Circuit basis of learning and action-selection in Drosophila

The overall goal of our research is to discover the circuit implementation of learning and action selection. Since these functions likely emerge from parallel and distributed computations across many interconnected brain areas, over the past five years we have established an approach that involves combining comprehensive brain-wide analysis of structure and function in the tractable Drosophila larva. Recently we have generated a comprehensive synaptic-resolution wiring diagram of the entire brain and a comprehensive genetic toolkit for the selective manipulation of each uniquely identified neuron type. Possible PhD projects will involve 1) identifying the patterns of activity in individual neurons in the brain that correlate with the formation of specific memories and/or the selection of specific actions, using light-sheet and two-photon imaging of neural activity or patch-clamp recordings; 2) testing whether the candidate neurons are required and sufficient for learning and action selection by manipulating them using optogenetics or thermogenetics in freely behaving animals; 3) identifying genes required for learning and memory in specific neurons using RNAseq and testing whether they are required using targeted knockdown.