Theoretical Neurobiology: Odor coding in Apis mellifera
Neurobiologists have only begun to understand odor representation, coding and further processing in the brain. Working on the brain of the honeybee Apis mellifera, a joint effort by the University of Konstanz and the Free University of Berlin has been initiated in order to solve the riddle of odor coding in the brain. At the moment, novel microscopical and staining techniques are being developed in the laboratory. On the theoretical side, for both, data retrieval from microscopical images and data analysis, algorithmical solutions are needed. Currently, I am working on signal extraction from time-series of images and registration algorithms which map the signals to known physiological structures in the brain. Difficulties which arise here are high levels of biological noise, often due to deficiencies of the staining techniques, slight (but on a microscopical scale considerable) movement of the animals during the experiments and variability between individual animals. As a long-term goal, pattern recognition methods shall be employed in order to better understand the underlying neural circuitry, which is not yet accessible with experimental methods.
publications
The following list of publications covers only those, which are or were published during participation at the Graduiertenkolleg / PhD program.
Conference Papers
2008
Strauch, M., Galizia, C., Registration to a neuroanatomical reference atlas - identifying glomeruli in optical recordings of the honeybee brain, Vol. P-136, 2008.
curriculum vitae
since June 2007
Scientist at the department of neurobiology, University of Konstanz
2003 - 2004
Exchange student at the Flinders University of Adelaide, Australia
2000 - 2007
Bioinformatics program at the University of Tübingen, Germany
degree: "Diplom-Bioinformatiker" (comparable to MSc)
