özlem Gonulkirmaz-Cancalar, Johanna Wegmann and Yigit Yargili have joined the lab in November and January, respectively. Learn more about them and their projects here or on the zoology 2 website.

Weclome to our first PhD student!

Romita Trehan will joing the lab in April 2024. Learn more about Romita here!

Our funding

Our research is currently funded through the the Emmy Noether Program of the German Research Council (DFG).