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Bahl Lab

@bahllab.bsky.social

330 followers 210 following 45 posts

How do individual animals and animal collectives process and evaluate sensory information to give rise to behavior? We are investigating this and much more in the beautiful city of Konstanz, Germany.

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Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · 7d

Congratulations to Susanne (mentored by post-doc @mehaj.bsky.social) for successfully defending her master's thesis investigating neural dynamics in the larval zebrafish brain 🥳 Wishing you the best of luck with your #jobsearch for a PhD position!

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

This work would not have been possible without the support of @uni-konstanz.de‬, @cbehav.bsky.social, @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, @zukunftskolleg.bsky.social, @erc.europa.eu‬, @boehringerglobal.bsky.social, NIH U19, and @dfg.de‬. (7/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

A big thanks to our co-authors Sophie Aimon, @maxcapelle.bsky.social‬, @flofightscience.bsky.social‬, Heike Naumann, Herwig Baier, Krasimir Slanchev, as well as our colleagues in the Neurobiology department, and scientific support structures of the @uni-konstanz.de. (6/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

These results demonstrate how distinct visual features are extracted, processed in parallel, and eventually integrated to guide behavior. This modular and parallel circuit architecture provides a context-flexible solution for transforming sensory input into action. (5/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

We investigated the morphology and neurotransmitters of functionally identified neurons and show how the identified pathways converge in the anterior hindbrain. (4/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

Through brain-wide 2P calcium imaging, we identify neurons whose activity matches our model components. (3/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

We find that zebrafish compute three visual features–motion, luminance level, and changes in luminance–and simply add cues to choose swim direction. Our model captures behavior and predicts potential computations in the brain. (2/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

Larval zebrafish follow the direction of whole-field motion #OMR and prefer to swim towards brighter areas #phototaxis. But what happens in the brain when motion goes left, and there is brightness on the right? (1/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

How do brains make decisions when faced with multiple, potentially conflicting cues? In our latest preprint, we show how #zebrafish use an additive strategy and process multiple visual features through anatomically distinct parallel pathways tinyurl.com/mvkn8em9 Thread 👇

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

These results demonstrate how distinct visual features are extracted, processed in parallel, and eventually integrated to guide behavior. This modular and parallel circuit architecture provides a context-flexible solution for transforming sensory input into action. (5/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

We investigated the morphology and neurotransmitters of functionally identified neurons and show how the identified pathways converge in the anterior hindbrain. (4/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Aug 25

Through brain-wide 2P calcium imaging, we identify neurons whose activity matches our model components. (3/7)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jul 11

The Behavioural Neurobiology Summer School in Kosovo is back for the 2nd year and after just a few days we already made it onto live TV! For anyone who speaks Albanian, you can check out the full broadcast here: shorturl.at/kpUzp 🎙️

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

This work would not have been possible without the support of @uni-konstanz.de‬, @cbehav.bsky.social, @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, @zukunftskolleg.bsky.social, @erc.europa.eu‬, @boehringerglobal.bsky.social, and @dfg.de. (10/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

We suggest that zebrafish phototaxis is regulated via parallel processing streams, which could be a universal implementation to change strategies depending on developmental stage, context, or internal state, making behavior flexible and goal-oriented. (9/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

Model-based extraction of latent cognitive variables points towards potential neural correlates of the observed behavioral inversion and illustrates a novel way to explore the mechanisms of vertebrate ontogeny. (8/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

We ran simulations with virtual fish to test the model’s prediction for brightness navigation. Our model is able to qualitatively reproduce the behavior of the real fish. (7/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

Using these pathways, we build a library of agent-based models to predict animal behavior across stimulation conditions and in more complex environments. (6/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

We identify three parallel pathways: averaging whole-field luminance levels (A), comparing the contrast of light levels across eyes (C), and computing eye-specific temporal derivatives (D). (5/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

Next, we quantified the turning behavior using a lateral brightness stimulus that is locked to the position of the fish. (4/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

To test behavioral responses to whole-field brightness levels, we created a virtual circular gradient in which the brightness of the arena depends on the position of the fish. (3/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

We apply a combination of modeling and complementary phototaxis assays in virtual reality to dissect the algorithmic basis of this transition. (2/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

Larval zebrafish spend more time in the light, whereas juvenile zebrafish tend to approach darker regions. (1/10)

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 23

We are proud to have @maxcapelle.bsky.social's paper out on bioRxiv! He found that phototactic behavior in #zebrafish switches during #ontogeny🐟🔆 Through elegant behavioral dissections, he identifies the navigational strategies related to this transition. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thread 👇

Bahl Lab @bahllab.bsky.social · Jun 4

For the next few months, he will move next door to the @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social to work on animal tracking software, but we are looking forward to having him back in the lab to start his master's thesis at the end of the year!