Tel.:

0049-6221-548300

Fax:

0049-6221-544496

Internet:

Email:

schuster@nbio.uni-heidelberg.de

The detailed characterization of higher brain functions such as learning & memory and memory modulation as well as the underlying network- and synaptic plasticity phenomena is often hindered by the overwhelming complexity of mammalian brains. In contrast, the brains of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster harbor 10� times fewer neurons than human brains and flies still show a remarkably rich repertoire of complex behaviors and plasticity phenomena. We therefore use flies in a highly interdisciplinary approach to assess the principal cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying various forms of experience-dependent plasticity. Our research focuses on the following aspects:

• cellular and molecular principles of long-term memory (LTM) formation and LTM-modulation, such as LTM-extinction, reconsolidation and reinstatement;
• principles of small network functions and functional state switches with a focus on computational approaches;
• cellular and molecular principles of experience-dependent potentiation of glutamatergic synapses.

Ge L, Leung YY, Parisotto D, Schuster CM (2017) AKT activity controls the functional status of vesicle release machineries. Under revision .

Knodel MM, Geiger R, Ge L, Bucher D, Grillo A, Wittum G, Schuster CM, Queisser G (2014) Synaptic bouton properties are tuned to best fit the prevailing firing pattern Front Comput Neurosci 8:101 .

Weislogel JM, Bengtson CP, Muller MK, Hortzsch JN, Bujard M, Schuster CM, Bading H (2013) Requirement for nuclear calcium signaling in Drosophila long-term memory Science Signal 6:ra33 .

(2013) UG4: a novel flexible software system for simulating PDE based models on high-performance computers. Comp.Vis.Sci. 16(4), 165-169 (2013) .