BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:BMI Seminar // Vanessa Ruta - Themes and Variations: Circuit mecha
 nisms of behavioral evolution
DTSTART:20210929T160000
DTEND:20210929T170000
DTSTAMP:20260922T015642Z
UID:1d510f8875cfda2fa87ece1eeeb674e12ff5f130391aab3290ca245f
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Vanessa Ruta\, The Rockefeller University\, New York\, USA\nEx
 ceptionally at 4:00 PM\n\nAnimals exhibit extraordinary variation in their
  behavior\, yet little is known about the neural mechanisms that generate 
 this diversity. My lab has been taking advantage of the rapid diversificat
 ion of male courtship behaviors in Drosophila to glean insight into how ev
 olution shapes the nervous system to generate species-specific behaviors. 
 By translating neurogenetic tools from D. melanogaster to closely related 
 Drosophila species\, we have begun to directly compare the homologous neur
 al circuits and pinpoint sites of adaptive change. Across species\, P1 neu
 rons serve as a conserved node in regulating male courtship: these neurons
  are selectively activated by the sensory cues indicative of an appropriat
 e mate and their activation triggers enduring courtship displays. We have 
 been examining how different sensory pathways converge onto P1 neurons to 
 regulate a male’s state of arousal\, honing his pursuit of a prospective
  partner. Moreover\, by performing cross-species comparison of these circu
 its\, we have begun to gain insight into how reweighting of sensory inputs
  to P1 neurons underlies species-specific mate recognition. Our results su
 ggest how variation at flexible nodes within the nervous system can serve 
 as a substrate for behavioral evolution\, shedding light on the types of c
 hanges that are possible and preferable within brain circuits. \n\n 
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717 https://epfl.zoom.u
 s/j/96263948305
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR