Linking memories across time: the molecular and circuit mechanisms of how to integrate sequential experience in Drosophila

• Applicant: Dr. Burak Gür
• Subject Area: Experimental and Theoretical Network Neuroscience
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 551429480

Memories often extend beyond individual events and can contain information from multiple sequential experiences. Although isolated memories are studied extensively, a detailed understanding of how multiple experiences are integrated or retained as distinct events is lacking. Understanding the processes guiding memory integration is important to inform retrieval-based treatments of maladaptive memories, such as extreme fear, or drug related behavior. The timing between events is crucial for the organization of memories. This project aims to uncover the neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying memory integration and separation over time. Using the strength of the Drosophila system, I will combine in vivo physiology, fly genetics, and behavioral approaches to establish causal links between molecules, circuitry, and behavior. I will investigate how timing-dependent integration of conflicting events modulates learned behavior and the related memory traces. In a candidate-driven approach, I will study the molecular processes that can dictate the temporal window for memory linkage. In parallel, I will investigate the neuronal circuitry that drives the integration and separation of sequential events in memory, firstly focusing on dopaminergic pathways. By elucidating these mechanisms, I aim to shed light on fundamental aspects of memory update based on event timing, offering insights that could extend beyond fruit flies. Considering the potential of strategies that utilize memory flexibility to alleviate the harmful consequences of maladaptive memories, revealing the basic principles of time-dependent memory integration might inspire future applied approaches.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Host: Dr. Johannes Felsenberg