[{"content":"Group leader, Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour\nMy research brings together neuroethology, sensorimotor integration, and insect behaviour to investigate how neural circuits generate adaptive behaviour in changing social environments. My training began at Tel Aviv University, where I studied Computer Science (BSc), Zoology (MSc), and Neuroscience (PhD). I then moved to Princeton University for a postdoctoral fellowship in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, where I studied adaptive motor control in insects. This interdisciplinary training continues to shape my research.\nTogether with a talented group of early-career researchers, we combine behavioural experiments, virtual reality, electrophysiology, imaging, and quantitative analysis to study how insects integrate sensory and social information to guide action.\nI am particularly interested in how the brain integrates noisy, probabilistic, and multimodal information to generate appropriate decisions, especially in social contexts where individuals both influence and are influenced by others. My group focuses primarily on locusts and cockroaches as model systems for understanding the neural mechanisms that allow animals to adapt flexibly to changing social conditions.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/einat/","section":"People","summary":"Insect sensory ecology, sensorimotor integration and neural basis of decision making.","title":"Einat Couzin-Fuchs","type":"people"},{"content":"Insect neuroscience and VR - studying the behavioural, neural and molecular basis of collective marching and gregarious locust behaviour.\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/sercan/","section":"People","summary":"Insect neuroscience and VR - studying the behavioural, neural and molecular basis of collective marching and gregarious locust behaviour.\n","title":"Sercan Sayin","type":"people"},{"content":"Mechanisms of swarm initiation in marching locusts. I combine classic behavioural assays with VR to investigate how solitary individuals become gregarious and initiate swarming. Website\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/daniele/","section":"People","summary":"Mechanisms of swarm initiation in marching locusts. I combine classic behavioural assays with VR to investigate how solitary individuals become gregarious and initiate swarming. Website\n","title":"Daniele Carlesso","type":"people"},{"content":"Motion vision, collective movement, multiunit ephys and VR\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/chi-yu/","section":"People","summary":"Motion vision, collective movement, multiunit ephys and VR\n","title":"Chi-Yu Lee","type":"people"},{"content":"Spatial foraging and social phenotypes in locusts and RATS!\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/maddy/","section":"People","summary":"Spatial foraging and social phenotypes in locusts and RATS!\n","title":"Maddy Narisetty","type":"people"},{"content":"Locust olfaction: linking starvation and social behaviour and a graphic designer\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/nina/","section":"People","summary":"Locust olfaction: linking starvation and social behaviour and a graphic designer\n","title":"Nina Schwarz","type":"people"},{"content":"Behavioural plasticity, variation and neurobiology, focusing on individual and population-level traits across phenotypic states.\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/claire/","section":"People","summary":"Behavioural plasticity, variation and neurobiology, focusing on individual and population-level traits across phenotypic states.\n","title":"Claire Wong","type":"people"},{"content":"Environmental drivers of locust swarming and collective behaviour, linking ecological context to molecular processes underlying swarming.\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/juan/","section":"People","summary":"Environmental drivers of locust swarming and collective behaviour, linking ecological context to molecular processes underlying swarming.\n","title":"Juan Vazquez","type":"people"},{"content":"Locust neuroscience, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization for activity mapping.\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/elvira/","section":"People","summary":"Locust neuroscience, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization for activity mapping.\n","title":"Elvira Mamonova","type":"people"},{"content":"Locust social behaviour and solitarious colony maintenance\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/zoe/","section":"People","summary":"Locust social behaviour and solitarious colony maintenance\n","title":"Zoe Wild","type":"people"},{"content":"Properties of marching in a virtual environment.\n","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/maurice/","section":"People","summary":"Properties of marching in a virtual environment.\n","title":"Maurice Wiegand","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_laurine/","section":"People","summary":"BSc student","title":"Laurine Baier","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_hannes/","section":"People","summary":"MSc student, Now PhD student at Uni Tübingen","title":"Hannes Kübler","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_yannick/","section":"People","summary":"PhD student, now Postdoc at Rockefeller (Kronauer Lab)","title":"Yannick Günzel","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_inga/","section":"People","summary":"PhD student","title":"Inga Petelski","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_thule/","section":"People","summary":"MSc student","title":"Thule Laabs","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_antoine/","section":"People","summary":"PhD Student","title":"Antoine Hoffmann","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_laura/","section":"People","summary":"MSc student","title":"Laura Schröder","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_susanne/","section":"People","summary":"BSc student, Now MSc student in KN (Bahl)","title":"Susanne Kraus","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_yvonne/","section":"People","summary":"MSc student, now lab technician at CASCB","title":"Yvonne Hertenberger","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_robin/","section":"People","summary":"MSc student","title":"Robin Wagner","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/z_alina/","section":"People","summary":"BSc student, Now PhD Student at UCSF","title":"Alina Hebling","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/team1/","section":"People","summary":"","title":"TEAM MEMBER 1","type":"people"},{"content":" University of Konstanz · Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour · Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Neural and behavioural mechanisms of social plasticity and collective behaviour # The ability to adapt to changing social environments is a fundamental feature of life. Locusts show a remarkable capacity to shift rapidly between solitary and gregarious lifestyles, making them an ideal model for studying social plasticity and the emergence of collective behaviour. By combining neurophysiology, virtual reality, and quantitative behavioural analysis, we investigate how social experience shapes neural function, behaviour, and swarm formation.\nCrowding-based plasticity in the locust antennal lobe, Petelski, Günzel et al. 2024 Nat. Comm. Calcium Imaging · Quantitative Behaviour · Virtual Reality Contact\nCouzin-Fuchs Lab\nDepartment of Biology, University of Konstanz\nCentre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour\neinat.couzin@uni-konstanz.de ","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/","section":"COUZIN-FUCHS LAB","summary":" University of Konstanz · Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour · Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Neural and behavioural mechanisms of social plasticity and collective behaviour # The ability to adapt to changing social environments is a fundamental feature of life. Locusts show a remarkable capacity to shift rapidly between solitary and gregarious lifestyles, making them an ideal model for studying social plasticity and the emergence of collective behaviour. By combining neurophysiology, virtual reality, and quantitative behavioural analysis, we investigate how social experience shapes neural function, behaviour, and swarm formation.\n","title":"COUZIN-FUCHS LAB","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"29 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/people/","section":"People","summary":"","title":"People","type":"people"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/approaches/","section":"COUZIN-FUCHS LAB","summary":"","title":"Approaches","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/news/","section":"COUZIN-FUCHS LAB","summary":"","title":"News and Highlights","type":"page"},{"content":"Recent publications from the lab.\nNarisetty, M., Sayin, S., Hertenberger, Y., Simpson, S. J., El Hady, A., \u0026amp; Couzin-Fuchs, E. (2025). Habitat structure and social behavior-the development of social phenotypes in the desert locust. bioRxiv, 2025-09.\nSayin, S., Couzin-Fuchs, E., Petelski, I., Günzel, Y., Salahshour, M., Lee, C. Y., \u0026hellip; \u0026amp; Couzin, I. D. (2025).\nThe behavioral mechanisms governing collective motion in swarming locusts. Science, 387(6737), 995–1000.\nGünzel, Y., Couzin-Fuchs, E., \u0026amp; Paoli, M. (2024).\nCalciSeg: A versatile approach for unsupervised segmentation of calcium imaging data. NeuroImage, 120758.\nLehmann, J., Günzel, Y., Khosravian, M., Cassau, S., Kraus, S., Libnow, J. S., Chang, H., Hansson, B. S., Breer, H., Couzin-Fuchs, E., Fleischer, J., \u0026amp; Krieger, J. (2024).\nSNMP1 is critical for sensitive detection of the desert locust aromatic courtship inhibition pheromone phenylacetonitrile. BMC Biology, 22(1), 150.\nPetelski, I., Günzel, Y., Sayin, S., Kraus, S., \u0026amp; Couzin-Fuchs, E. (2024).\nSynergistic olfactory processing for social plasticity in desert locusts. Nature Communications, 15(1), 5476.\nGorbonos, D., Oberhauser, F. B., Costello, L. L., Günzel, Y., Couzin-Fuchs, E., Koger, B., \u0026amp; Couzin, I. D. (2024). An effective hydrodynamic description of marching locusts. Physical Biology, 21(2), 026004.\nCouzin, IDC. \u0026amp; Couzin-Fuchs E. (2023). The chemical ecology of locust cannibalism. Science 380 (6644), 454-455.\nHoffmann A. and Couzin-Fuchs E. (2023). Active smelling in the American cockroach. Journal of Experimental Biology, jeb-245337.\nGünzel Y., Oberhauser F. and Couzin-Fuchs E. (2023). Information integration for nutritional decision-making in desert locusts, iScience 26 (4), 106388.\nCouzin-Fuchs E. and Ayali A. (2021). The social brain of non-social insects.. Current Opinion in Insect Science 48, 1-7.\nGünzel Y., McCollum J., Paoli M., Galizia C.G., Petelski I., and Couzin-Fuchs E. (2021). Social modulation of individual preferences in cockroaches. iScience, 101964.\nPaoli M., Nishino H., Couzin-Fuchs E and Galizia G. (2020). Coding of odour and space in the hemimetabolous insect Periplaneta americana., Journal of Experimental Biology 223 (3): jeb218032.\nFor a full publication list, see Google Scholar.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/publications/","section":"COUZIN-FUCHS LAB","summary":"Recent publications from the lab.\nNarisetty, M., Sayin, S., Hertenberger, Y., Simpson, S. J., El Hady, A., \u0026 Couzin-Fuchs, E. (2025). Habitat structure and social behavior-the development of social phenotypes in the desert locust. bioRxiv, 2025-09.\n","title":"Publications","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/research/","section":"COUZIN-FUCHS LAB","summary":"","title":"Research","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/couzin-fuchs/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"}]