Dr Marta Costa

I am the Project Team Leader for the Drosophila Connectomics group, started in October 2016, aims to build the adult olfactory connectome of Drosophila. That is, to describe every neuron that is involved in olfactory behaviour, and its connections. We are part of a consortium of groups in Cambridge (Jefferis, Landgraf), Oxford (Waddell) and Janelia Research Campus (Rubin, Bock labs) that are doing this, using a whole brain EM volume generated at Janelia by Davi Bock's group. The project focuses on the pathways and neuropils involved in innate and learned olfactory behaviour, from the primary olfactory centre - the antennal lobe - to the integration centres - lateral horn (LH) for innate and mushroom body (MB) for learned behaviours. I have also been a part of the Virtual Fly Brain project - the neuroinformatic hub for Drosophila neuroscience information - since 2011, working on data curation and image analysis.