Marion Silies (group leader)
Marion is a professor for neurobiology and head of the 'Neural Circuits Lab' at JGU since the beginning of 2019. Before, she has been a group leader at the European Neuroscience Institute in Göttingen since the beginning of 2015. She trained as a Postdoc in Tom Clandinin’s lab at Stanford University where she mapped and characterized motion detection circuits and established the InSITE toolkit, a collection of driver lines that allows genetic access to in principle any cell type in the brain. Marion obtained her PhD in 2009 at the University of Münster (Germany), where she worked in the lab of Christian Klämbt on the migration of glial cells. She holds a diploma in Biology.
Scientists
Burak Gür (Postdoc)
Burak wants to understand how molecular mechanisms define aspects of neural computations. He is a student in the International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences in Göttingen. During his M.Sc. thesis work, he identified genes that shape the properties of early motion processing using fly genetics, in vivo imaging and pharmacology. Furthermore he is interested in developing genetic tools for achieving specific circuit manipulations. He holds a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering from Sabanci University (Turkey) and also studied opera and musical theatre at the Istanbul University State Conservatory.
Miriam Henning (Postdoc)
Miriam obtained a Bachelor in Biology (2010) and a Master’s degree in Neurobiology, Behaviour and Evolution in 2016 at the University of Bielefeld. For the latter, she studied depth perception in the visual system of the blowfly by combining electrophysiological recordings and modelling in the Egelhaaf lab. Since 2017, she aims to understand the organization of neuronal circuits to extract and calculate behaviour relevant information from the visual input in Drosophila. She studies the neuronal circuit behind motion vision by combining forward genetics, brain imaging and behavioural approaches.
Miriam defended her PhD thesis "Mechanisms of local and global motion computation", and did so with excellence.
Sebastian M. Molina Obando (Postdoc)
Sebastian is interested in how features from the environment are extracted by neuronal circuits in the Drosophila visual system. He joined the Silies Lab in Göttingen, where he did his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the International Max Planck Research School (2017-2021). During his Ph.D. he characterized the function of different circuit components that mediate selectivity to contrast polarity, using in vivo calcium imaging, neuro- and pharmacogenetics and behavioral experiments. He is currently using connectomics analysis and circuit manipulations to uncover the anatomical and functional design principles of robust feature detection. Sebastian is also passionate about education, and he is involved in teaching M.Sc. and B.Sc. students at JGU. He holds a diploma in Biomedical Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
Jonas Peper (Postdoc)
Jonas is a biochemist and molecular biologist who is now bringing his expertise to develop tools for the synapse-specific analysis of neural circuits. He obtained his PhD 2020 in Molecular Medicine at the Universitätsmedizin Göttingen. There, he established a tool to study native protein interactions in cardiomyocytes and analyzed their protein distribution using super resolution microscopy. In general, he is interested in understanding the functional relevance of protein interactions and networks.
Studying this at the level of synapses will help to develop specific tools for a targeted activity block, which will allow the manipulation of single neuronal connections within a network.
Luisa Fernanda Ramirez Ochoa (Postdoc)
Luisa is a physicist interested in neuronal information process at the circuit and population level. She aims to understanding how environmental information is hierarchically processed in visual systems, from concrete to abstract visual representations. During her PhD at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil and her research stay at Princeton University, she investigated the principles of visual information processing in 1) peripheral circuits and 2) neuronal populations. In peripheral circuits, she studied how natural spectral stimuli have driven the evolution of circuits by developing a data-driven theoretical framework based on efficient coding and neuronal dynamics. In neuronal populations, she investigated the statistical properties of spiking activity from large neuronal populations by developing a theoretical framework based on both the Bottleneck compression algorithm and ideas of renormalization group. Luisa has joined the Silies lab to investigate the principles of dynamic coding in the peripheral visual system of the fly both at the circuit and population level.
Ronny Rosner (Research Associate)
Ronny obtained his Diploma in Biology from the University of Rostock where he worked on the development of biosensor chips. For his Ph.D. thesis, he switched fields to the neurobiology of insect vision. He worked with Martin Egelhaaf and Anne-Kathrin Warzecha on motion vision in blowflies. Ronny combined electrophysiology with behavioral observations to discover that the responses of visual interneurons depend on the behavioral state of the animals. Ronny then moved to the laboratory of Uwe Homberg in Marburg where he found that neurons in the locust central complex respond to visual motion, like approaching objects, small moving targets, and wide-field motion. He also showed that neurons in the locust central complex change their response properties when the animal is moving. Ronny then went to Newcastle (UK) to work with Jenny Read on stereoscopic (3D) vision in insects. Ronny discovered the first neurons for stereoscopic vision in an invertebrate, the praying mantis. Ronny generally is interested in how insects dissect the visual space, how they experience their visual surround, and how they produce meaningful behavior as a consequence. Ronny is currently expanding his work to Drosophila melanogaster to benefit from the fantastic genetic tools this organism offers to study complex visual circuity. Read more here.
Annika Celine Bast (PhD student)
Annika is interested in the evolution of visual processing properties. Therefore, she aims to analyze the visual properties of different Drosophila species in behavioral studies and by in vivo calcium imaging. To achieve this, she is also generating novel transgenic tools. Annika is an associated student of the GenEvo program at JGU and thus part of the International PhD program (IPP) at JGU and IMB Mainz. where she is excited to interact with peers interested in the combination of evolution and gene regulation. She received her Bachelor's (2018) and Master's (2021) degrees in biology from JGU of Mainz. For the latter she studied the role of globins in Drosophila melanogaster in Prof. Thomas Hankeln's lab.
Jacqueline Cornean (PhD student)
Jacqueline is interested if and how variability of neuronal properties contributes to robust visual processing. Therefore, she studies the variability of specific neuronal cell types in Drosophila, as well as the origin of this variability, by characterizing neurons and their connectivity both functionally and anatomically. Before joining the Silies lab in 2021, she studied Biology at the University of Freiburg. During her M.Sc thesis in the Straw lab, she investigated a possible link in the navigational circuitry between foraging and the internal nutrient state of the fly.
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Freya Thurn (PhD student)
Freya is curious to understand what drives robust behaviors, and what perturbations can make them fail. She therefore studies the molecular mechanisms and neural circuits underlying robust contrast computation in rapidly changing conditions. Moreover, she holds a fellowship at the Mainz Research School of Translational Biomedicine (TransMed) at the University Hospital in Mainz. For this she designed a novel approach to “humanize” the fly genome using genetic engineering to study the pathology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Freya was the first student from Mainz to join the Silies lab for her MSc thesis (2021) where she used in vivo two-photon imaging and pharmacological approaches to elucidate the molecular basis of luminance-invariant visual processing. Freya obtained a BSc degree in Biology in 2019 in Roland Strauss’ lab.
Pradeep Trimbake (PhD student)
Pradeep is interested in the overall computation of motion signals in the higher-order structures of the fly brain when it undertakes relevant behaviours. Using pose estimation techniques and brain imaging, he aims to understand how form governs function and vice versa. He obtained a dual BS-MS degree in Biology from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune (IISER), India. There, he worked with Zebra finches under the guidance of Dr Raghav Rajan and investigated the feasibility of utilizing animations and a game engine to study courtship behaviour. For his MSc thesis, he used pose estimation tools to automize the analysis of eye-closure behaviour during sleep swimming in Canada geese at the MPI for Biological Intelligence with Dr Andrea Ferretti and Dr Niels Rattenborg.
Juan Felipe Vargas Fique (PhD student)
Juan is currently a PhD student in the lab. He is interested in understanding neural circuits as systems that are more than the sum of their parts. In his work he primarily asks how the intricate connectivity in the visual system influences reliable motion vision, across visual scene conditions. To achieve this, he combines experimental physiology and computational techniques.
As a MSc student of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Neurosciences in Göttingen, Juan investigated the role of ligand gated chloride channels on contrast selectivity using pharmacology, genetics and imaging techniques. Juan obtained a B.Sc. in Biology from Universidad De Los Andes (Colombia, 2015).
Neel Wagh (PhD student)
Neel is a student of the International PhD Programme, a doctoral programme with a focus on Gene Regulation, Epigenetics & Genome Stability, coordinated by the Institute of Molecular Biology Mainz (IMB). He aims to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the functional properties of neurons that extract different features from the visual environment. For this, he employs reverse genetics approaches in combination with in vivo two-photon brain imaging and behavioural assays.
Neel holds a dual BS-MS degree in Biology from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune (IISER), India. During his Master’s Thesis, he uncovered a maternal effect gene in Drosophila development and worked towards the functional characterisation of it during the embryonic development using genetic tools.
Students
Iona Bergerhoff (B.Sc. student)
Mica Armauer (B.Sc. student)
Lukas Fladung (B.Sc. student)
Maria Ioannidou (M.Sc. student)
Azize Karakut (B.Sc. student, together with Urban lab)
Lena Lörsch (M.Sc. student)
Dorfam Rastgarmoghaddam (M.Sc. student)
Laura Thriemer Jimenez (B.Sc. student)
Technical Support
Jonas Chojetzki (technician)
Jonas joined the Silies lab in 2017, after finishing his training as a technician (BTA). He is the go to person for all molecular biology questions, and the first to dare the move to Mainz. Despite having worked in a fly lab for three years, he still claims that he does not know how mites look like, which the lab is very proud of.
Simone Renner (technician)
Simone Renner is a "Mainzer Urgestein" (translates to "prehistoric rock", but that seems just wrong), which means that she already worked with flies, in Mainz, long before we did. So in a way, we joined her and not vice versa. She knows where everything in the lab can be found and makes sure it stays this way. Together with Jonas, she is currently generating a lot of transgenic fly lines.
Administrative Support
Sabine Schmitt
Sabine is the first friendly face that you will meet when you enter our premises. She also has been working at JGU Mainz for much longer than the rest of us, and knows everything and everyone (we think). In addition to handling all admin, she has an open ear for everyone in the lab and also happily takes on tasks which certainly were not part of her job description (like looking after the 1-yr old lab affiliates).
Lab alumni
Postdocs
Junaid Akhtar (until 2020, now Principle Scientist / Team Leader for RNA Biology, Evotec SE)
PhD students
Burak Gür (2022), postdoc with Johannes Felsenberg at the Friedrich Miescher Institut (FMI) Basel, Switzerland
Sebastian Molina Obando (2022), currently postdoc in the lab
Miriam Henning (2021), currently postdoc in the lab
Madhura Ketkar (2023), now postdoc with Jan Clemens, Uni Oldenburg
Luis Giordano Ramos-Traslosheros (2019), now postdoc with Carlos Ponce, Harvard Medical School
Katja Sporar (2019), now postdoc in the Nordström lab at Flinder's University Australia
M.Sc. students
Marwa Al Sakloul (2022)
Freya Thurn (2021)
Tihana Hamzay (2020)
Georg Bullinger (2019)
Marwin Seifert (2018)
Juan Felipe Vargas (2018)
Cagatay Aydin (2018)
Elsa Steinfath (2018)
Deniz Yuzak (2018)
Burak Gür (2017)
Sebastian Molina-Obando (2017)
Teresa Lüffe (2016)
B.Sc. students
Kilian Born (2023)
Lena Lörsch (2023)
Sarah Omar (2022)
Ellen Picard (2022)
Sarah Mirabella (2022)
Philipp Berg (2021)
Leah Köth (2021)
Nathalie Grosse (2021)
Annalena Oswald (2021)