Research Approach
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Animal model
We use zebrafish larvae and juveniles to study the dynamics and connectivity of neural circuits involved in navigation, decision making, sensory processing, and learning. Zebrafish larvae are tiny transparent vertebrates, in which it is possible to perform whole brain imaging with cellular resolution in a live behaving animal. In addition, zebrafish are highly amenable to genetic manipulations, which makes it relatively easy and fast to generate new lines suitable for various methods. They also show a variety of interesting behaviors that we can study.
Research methods
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Behavioral experiments: in the lab we are interested in neural circuits underlying behavior. To study such circuits, we first characterize different behaviors by carefully designing experiments in which the animal is presented with different sensory stimuli and its behavior is being tracked. In our setup we track the movement of freely swimming and head fixed zebrafish larvae and juveniles.
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Advanced microscopy techniques: to study neural activity we use two-photon microscopy and light-sheet microscopy for whole brain imaging.
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Anatomical and morphological techniques: single cell labeling and reconstruction of electron microscopy allow us to reveal the morphology and connectivity of neurons in the neural networks that we study.
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Manipulations of neural activity: chemogenetic and laser ablations allow us to determine causal relationships between different brain regions and neuronal types. ​​​​
