Paul Szyszka
University of Otago
P.O. Box 56
Dunedin 9054
New Zealand
Email: paul@szyszkalab.com
(formerly: University of Konstanz, Germany)
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:
We address these questions in insects that have evolved to solve specific tasks, such as olfactory learning and navigation in honey bees, and we use Drosophila to test the causal relationship between neuronal activity and behavior by exploiting the genetic tools for manipulating and monitoring activity in identified neurons. The methods we use are comprised of behavioral analysis, functional imaging and electrophysiology.
HFSP Program Grant (2015-2019)
Odor-background segregation and source localization using fast olfactory processing
Collaborative project with Ryohei Kanzaki (The University of Tokyo), Thomas Nowotny (University of Sussex) and Brian H. Smith (Arizona State University).
BMBF, Bernstein Focus : Learning (2009-2015)
Remembrance of things (just) past – mechanisms underlying ephemeral memory traces revealed by classical conditioning of temporally disjunct stimuli
Collaborative project with Andreas Herz (LMU Munich), C. Giovanni Galizia (University of Konstanz) and Hiromu Tanimoto (Tohoku University).