E. Axel Gorostiza

Postdoc

Contact Info

Academic Degrees

Scientific Institution

Universität Regensburg

Biographical Information

My first research experience was as an undergraduate under the supervision of Dr. Fernanda Ceriani (Fundación Instituto Leloir, Argentina) I characterized the behavior of a Drosophila melanogaster neurodegenerative mutant. In 2008 I graduated as a Biologist specialized in animal physiology at the University of Buenos Aires, and started my PhD research at Dr. Ceriani Lab. I studied the development of the PDF circuit, the main pacemaker circuit in D. melanogaster. As a parallel project I investigated circadian changes in the complexity of the dorsal arborizations of the PDF circuit. In July 2013, I started my postdoc at Dr. Brembs Lab on a project called “Hide if you can't fly? Behavioral flexibility in Drosophila”. Briefly, we think that even simple behaviors, such as taxis, have a central decision-making stage which is influenced by a number of physiological and environmental variables that are continually monitored. Evidence from a range of model organisms suggests that these simple behaviors in invertebrate species are generated by the nervous system using complex online evaluation and decision-making algorithms. To address these issues, we plan to study phototaxis in Drosophila, which we think provides a compelling and technically very accessible avenue towards a general understanding of adaptive behavioral choice, commonly studied in complex decision-making situations in higher animals.

Projects

• Hide if you can't fly? Behavioral flexibility in Drosophila
• Temperature impact on light preference

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