Standing on the beach on a clear, sunny day you are watching the waves when you suddenly notice an airborne object speeding towards you. Do you jump out of its path, or do you try to catch it? Your reaction depends on your brain’s ability to extract relevant features of sensory visual input and guide appropriate motor actions. Similar reflexive behaviours can also be seen in zebrafish larvae that, at just a week old, are naturally able to escape predators, or catch a prey. Though seemingly relatively simple, reflexive behaviours such as these actually depend on activity generated in complex networks of neurons that are distributed across the entire brain. Discovering how these dynamics unfold throughout brain on the level of single neurons during behaviour is crucial in order to formulate the principles on which these sensorimotor circuits are organised.
Read more about our research HERE
Main Interests
Determine the principles on which sensorimotor circuits are organised and reveal how activity dynamics unfold throughout the whole brain during behaviour
Methods
High-speed behaviour tracking, Optogenetics, Whole-brain calcium imaging
Models and Regions
Zebrafish / Whole brain
Want to join our lab?
CHECK FOR OPPORTUNITIESAFFILIATION
Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown
Avenida Brasília, 1400-038 Lisbon, Portugal
T (+351) 210 480 200
michael.orger(at)research.fchampalimaud.org
FUNDING
