
Dr. Vanessa Stempel
+49 (0)69 850033-0
E-Mail: vanessa.stempel@brain.mpg.de
Scientific Focus
Instinctive behaviours, such as hunting, escape and mating, are an animal’s survival kit of actions that they acquire with little to no experience. In vertebrates, they are generated by remarkably conserved brain circuits, and it has become increasingly clear in recent years that instinctive behaviours are not just stereotyped fixed-action patterns but that they can be flexible in regard to both action selection and execution. They are strongly modulated by internal and motivational states, such as stress, hunger or oestrus cycle, and may undergo short- and long-lasting adaptations to accommodate environmental changes.
Understanding the synaptic and cellular implementation of this behavioural flexibility in defined neural circuits will be a significant step towards our understanding of adaptive information processing in the brain and the generation of behaviour. We will focus on evolutionarily conserved circuits in the rodent midbrain, that are critically involved in the initiation and execution of instinctive behaviours. Our goal is to identify canonical neuronal computations and plasticity mechanisms that impart flexibility to instinctive behaviours.
Methods
Selected Publications
Evans DA*, Stempel AV*, Vale R*, Branco T (2019) Cognitive control of escape behaviour. Trends Cogn. Sci; 23:334-348. *equal contribution
Evans DA*, Stempel AV*, Vale R, Ruehle S, Lefler Y, Branco T (2018) A synaptic threshold mechanism for computing escape decisions. Nature; 558:590-594 *equal contribution
Stempel AV#, Stumpf A, Zhang HY, Özdoğan T, Pannasch U, Theis AK, Otte DM, Wojtalla A, Racz I, Ponomarenko A, Xi ZX, Zimmer A, Schmitz D (2016). Cannabinoid type 2 receptors mediate a cell-type- specific plasticity in the hippocampus. Neuron; 90:795-809. #co-corresponding author
Schmeisser MJ, Ey E, Wegener S, Bockmann J, Stempel AV, Kuebler A, Janssen AL, Udvardi PT, Shiban E, Spilker C, Balschun D, Skryabin BV, Dieck St, Smalla KH, Montag D, Leblond CS, Faure P, Torquet N, Le Sourd AM, Toro R, Grabrucker AM, Shoichet SA, Schmitz D, Kreutz MR, Bourgeron T, Gundelfinger ED, Boeckers TM. (2012) Autistic-like behaviours and hyperactivity in mice lacking ProSAP1/ Shank2. Nature; 486:256-260.
Winterer J, Stempel AV, Dugladze T, Földy C, Maziashvili N, Zivkovic AR, Priller J, Soltesz I, Gloveli T, Schmitz D (2011) Cell-type-specific modulation of feedback inhibition by serotonin in the hippocampus. J Neurosci; 31:8464-8475.