Prof. Dr. Alexander Borst

Principal Investigator

Address

MPI - Department of Systems and Computational Neurobiology 
Am Klopferspitz 18 
82152 Planegg-Martinsried

Phone 

+49-89-8578-3251  

Fax 

+49-89-8578-3252 

Email 

borst[at]neuro.mpg.de 

Research topics

• Theory and modeling of motion vision
• Information processing in the invertebrate visual system
• Studies on mechanisms of motion detection
• Computer modelling of the visual system in flies
• Computations in fly motion vision-algorithms and neural circuits

Our group is interested in how the nervous system computes motion information from the changing retinal images and how this information is encoded in the electrical signals of motion sensitive neurons. The work combines experimental and theoretical analysis (in vivo, in vitro and in silico) at various levels of complexity ranging from the membrane properties and pharmacology of individual neurons up to simple motion driven reflexes observed in behavior.

Scientific approach

Our experimental animals are the blowfly Calliphora vicina and the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster: While the first species allows for intracellular recording and dye injection into individual neurons, the latter provides a wealth of genetic techniques including tissue specific expression of genetically encoded indicators and blockers of nervous activity.

Group Members Associated with BCCN

• Armin Bahl (PhD Student)
• Jürgen Haag (PhD Student)
• Aljoscha Leonhardt (PhD Student)
• Isabella Kauer (PhD Student)
• Elisabeth Hopp (PhD Student)

Related Publications

• Maisak MS, Haag J, Ammer G, Serbe E, Meier M, Leonhardt A, Schilling T, Bahl A, Rubin GM, Nern A, Dickson BJ, Reiff DF, Hopp E, Borst A (2013) A directional tuning map of Drosophila elementary motion detectors. Nature 500: 212-216.
• Bahl A, Ammer G, Schilling T, Borst A (2013) Object tracking in motion-blind flies. Nature Neurosci 16: 730-738.
• Joesch M, Weber F, Eichner H, Borst A (2013) Functional specialization of parallel motion detection circuits in the fly. J Neurosci 33: 902-905.
• Haikala V, Joesch M, Borst A, Mauss A (2013) Optogenetic control of fly optomotor responses. J Neurosci, 33: 13927-13934.
• Plett J, Bahl A, Buss M, Kuehnlenz K, Borst A (2012) Bio-inspired visual ego-rotation sensor for MAVs. Biol Cybern 106: 51-63.Weber F, Machens CK,
• Borst A (2012) Disentangling the functional consequences of the connectivity between optic-flow processing neurons. Nature Neurosci 15: 441-448.
• Borst A, Euler T (2011) Seeing things in motion: Models, circuits, and mechanisms. Neuron 71: 974-994.
• Eichner H, Joesch M, Schnell B, Reiff DF, Borst A (2011) Internal structure of the fly elementary motion detector. Neuron 70: 1155-1164.
• Borst A, Weber F (2011) Neural action fields for optic flow based navigation: A simulation study of the fly lobula plate network. PLoS ONE 6: e16303.
• Joesch M, Schnell B, Raghu SV, Reiff DF, Borst A (2010) ON and OFF pathways in Drosophila motion vision. Nature 468: 300-304.
• Weber F, Machens CK, Borst A (2010) Spatio-temporal response properties of optic-flow processing neurons. Neuron 67: 629-642.
• Reiff DF, Plett J, Mank M, Griesbeck O, Borst A (2010) Visualizing retinotopic half-wave rectified input to the motion detection circuitry of Drosophila. Nature Neurosci 13: 973-978.
• Borst A, Haag J, Reiff DF (2010) Fly motion vision. Annu Rev Neurosci 33: 49-70.