PhD student: the neural basis of behavioural decision-making
Vacancy Reference Number: [Insert Reference Number]
Closing Date: 21 Mar 2025
Salary: UKRI rates
Address: School of Psychology & Neuroscience, St Andrews KY16 9TP, UK
Duration: 3.5 years
About the Project
Life as an animal is a constant process of choosing between actions: do I look for food, escape from a predator, find a mate, or stay on the sofa? Many of these actions are mutually exclusive, so decisions must carefully balance the importance of the animal’s various needs. Animals do this by taking into account the world around them, which tells them what is available in their surroundings (e.g., food or a predator), and the world within themselves, which informs them of their own needs (e.g., hunger or survival). Many decades of work has focused on how exactly cells in the brain perceive the world, and more recent studies have begun to uncover how animals register their own needs. However, how these factors are integrated to produce the adaptive behaviour that an animal needs to survive is still largely unclear. How is it decided which action is favourable? How does it get selected, with all competing actions repressed? Key will be to see how the brain integrates different, at times opposing external and internal signals, and how these combine to produce behaviour.
The main reason why this important question remains unanswered is a lack of tools to comprehensively study the brain and spinal cord. This proposal aims to overcome this problem by taking advantage of the unique strengths of the Drosophila larva as a model organism, in combination with cutting-edge neuroscience tools. The Drosophila larva has an interesting set of behaviours, yet has a small number of neurons, each uniquely identifiable and amenable to both activity imaging and manipulations. Crucially, the project supervisors are part of a collaborative effort to complete a full connectivity map (‘connectome’) of its nervous system, allowing us to see how each neuron within the brain is connected. This project will harness the breakthrough technologies of whole-brain lightsheet microscopy, optogenetics, and connectomics to understand how the behaviour of the animal is adapted to suit its needs.
The student will aim to identify which cells are involved, and how they affect decision-making. They will do this by:
1. Using lightsheet microscopy to determine which cells in the brain and spinal cord differ in their activity in response to various sensory cues when the internal needs are different (specifically, when the animal is hungry or not) in the context of feeding and locomotion.
2. Using optogenetics, which uses light to switch on or off specific cell types, to see what effect the activity of these specific cells of interest has on the animal’s ability to produce different behaviours.
The student will be able to generate different combinations of internal and external factors, and see how the activity of specific neural cells relates to behavioural decision-making in response to them. Combined with the connectome, which the student will work on to contribute to its completion, these results will produce an integrative view of the generation of the animal’s behavioural repertoire. The project addresses a question that lies at the heart of our understanding of the neural basis of behaviour, and will test how brains determine which action to take. Its results have implications for how brains across the animal kingdom - including ours - are designed. The student recruited to the project will receive training in cutting-edge techniques in a rapidly evolving field, and will, in addition to the core results, produce a database of brain cell types that are of interest for follow-up studies. The project will set the stage for an international partnership that will be well-positioned to investigate brain function in health and disease. The project will be managed jointly between the School of Psychology & Neuroscience at St Andrews and the Life and Medical Sciences Institute at Bonn. The student will be supervised by Dr Maarten Zwart (St Andrews) and Prof. Michael Pankratz (Bonn).
Further Information
How to apply:
Submit an application to Dr Maarten Zwart (mfz@st-andrews.ac.uk). Applications should include the following information:
* CV, including information about publications (publications are not a requirement).
* Transcripts of most relevant/recent degrees.
* Information about laboratory and other relevant experience.
* Statement of suitability as a candidate for the project (max 500 words).
* The names of 2-3 referees (or letters of reference).
Suitable applicants will be invited for interview via video call with the prospective supervisors. Following a successful application for the scholarship, candidates may be invited to apply to both universities for admission into the program and award of the scholarship. Please indicate in this application that you wish to be considered for this Global doctoral scholarship (Pankratz-Zwart).
Funding Notes
The funding comprises a scholarship equivalent of a full-fees award and stipend for a period of up to 3.5 years. It is expected that the student will spend half of the scholarship term at the University of St Andrews and half at the University of Bonn.
Contact Details
Informal enquiries regarding this scholarship may be addressed to the co-supervisors (mfz@st-andrews.ac.uk and pankratz@uni-bonn.de).
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