Dr Karl Emanuel Busch

Interests

I study the response of the nematode C. elegans to a cue related to foraging, the concentration of ambient oxygen, which determines the worm´s locomotory activity on bacterial food lawns. I aim to understand how genes that regulate this particular behaviour act within the neurons where they are needed, in the context of the neural circuit that underlies the behaviour. I analyse the phenotypes of mutants of these genes in behavioural assays for responses to oxygen changes that are established in our lab, as well as in newly developed ones. In these, worms are exposed to a controlled change in the oxygen concentration and their movements recorded under a video microscope; the resulting images are analysed for speed of movement etc., to quantify the behavioural patterns observed. I will analyse these phenotypes also by using tools I currently develop for improved monitoring of neural activity in individual C. elegans neurons.

Research Focus

Equipment

Behavioural analysis

Calcium imaging

Fluorescence microscopy

Microscopy