Neurogenetics
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 required to, say, wire a fly's brain to be capable of a feat like computing safe flight in three dimensions? Our team wants to understand the rules and mechanisms that underlie the development, function and maintenance of neural networks.
The Brain Wiring Problem: How Synaptic Specificity is Encoded
Focus: Specification of synaptic partners in the visual map of Drosophila
Specifying synaptic partners and regulating synapse numbers are critical steps during visual map formation
that are at least partly activity-dependent in all systems investigated to
date. In the Drosophila visual system each photoreceptor
forms a precise and constant number of afferent synapses independently of
both neuronal activity and synaptic partner accuracy. Our data suggest a
cell-autonomous genetic program controlling synapse numbers as part of a
developmental program of activity-independent steps that lead to a
'hard-wired' visual map in the fly brain. One major goal of our lab is to
understand the molecular and cellular basis of the underlying genetically encoded developmental program.
The Maintenance Problem: How Synaptic Contacts and Neurons Stay Alive
Focus: The role of membrane trafficking in synaptic function and maintenance
Bits of the same neuron-specific machinery active during brain wiring continue to be active during synaptic function and maintenance. Intracellular
vesicle trafficking and endomembrane degradation are known to have important roles for
synaptic function and plasticity over long periods of time. Especially the
intracellular sorting and degradation machinery
are critically required to avoid adult-onset degeneration.
Our genetic approach is complemented with
biochemistry, electrophysiology, live imaging, computational visualization and computational modeling.
Freie Universitaet Berlin - Takustr. 6 - 14195 Berlin, Germany
