How States and Needs Shape Neural Processing and Behavior of Fruit Flies

Speaker

Ilona C. Grunwald Kadow
Professor of Neural Circuits and Metabolism
Technical University of Munich

Abstract

When interacting with their environment animals constantly make decisions. These decisions frequently aim at maximizing reward while avoiding negative consequences such as energy costs, pain, or long- term disadvantages. Faced with a choice, animals consider and integrate several parameters such as their internal and behavioral state as well as external stimuli. Often decisions are shaped by prior experiences such as exposure to a given stimulus in a certain condition. But preferences and aversions can be innate, and an instinctive reaction can be essential to secure survival. Nevertheless, even these innate preferences need to be evaluated in a context-dependent manner and hence, context strongly impinges on behavior. While it is generally accepted that context influences behavior, our knowledge of the neural mechanisms of how internal state and external conditions alter ongoing behavior is scarce. The goal of my research is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the neural and molecular basis of context-specific behavior. To this end, my group studies how internal states shape chemosensory processing and behavior. In this talk, I will present two examples of our recent work in the fly on reproductive state-dependent decision making and on the role of need and motivation in foraging behavior.

Biography

Dr. Grunwald Kadow studied biology and genetics at the University of Göttingen and at the University of California, San Diego. Between 1999 and 2003 she completed her PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Rüdiger Klein at the University of Heidelberg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Following a position as a postdoctoral fellow (2003-2008) at the University of California in Los Angeles in the lab of Dr. Larry Zipursky, she set up her own research group at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology at the end of 2008. Initially funded by an Emmy Noether German Research Foundation (DFG) grant, she later became an independent Max-Planck research group leader. Dr. Grunwald Kadow joined TUM as professor in 2017. Dr. Grunwald Kadow and her research group investigate the neuronal circuits of chemosensory processing and decision making. The aim of her research is to understand decision-making using as an example the processing of odors and tastes at the level of the neuronal mechanisms and nerve networks in the brain.