A closed-loop virtual reality approach to study context-dependent memory in Drosophila

What we do

A fly can learn that an odour predicts a targeted infrared laser pulse, then act on that memory in one place and ignore it in another — context selects which memory is retrieved rather than simply cueing it. To put that context under experimental control we rebuilt the setup as a closed-loop virtual reality: a tethered fly walks on a ball and steers through a visual world that turns with it, designed so the same output neurons can be imaged while it moves.

Follow up

A copy of the poster is available on request. More of my work is on the research and publications pages.