OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Our goal is to understand how neuronal circuits coordinate behaviours extending to whole organ systems or to the entire body. Achieving this at cellular resolution in an entire nervous system is possible by studying small animals amenable to genetic and other manipulations. We are actively developing the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii as a new system for circuit neuroscience. We use whole-body connectomics, neuronal activity imaging, and behavioural analysis to understand the circuit bases of behaviour in fully mapped, stereotypical circuits. Genome editing and transgenic access to single neurons allow us to link molecular function to network activity and behaviour. I will present recent results on the integration of phototactic and UV-avoidance responses and on a hydrodynamic startle behaviour.