Webinar: Illuminating the neural circuits of learned and innate behavior guided by emotion and memory
Webinar: Illuminating the neural circuits of learned and innate behavior guided by emotion and memory
Presenters: Dr. Oliver Barnstedt and Dr. Anne Petzold (European Neuroscience Institute, Germany)
Date: Thursday, November 13, 2025
Time: 14:00 CET
Session 1: Fear Not – How Hypothalamic Circuits Overcome Anxiety
Speaker: Dr. Anne Petzold
Group Leader, European Neuroscience Institute
Content Outline:
- Dissect hypothalamic–prefrontal circuits using optogenetics and calcium imaging in freely moving mice to illuminate how leptin-sensitive neurons in the lateral hypothalamus shape adaptive feeding under anxiety.
- Uncover how prefrontal inputs inhibit leptin-sensitive neurons and drive maladaptive states in an anorexic model, revealing these neurons as key regulators of anxiety and eating disorders.
- Illustrate the use of state-of-the-art technical approaches to illuminate circuit function: somatic stimulation of defined neuronal populations or axonal stimulation in freely moving mice, optogenetic assays, cell calcium imaging, and axonal fiber photometry.
About Dr. Anne Petzold:
- Neuroscientist based at the European Neuroscience Institute in Göttingen, Germany, leading the Brain-Body Interactions group.
- Research focuses on neural circuits that enable adaptation of behavior to changing needs and states, using advanced methods in freely moving animals, optogenetics, and molecular tools.
Session 2: Illuminating Memories – Using Light to Dissect Hippocampal Memory Pathways
Speaker: Dr. Oliver Barnstedt
Group Leader, European Neuroscience Institute
Content Outline:
- Dissect hippocampal–accumbens circuits via optogenetics in head-fixed mice during spatial reward learning.
- Demonstrate how silencing projection neurons impairs reward-location learning and acute memory expression.
- Discover projection-specific conjunctive coding of hippocampal–accumbens neurons using two-photon calcium imaging.
- Explore how medial septum–VTA activation biases mice toward exploratory behavioral memory-based strategies.
- Discuss how light-based circuit manipulations advance understanding of the neural basis of memory and motivation.
About Dr. Oliver Barnstedt:
- Neuroscientist studying neural circuits of memory, motivation, and behavior.
- Focuses on hippocampal–striatal–septal pathways in learning, memory retrieval, and behavioral flexibility.
- Uses advanced methods: optogenetics, in vivo calcium imaging, virtual-reality behavioral paradigms.
- Leads the research group Multiscale Circuit Analysis at the European Neuroscience Institute Göttingen (www.barnstedtlab.com) to link cellular mechanisms with complex behavior.
Register here for the webinar.
