The development of sex-specific neuronal features

Weizmann Institute, Israel

The Oren-Suissa lab investigates how sexually dimorphic patterns in the brain emerge, from synapse formation to animal behavior. One of our goals is to elucidate how genetic sex modulates circuit dynamics. The underlying mechanisms can only be currently resolved in C. elegans, where the connectome of the nervous system for both sexes has been mapped. Using technologies such as optogenetics, calcium imaging, trans-synaptic labeling and single-cell transcriptome analysis we found a significant difference in the way the two sexes respond to nociceptive stimuli. Detailed circuit analysis reveals that the neuronal dynamics and connectivity of sex-shared neurons are shaped by their sexual identity to define the activity of circuits and ultimately, of behavior. The Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) is one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary research institutions. The Feinberg Graduate School, the Institute’s university arm, trains research students pursuing graduate degrees. The Department of Neurobiology supports multi-disciplinary cutting-edge methodologies, ranging from molecular biology and genetics, in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology, functional imaging and psychophysics, to computational modeling and theory. State-of-the-art microcopy, cell sorting and deep-sequencing facilities are also available at the Faculty of Biology.

Research team webpage: https://celegans.ulb.ac.be/wordpress/