Department: Division of Neuronal Cell Biology
Head: Haubensak, Wulf, Univ.-Prof. Dr.
Description
Survival critically depends on recognizing what is important and initiating appropriate behavioural responses - a process largely guided by emotions. Fear, for instance, associates stimuli with threats and evokes defensive behaviours, whereas reward-related emotions induce the opposite. Emotions are a central part of our mental self and linked to a variety of psychological conditions. But how are they wired in the brain?
In our circuit neuroscience projects, we use molecular and optogenetic methods to map neural circuits for affective processing and combine these manipulations with electrophysiology, Ca2+ imaging and fMRI to explore how these circuits control emotional states. We are particularly interested in exploring neuronal circuit modules between amygdala and cortex and how they classify something as salient (important) and attribute valence (good or bad). We want to understand how these networks build affective models of our environment to guide our experience by interoceptive intuition (gut feelings).
In a neurogenetics initiative, we are currently adopting integrated workflows that bridge circuit neuroscience with neurogenetic data to investigate how sets of genes might bias circuit activity, affective states and behavioral responding. In the long run, this will help to understand constraints and freedoms between genetic variance, circuit computation and affective traits – processes that drive behavioral diversity in health and psychiatric conditions.
Members
Selected Publications of Principle Investigator
- Piszczek L, Constantinescu A, Kargl D, Lazovic J, Pekcec A, Nicholson J, Haubensak W (2022) Dissociation of impulsive traits by subthalamic metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 eLife, 11
| Weblink | - Kargl D, Kaczanowska J, Ulonska S, Groessl F, Piszczek L, Lazovic J, Buehler K, Haubensak W (2020) The amygdala instructs insular feedback for affective learning eLife, 9
| Weblink | - Pfaff D, Tabansky I, Haubensak W (2019) Tinbergen’s challenge for the neuroscience of behavior PNAS, 116 (20): 9704-9710
| Weblink | - Groessl F, Munsch T, Meis S, Griessner J, Kaczanowska J, Pliota P, Kargl D, Badurek S, Kraitsy K, Rassoulpour A, Zuber J, Lessmann V, Haubensak W (2018) Dorsal tegmental dopamine neurons gate associative learning of fear Nature Neurosci, 21 (7): 952-962
| Weblink | - Ganglberger F, Kaczanowska J, Penninger J, Hess A, Bühler K, Haubensak W (2018) Predicting functional neuroanatomical maps from fusing brain networks with genetic information Neuroimage, 170: 113-120
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