Paul Szyszka

Department of Neurobiology

University of Konstanz

Universitätsstr. 10

78464 Konstanz

Room M1108

Phone: +49 7531 88 2115

Email: paul@szyszkalab.com

(from February 2019: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand)

My profiles at Google Scholar and Researchgate

We seek to understand how the brain encodes behaviorally relevant information. To drive the full range of neural computations performed by the brain, we test the limits of perception and learning in insects using naturalistic stimuli. Currently we focus on the following questions: 

• What stimulus cues do insects use to segregate target odors from background? 
• What active smelling strategies do insects use during odor plume tracking? 
• What do insects learn about their olfactory environment during exploration and search, and how does the social context affect learning in individuals?

We address these questions in insects that have evolved to solve specific tasks, such as olfactory learning and navigation, and we use Drosophila to test the causal relationship between neuronal activity and behavior by exploiting the genetic toolkit for silencing, stimulating and monitoring activity in identified neurons. The methods we use are comprised of behavioral analysis, functional imaging and electrophysiology.