How are neural circuits ‘genetically encoded’ ?
The genome does not describe the wiring diagram, it contains information to grow the wiring diagram.
Neurogenetics is the study of the genes that shape neuronal development and function. The genetic approach implies that it is indeed genes, their regulation and their products, that give rise to the complexity of neuronal networks. How can a few thousand genes and their regulatory elements contain the information to grow a fly’s brain that is capable of a feat like computing safe flight in three dimensions? We want to understand how information is encoded in neural networks prior to learning
Our task is to try to understand genome-driven growth can encode information during brain development. Our favorite approach are live observation of the development of brain wiring – the self-assembly of the brain – using Drosophila as a model, combined with computational modeling.
Projects Based on Active Grants
Synaptic Promiscuity in Brain Development
2021-2026
see synpromiscuity.flygen.org for more information
From Imprecision to Robustness in Neural Circuit Assembly
2022-2030
see robustcircuit.flygen.org for more information
Autophagic Regulation of Synapse Formation and Maintenance
2021-2029
see syntophagy.de for more information
A bio-inspired electrical engineering approach to circuit development – Insights from modeling growth of a Drosophila neural network
2025-2028
Collaboration with the Karlheinz Ochs, Bochum
