Taste processing in Drosophila - Kristin Scott

Event Details:

Thursday, May 10, 2018
This Event Has Passed
Time
12:00pm to 1:00pm PDT
Contacts
neuroscience@stanford.edu
Event Sponsor
Stanford Neurosciences Institute
Add to calendar:
Image

Taste processing in Drosophilat

Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Seminar Series, Kristin Scott

Kristin Scott, PH.D

Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development at University of California, Berkeley

Host: Nirao Shah


Abstract

The ability to identify food that is nutrient-rich and avoid toxic substances is essential for an animal's survival.  Although olfaction and vision contribute to food detection, the gustatory system acts as a final checkpoint control for food acceptance or rejection.  The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster tastes many of the same stimuli as mammals and provides an excellent model system for comparative studies of taste detection.  The relative simplicity of the fly brain and behaviors, along with the molecular genetic and functional approaches available in Drosophila, allow the examination of gustatory neural circuits from sensory input to motor output.  We have utilized a combination of molecular, behavioral, and calcium imaging studies to examine how taste information is processed in the higher brain.  More recently, we have begun to examine how hunger, satiety and learning influence activity in taste circuits and regulate feeding decisions. These studies provide insight into how taste compounds are detected and processed by the brain.

Curriculum Vitae

Related papers

[1] Heesoo Kim, Colleen Kirkhart, Kristin Scott. Long-range projection neurons in the taste circuit of Drosophila. Kim et al. eLife 2017;6:e23386. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.23386

[2] Nicholas Jourjine, Brendan C. Mullaney, Kevin Mann, Kristin Scott. Coupled Sensing of Hunger and Thirst Signals Balances Sugar and Water Consumption. Jourjine et al., 2016, Cell 166, 855–866 August 11, 2016 ª 2016 Elsevier Inc. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.06.046