Grupo de Comportamento Inato
Interesse da Investigação
We are interested in the nature of defined neural circuits: how activation of circuits elicits specific behaviors. Animals exhibit behavioral repertoires that result in stereotyped sexual and social responses to their environment. Innate behaviors do not require learning or experience and are likely to reflect the activation of developmentally programmed neural circuits. It has been extremely difficult in complex organisms to study a circuit beyond the early stages of sensory processing. We have been using Drosophila melanogaster because flies exhibit complex behaviors that are controlled by a nervous system that is numerically five orders of magnitude simpler than that of vertebrates making it an attractive model system to understand a circuit. We use a combined behavioral, genetic, imaging and electrophysiological approach to determine how defined neural circuits and their activation elicit specific behaviors.
Maria Luísa Vasconcelos
Ph.D. in Neuroscience
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa
| Investigador Principal | |
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| Telefone | 21 446 4639 |
| Exensão | 639 |
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| Local (Ala) | Vasco da Gama (B1) - Sala 1b5 |
Membros do Grupo
| Nélia Varela | Postdoc |  |
|---|---|---|
| Tel: 21 446 4697 | |
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| Sophie Dias | Research Technician | |
| Tel: 21 446 4697 | |
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| Dennis Herrmann | 2008 PGCN PhD Student | |
| Tel: 21 446 4697 | |
Publicações
Datta SR*, Vasconcelos, ML*, Ruta V, Luo S, Wong A, Demir E, Flores J, Balonze K, Dickson BJ, Axel R. * authors contributed equally (2008). The Drosophila pheromone cVA activates a sexually dimorphic neural circuit Nature 452 :473-477
Zhan XL, Clemens JC, Neves G, Hattori D, Flanagan JJ, Hummel T, Vasconcelos, ML, Chess A, Zipursky SL. (2004). Analysis of Dscam diversity in regulating axon guidance in Drosophila mushroom bodies Neuron 5 :673-86
Hummel T*, Vasconcelos, ML*, Clemens JC, Fishilevich Y, Vosshall LB, Zipursky, SL. * authors contributed equally (2003). Axonal Targeting of Olfactory Receptor Neurons in Drosophila is Controlled by Dscam. Neuron 37 :221-231
Dronkert ML, de Wit J, Boeve M, Vasconcelos, ML, Van Steeg H, Tan TL, Hoeijmakers JH, Kanaar R. (2000). Disruption of SNM1 causes increased sensitivity to the DNA interstrand cross-linking agent mitomycin C. Mol Cell Biol 20 :4553-61
