Chatzigeorgiou Lab

Our Research Projects

How does a simple pre-vertebrate chordate brain function?
We use transient transgenesis combined with chemogenetics, calcium imaging and quantitative behavioral analysis to dissect the basic working principles of the Ciona larva nervous system.

For example we recently showed that Ciona larvae use polymodal sensory neurons to detect mechanical and chemical cues that promote or impede settlement and metamorphosis.

What is the composition and organization of larval behavior?

We use open source behavioral setups to image individual larvae. These videos are analyzed using machine vision and deep learning. We employ different approaches such a motif analysis, Hidden Markov Models and spatial embedding to uncover the identity of the basic building units of behavior as well as how these units are organized to generate complex behaviors.

In a recent study, we demonstrated amongst other things that Ciona larvae exhibit a rich repertoire of behaviors which can be organized into distinct modes across multiple time-scales. These behaviors are under the control of the evolutionarily conserved neuromodulators dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin.