We are interested in understanding mechanisms of behaviour and their neural and molecular underpinnings using honey bees. The European-African honey bee, Apis mellifera, is one of the most successful species to study sensory and behavioural capabilities in insects and animals in general. Colour vision, spatial navigation and circadian regulation of behaviour were first identified in A.mellifera.
Honeybees surpass the common neurobiological invertebrate model organisms with respect to the degree of behavioural complexity and the ease to perform behavioural experiments under natural and laboratory conditions. Although honey bee research currently lacks the sophisticated analytical tools available for genetic model organisms, but in the long run honeybees are the most promising insect species to study neural and molecular mechanisms of complex behaviours in natural conditions.
Research in my lab pursues four general goals:
(a) developing assays and procedures to study behaviour at the level of the individual,
(b) establishing molecular techniques to detect and measure behaviourally induced molecular changes in single brains, brain parts and individually identifiable neurons,
(c) performing comparative behavioural and molecular studies with Asian honey bee species, and
(d) using Drosophila to identify candidate neural circuitry and molecular processes involved in honey bee behaviour.
Honeybees surpass the common neurobiological invertebrate model organisms with respect to the degree of behavioural complexity and the ease to perform behavioural experiments under natural and laboratory conditions. Although honey bee research currently lacks the sophisticated analytical tools available for genetic model organisms, but in the long run honeybees are the most promising insect species to study neural and molecular mechanisms of complex behaviours in natural conditions.
Research in my lab pursues four general goals:
(a) developing assays and procedures to study behaviour at the level of the individual,
(b) establishing molecular techniques to detect and measure behaviourally induced molecular changes in single brains, brain parts and individually identifiable neurons,
(c) performing comparative behavioural and molecular studies with Asian honey bee species, and
(d) using Drosophila to identify candidate neural circuitry and molecular processes involved in honey bee behaviour.
