Professor of Molecular Neurobiology of Behavior

• 2008 Professor of Molecular Neurobiology of Behavior, University of Göttingen


• 2008 Habilitation in Neurobiology and Genetics, University of Würzburg


• 2001-2008 Research Assistant, University of Würzburg


• 2000-2001 Research Fellow, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York


• 1996-1999 PhD student, Free University of Berlin


• 1996 Degree (Diploma) in Biology, Free University of Berlin

Major Research Interests

We study neuronal mechanisms underlying olfaction, learning and memory, and goal-directed behavior using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. The fruit fly Drosophila offers the advantage of expressing transgenes in almost any population of it’s about 100.000 neurons. Transgenes used by us are, for example, fluorescent sensor proteins that allow us to monitor the spatio-temporal activity of neurons, or light-sensitive proteins by which neuronal activity can be stimulated through illumination. Using these optogenetic techniques in combination with behavioral analyses we aim at unraveling the functioning of dedicated neuronal circuits, and how these circuits contribute to organizing behavior. In addition, molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory processes are investigated.


Homepage Department/Research Group

http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/111890.html



Selected Recent Publications

• Christiansen F, Zube C, Andlauer TF, Wichmann C, Fouquet W, Owald D, Mertel S, Leiss F, Tavosanis G, Luna AJ, Fiala A, Sigrist SJ (2011) Presynapses in Kenyon cell dendrites in the mushroom body calyx of Drosophila. J Neurosci 31: 9696-707


• Störtkuhl KF, Fiala A (2011) The Smell of Blue Light: A new approach toward understanding an olfactory neuronal network. Front Neurosci 5: 72


• Fiala A, Suska A, Schlüter OM (2010) Optogenetic approaches in neuroscience. Curr Biol 20: 897-903


• Kamikouchi A, Wiek R, Effertz T, Göpfert MC, Fiala A (2010) Transcuticular optical imaging of stimulus-evoked neural activities in the Drosophila peripheral nervous system. Nature Protoc 5: 1229-35


• Kamikouchi A, Inagaki HK, Effertz T, Hendrich O, Fiala A, Göpfert MC, Ito K (2009) The neural basis of Drosophila gravity-sensing and hearing. Nature 458: 165-71


• Fiala A (2007) Olfaction and olfactory learning in Drosophila: recent progress. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 17: 720-6


• Suh GS, Ben-Tabou de Leon S, Tanimoto H, Fiala A, Benzer S, Anderson DJ (2007) Light activation of an innate olfactory avoidance response in Drosophila. Curr Biol. 17: 905-8


• Schroll C, Riemensperger T, Bucher D, Ehmer J, Völler T, Erbguth K, Gerber B, Hendel T, Nagel G, Buchner E, Fiala A (2006) Light-induced activation of distinct modulatory neurons triggers appetitive or aversive learning in Drosophila larvae. Curr Biol. 16: 1741-7


• Riemensperger T, Völler T, Stock P, Buchner E, Fiala A (2005) Punishment prediction by dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila. Curr Biol. 15: 1953-60


• Fiala A, Spall T, Diegelmann S, Eisermann B, Sachse S, Devaud JM, Buchner E, Galizia CG (2002) Genetically expressed cameleon in Drosophila melanogaster is used to visualize olfactory information in projection neurons. Curr Biol. 12:1877-84