en
Ilona Grunwald Kadow
© Andreas Heddergott
Prof. Dr. Ilona Grunwald Kadow

Website

Affiliations
  • Institut für Physiologie II
Research topics
  • neuroscience
  • behavior
  • cognition
  • sensory processing
We combine neuroscience and physiology to understand how brains and bodies communicate on the cellular and molecular level to enable organisms to thrive in their respective environments. Perceptions and decisions depend on sensory impressions, but also on past experiences and the present internal state of an animal. Behavior is therefore very adaptive and flexible. For instance, a hungry animal perceives the smell and taste of food as much more positive than a fed animal. At the same time, it is willing to take a high risk and invest time and energy in order to find food. Which signals and neural networks allow the communication between brain and body? And how do they modulate behavior and decision-making in the best interest of the organism? We aim at answering these questions using genetic models such as Drosophila melanogaster in combination with modern techniques including high resolution behavioral analysis, optogenetics, and in vivo multiphoton microscopy.
Selected publications

K.P. Siju, Stih V, Aimon S, Gjorgjieva J, Portugues P, Grunwald Kadow IC (2020). Valence and state-dependent population coding in dopaminergic neurons in the fly mushroom body. Current Biology 30(11):2104-2115. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.037

Sayin S, De Backer JF, Wosniack ME, Lewis L, Siju KP, Frisch LM, Schlegel P, Edmondson-Stait A, Sharifi N, Fisher CB, Calle-Schuler S, Lauritzen S, Bock D, Costa M, Jefferis GSXE, Gjorgjieva J, Grunwald Kadow IC (2019). A neural circuit arbitrates between perseverance and withdrawal in hungry Drosophila. Neuron 104, 544–558,online Aug 27 2019. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.07.028

Lewis L, Siju KP, Aso Y, Friedrich AB, Bulteel AJB, Rubin GM, Grunwald Kadow IC (2015). A higher brain circuit for immediate integration of conflicting sensory information in Drosophila. Current Biology PMID: 26299514, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.07.015

Cayirlioglu, P*, Grunwald Kadow, IC*, Zhan, X, Okamura, K, Gunning, D, Lai, EC, and Zipursky, SL (2008) Hybrid Neurons in a microRNA mutant are putative evolutionary intermediates in insect CO2 sensory systems. Science 319, 1256-1260. * equal contribution doi: 10.1126/science.1149483.

Ilona Grunwald Kadow
© Andreas Heddergott
Prof. Dr. Ilona Grunwald Kadow

Website

-