The 5-week practical course will contain different experiments, covering different fields of research with an emphasis on the interdisciplinary field of the investigation of neural circuits in genetic model organisms. Neuroanatomical investigations of the Drosophila nervous system will be addressed using modern molecular genetic techniques in combination with confocal microscopy (image data analysis using software like AMIRA and IMARIS). Furthermore, the activity of genetically targeted Drosophila neurons will be visualized in vivo using genetically encoded Calcium sensors. The role of these neuronal cell types will also be investigated using automated behavior assays where the function of cells has been perturbed using different molecular genetic tools. Taken together, these experiments will provide important insight into the structure and function of neural circuits. Part of this course will also be a seminar (held as a journal club), as well as an integrated lecture series in which selected up-to-date scientific results as well as new methods will be presented and discussed in detail (molecular neuroanatomy, cellular basis of behavior and its disruption, visualization of neuronal activity using genetically encoded activity sensors, transcriptomics, and disease). close