Understanding Neural Circuit Evolution

Program

Opening Lecture and Virtual Poster Session (July 7, 2022)

18:00 Opening lecture Emergence of a sense for numbers in primates, corvids, and machines (Andreas Nieder, University of Tübingen and SPP 2205)

18:30-20:00 poster session

Lectures (July 8, 2022)

09:15 Opening remarks (Fred Wolf, Marion Silies)

Session I: Nervous system evolution in deep time

09:30-10:00 Neural circuits evolutions: lessons from the fish (Filippo Del Bene, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France)
10:00-10:30 Delayed encephalization bursts at the origin of modern mammals (Ornella Bertrand, University of Edinburgh, UK)
10:30-11:00 Unique neuropeptides and neurons near the origin of animals (Maria Sachkova, SARS Centre, University of Bergen, Norway)

11:00 coffee break

11:20-12:00 Lecture I: Functional evolution of avian taste receptors (Maude Baldwin, MPI Biological Intelligence, Seewiesen, Germany)

12:00-13:30 lunch break

Session II: Decoding evolutionary design principles

13:30-14:00 Small brains for big science (Mitya Chklovskii, Flatiron Institute, New York, USA)
14:00-14:30 Statistical analysis and optimality of neural systems (Wiktor Młynarski, IST, Vienna, Austria)
14:30-15:00 Multi-objective optimization of neural circuits (Fabian Pallasdies, Susanne Schreiber, ITB Berlin, Germany)

15:00

coffee break

Session III: Neuro-behavioral diversity: origins and adaptivity

15:30-16:00 Behavioral individuality in Drosophila (Gerit Linneweber, FU Berlin, Germany)
16:00-16:30 Deep homology of central brain circuitry in arthropods and vertebrates (Frank Hirth, King’s College London, UK)
16:30-17:00 Innate cognition: Nest-building behavior in African cichlids (Swantje Grätsch, MPI Biological Intelligence, Seewiesen, Germany)

17:00 coffee break

17:20-18:00 Lecture II: Evolution of central neural circuits in Drosophilids (Lucia Prieto-Godino, Francis Crick Institute, London, UK)