In our neurogenetics laboratory at the University of Leicester we are interested in behaviour, which we use as a convenient tool for the analysis of the nervous system.
Over the years, our laboratory has been particularly involved in studying 24 hour circadian behavioural rhythms in invertebrates, and in particular in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster.
We are interested in the genes that regulate the clock and we study them by characterising their function, their evolution, and their expression. We are focused on how neurons expressing clock genes are organised and how circadian information flows through their network. More recently we have also started analysing other complex behaviours such as learning and memory, courtship, sleep, magnetoreception, and aggression.
Another related area of research we are pursuing is the study of biological rhythmicity in marine invertebrates. The marine environment is exposed to circadian, lunar, semi-lunar, and tidal rhythms and intertidal species living on the shoreline must adapt to this complex temporal environment. We study the circadian and tidal behaviour of the speckled sea louse, Eurydice pulchra.
Find out more about our research.
Behavioural neurogenetics laboratory 