Skip to main content

Projects

TRANSFLY: Seasonal transitions in the fruit fly pest Drosophila suzukii

Objectives

  • identify the behavioural, neural and morphological mechanisms underlying seasonal adaptation in Drosophila suzukii
  • determine how environmental factors drive the transition between summer and winter phenotypes
  • characterize structural and functional plasticity in the olfactory system using advanced neuroimaging
  • develop AI-based tools for automated identification of seasonal phenotypes in the field
  • improve integrated pest management through phenotype-specific monitoring and control strategies

Methods

  • laboratory breeding of summer and winter phenotypes under controlled environmental conditions
  • behavioural assays to study host-seeking, feeding, oviposition and pheromone-guided behaviour
  • chemical ecology using GC-MS, GC-EAD and electrophysiology
  • in vivo two-photon structural and functional neuroimaging of the olfactory system
  • AI-based phenotyping of seasonal morphs from field trap images
  • field monitoring and validation of pest management strategies in orchards and vineyards

Project coordinator

  • Sergio Angeli (Entomology and Fruit Analysis Lab, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)

Partners

External partners

  • Ernst Wimmer (Department of Developmental Biology, Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany)
  • Alan Dorin (Department of Data Science & AI, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia)

Financing

  • 3-year collaborative research project funded by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano

QUMARE: Verification of the Quantum theory of Magnetoreception in a new animal model, a biological magnetic sensor.

Objectives

  • quantify magnetosensitive behaviours in bees
  • identify the magnetosensitive neurons by functional brain imaging
  • compare experimental findings with the prediction of the radical pair theory

Project coordinator

  • Albrecht Haase

Partners

Financing

The role of the microbiota on locomotion, cognitive abilities, and health of the honey bee (MicroBee)

Objectives

  • develop methods to manipulate the honeybee microbiota
  • investigate the dependence of behaviour on the microbiota in honeybees
  • study the gut-brain interaction with neuroimaging methods

Methods

  • create germ-reduced and germ-manipulated honeybees
  • comparative characterization of the honeybee microbiota
  • locomotion and learning assays 
  • functional brain imaging

Project coordinator

Partners

Financing

IBC: Impollinatori, Biodiversità e Cambiamento climatico - Pollinators, Biodiversity and Climate Change

Objectives

  • develop experimental setups allowing to perform experiments under controlled enhanced temperature conditions
  • investigate the role of thermal stress on odour perception and learning & memory

Methods

  • automated learning assays at elevated temperatures
  • functional brain imaging at  elevated tempertures

Project coordinators

Financing

Functional brain imaging in a novel transgenic model of Drosophila suzukii

Objectives

  • establish two-photon brain imaging methods in D. suzukii.olfactory system
  • identify common features in the neuronal code of attractive and aversive odours
  • apply those in future pest control strategies against D. suzukii. 

Project coordinators

  • Albrecht Haase

Partners

Financing

Genetically engineering of biomarkers in the bee brain

Objectives

  • Development of a completely new experimental platform providing genetically engineered brain-markers for non-invasive staining
  • Fast 3D imaging of odour-induced activities in specific neurones selected by gene promotors
  • Recording calcium activity patterns simultaneously in multiple neuropiles like the antennal lobe, the mushroom body (MB) and the lateral horn (LH).

Partners

Financing

  • 2 years Post-doc fellowship financed by CIMeC 2021 - 2023

PRIN Partner manipulation in plant-insect relationships

Objectives

  • How do plant-derived chemicals affect animal behaviour?
  • Have neuroactive compounds produced by plants evolved not (or not only) as a mere deterrent for animals, but also as a plant tool to attract and manipulate animal behaviour?
  • Plant-animal interaction from new ecological and neurobiological perspectives
  • Model: ant-plant relationships mediated by extra-floral nectar (EFN)
  • Combined approach involving plant chemistry and physiology, ethology and neurobiology, transcriptomic and microbial ecology

Partners

  • International Laboratory of  Plant Neurobiology, University of Firenze, Stefano Mancuso (Coordinator)
  • Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Franco Faoro
  • Myrmecology Lab, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Università degli Studi di Parma, Donato Antonio Grasso
  • Department of Life Sciences, Università degli Studi di Siena, Massimo Nepi

Financing

  • 3 years project financed by National PRIN program of the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research 2019 - 2022

BRANDY: Brain Network Dynamics

BRANDY Project page

Methods

  • coordination of common teaching activities
  • support of students’ interest and engagement in brain network dynamics throughout all stages of their early academic carrier
  • formation of a collaborative environment for young academics

Objectives

  • Foundation of a Strategic Unit for the Interdisciplinary Research on Brain Network Dynamics
  • Creation of a cluster of experts in this fast-growing field of research
  • Development of an infrastructure, optimized for information exchange among the partners
  • Formation of a collaborative environment for young academics with different skills for common research initiatives
  • Generation of visibility of our actions for the international research community

Project coordinator

  • Albrecht Haase (DF & CIMeC)

Partners

Financing

  • 3 year strategic project financed by the Strategic Plan 2017-2021 of the University of Trento

STEFANIE: Sublethal effects of neonicotinoids on the honeybee brain: from single neuron imaging to colony studies

STEFANIE Project page

Methods

  • functional imaging of different regions along the odour processing pathway
  • controlled perfusion of the brain with active substances during imaging
  • comparative behavioural studies using PER

Objectives

  • determine brain regions sensitive to neonicotinoid pesticides
  • quantify relevant doses for the onset of effects in the olfactory system
  • compare effects in the brain to behavioural symptoms in field studies

Project coordinator

  • Albrecht Haase (DF & CIMeC)

Partners

Financing

  • 3 year project financed by the Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano

Of bees and men: Development of an optogenetic animal model to study oscillatory neural networks

Methods

  • high temporal resolution imaging of responses to odour stimuli
  • analysis of oscillatory activity in the honeybee brain
  • development of an optogenetic toolbox for real-time modulation of the olfactory processing network

Objectives

  • temporal coding in odour perception
  • connectivity in the olfactory network
  • changes in the network properties under optogenetic modulation of single nodes

Project coordinator

  • Albrecht Haase (DF & CIMeC)

Partners

Financing

  • as a Strategic Project by the Università degli Studi di Trento

Fundamental processes in odorant receptor interaction: beyond the shape theory of olfaction

Methods

  • studying odour coding of compounds that share chemical properties but differ in molecular vibration and vice versa
  • develope in vitro assays to study odour receptor interaction

Objectives

  • trace back insects' ability to distinguish chemically identical odour compounds
  • study possible influence of molecular vibrations
  • exclude alternative explanations for differential odour coding

Partners

Financing

  • supported by an EMBO Short-Term Fellowship ASTF 108-2015

IBRAIM: Insect brain imaging from fundamental neuroscience to pest control

Methods

  • two-photon in vivo imaging of insect brains in vivo to outperform conventional microscopy by spatial and temporal resolution, penetration depth and photodamage limitation

Objectives

  • Odour coding principles in the honeybee brain
  • Morphological and functional plasticity in the honeybee brain after associative or non-associative learning
  • In of odour perception due to neurotoxic pesticides as a possible cause for the western world honeybee population decline (Colony Collapse Disorder)

Project coordinator

  • Albrecht Haase (DF & CIMeC)

Financing

  •  as Research unit (IBRAIM) by the Provincia Autonoma di Trento

Sustainable strategies against infesting flies: from olfactory perception to a safeguard of small fruits in Trentino

Methods

  • behaviour experiments in Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila suzukii
  • optical imaging of transgenetic fruitflies

Objectives

  • differences between D. suzukii e D. melanogaster regarding reception, behaviour, and neuroanatomy.
  • development of sustainable strategies to explore these results to counteract the diffusion of D. suzukii.

Project coordinator

  • Albrecht Haase (DF & CIMeC)

Partners

Financing

  • by the Communal Government of the City of Rovereto

Multifunctional nanohybrid photosensitizers for Photodynamic therapy via X-ray and IR activation

Methods

  • synthesis and functionalization of photo-sensitive silicon Nanowires
  • in vitro experiments on IR activation, and quantification of phototoxic effects

Objectives

  • development of a photosensitizer that is flexibly activatable at very different wavelength
  • characterization of functionality in cell cultures

Project coordinator

  • Roberto Verucchi (Institute of materials for electronics and magnetism, CNR)

Partners

  • Roberta Tatti (IMEM, CNR)
  • Albrecht Haase and Renzo Antolini (DF and CIMeC)
  • Thomas Paternoster and Nicola Berti (Sandoz Industries)

Financing

  •  by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto