Neurogenetic dissection of the visual motion detection circuitry in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (B07)

• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: from 2010 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 118803580

The detection of motion is a fundamental task of visual circuits in any sighted animal. In the previous and current funding period, we and others have identified the first direction-selective neuronal elements as well as their non-direction-selective inputs in the fly visual system. We have also defined an algorithmic basis for the generation of direction-selectivity. In the next funding period, we propose to elucidate the biophysical mechanisms which are utilized by cells to perform the underlying computations. We also propose to investigate the causal relationships between direction-selective signals in the fly brain and course control.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 870: Assembly and Function of Neuronal Circuits in Sensory Processing
• Applicant Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Alexander Borst; Dr. Alex Stefan Mauss, Ph.D., from 5/2017 until 9/2020; Professor Dr. Dierk F. Reiff, until 9/2011