Suguru Takagi
Interest
Sensory circuits, processing, and behavior across species
Current Research
The Takagi lab aims to understand how the neuronal circuits control sensory-guided behavior across animal species. He focuses on fruit fly Drosophila, a powerful model organism suitable to study fundamental principles of neural structure, function, and behavior. He has been working on olfactory circuits and behavior by using a comparative approach. Specifically, he has developed neurogenetic tools in Drosophila sechellia – a closely-related species to the long-standing model organism Drosophila melanogaster but has adapted to a distinct ecological niche – to understand what features of the brain has changed over millions of years and how it changed the behavior. He aims to expand his analysis to central brain neurons and non-neuronal cells by leveraging comparative and functional resources, such as natural genetic variations, calcium imaging, optogenetics, and virtual reality assays.
The main questions to be pursued in the lab are the following:
- How does peripheral composition affect olfactory coding and behavior?
- How do dietary shifts and their associated nutritional changes impact brain function and behavior?
- How do changes in non-neuronal cells affect brain function and behavior?