[{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/vogt/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":" How do social context and internal state modulate behavior and the underlying neural processing in the brain? The natural world is complex and constantly changing, so over time, we are experiencing different combinations of external sensory cues (visual/olfactory/mechanosensory\u0026hellip;) in different contexts (social/solitary). Additionally, our internal state can vary, for example, when we are hungry, sleepy, or stressed. To make appropriate behavioral decisions that are beneficial for us and satisfy our needs, our brain needs to integrate and process all available external and internal information.\nYour browser cannot play this video. Download video.\nDeciphering the neural mechanisms that underlie this behavioral flexibility towards different external cues and in different internal states is a major goal of my research. To this end, I use the Drosophila larva as a model organism. Even though their brain consists of only about 10.000 neurons, fruit fly larvae also display flexibility in their behavioral responses; for example, food-deprived larvae are attracted to an odorant that they would normally avoid when fed Vogt et al., 2021.\nIn Drosophila, we can dissect and understand neural circuits in detail by manipulating single cell types or cell components using genetic tools, such as optogenetics, RNAi knockdown, or CRISPR knockout. Furthermore, in the fly larvae, it is possible to perform functional imaging in the intact, transparent animal to record the activity of single cell types. The whole brain of the fly larvae has been reconstructed from EM data so that the functional information acquired by behavior and imaging experiments can be integrated into whole-brain connectivity.\nCurrently, we are investigating how food deprivation affects other behaviors than olfactory preference and what are the neural mechanisms underlying those changes in behavior. We are also interested in how larvae interact in a group and how their behavior changes depending on the context, internal state, group constellation, and group size.\nFly larvae can perform cannibalistic behavior and can survive by feeding on conspecifics only. In our assay, we find that larvae rarely approach dead conspecifics. Food deprivation, however, enhances this preference significantly. We are now investigating why fed larvae avoid dead conspecifics and how hunger modulates information processing and behavioral output.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/vogt/","section":"Behavioral Neuroscience in Drosophila Larvae","summary":"How do social context and internal state modulate behavior and the underlying neural processing in the brain? The natural world is complex and constantly changing, so over time, we are experiencing different combinations of external sensory cues (visual/olfactory/mechanosensory…) in different contexts (social/solitary). Additionally, our internal state can vary, for example, when we are hungry, sleepy, or stressed. To make appropriate behavioral decisions that are beneficial for us and satisfy our needs, our brain needs to integrate and process all available external and internal information.\n","title":"Behavioral Neuroscience in Drosophila Larvae","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/vogt/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":" 25.03.2026 Bachelor Defense: Roxana Probst Roxana successfully defended her Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s thesis at the University of Konstanz. She performed cannibalistic preference assays to investigate the neural circuits underlying hunger state-dependent modulation in Drosophila larvae. Congratulations, and all the best for your future career!\n25.09.2025 Bachelor Defense: Jonathan Ernst Jonny successfully defended his Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s thesis at the University of Konstanz. He performed olfactory preference assays to investigate the neural circuits underlying state-dependent modulation in Drosophila larvae. Congratulations, and all the best for your future career!\n16.04.2025 Bachelor Defense: Aljoscha Markus Aljoscha successfully defended his Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s thesis at the University of Konstanz. He used optogenetic tools to investigate the sensory circuits underlying conspecific recognition in Drosophila larvae. Congratulations, and all the best for your future career!\n07.2024 VTK students Hannah Kniebeler and Parsa Pahlavan investigated larval behavior Our 6-week Advanced Course in Neuroscience is coming to an end. Hannah established temporal phototaxis in the lab, supervised by Akhila. Hari supervised Parsa and they explored larval chemotaxis behavior - do larvae respond to adult sensory cues? It was so much fun to have them in the lab, as always too little time for great projects!\n15.12.2023 Bachelor Defense: Amelie Edmaier Amelie successfully defended her Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s thesis at the University of Konstanz. She investigated the sensory circuits underlying conspecific recognition in a cannibalistic context in Drosophila larvae. Congratulations, happy holidays and all the best for your future career!\n20.10.2023 Bachelor Defense: Constantin Dyroff Today, Constantin successfully defended his Bachelor thesis at the University of Konstanz. He established optogenetics in the lab and investigated how artificial activation of taste neurons can affect the fly larva\u0026rsquo;s internal state-modulated behavior. Congratulations and all the best for your future career!\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/vogt/news/","section":"Behavioral Neuroscience in Drosophila Larvae","summary":"25.03.2026 Bachelor Defense: Roxana Probst Roxana successfully defended her Bachelor’s thesis at the University of Konstanz. She performed cannibalistic preference assays to investigate the neural circuits underlying hunger state-dependent modulation in Drosophila larvae. Congratulations, and all the best for your future career!\n","title":"News","type":"page"},{"content":" Mudunuri, A., Zadigue-Dubé, É., \u0026amp; Vogt, K. (2026). Multimodal social context modulates larval behavior in Drosophila. Science Advances, 12(5), eady0750. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ady0750\nEdmaier, A., Walter, D., Tutas, N., Probst, R., \u0026amp; Vogt, K. (2026). Social context modulates cannibalistic attraction in Drosophila larvae. bioRxiv. doi: 10.64898/2026.01.08.698439\nEschbach, C., Vogt, K., Afonso, B., Polizos, N., Dancausse, S., Evans, A., Verbe, A., Wang, K., Berck, M., Samuel, A., Klein, M., Cardona, A., \u0026amp; Zlatic, M. (2025). A multisensory, bidirectional, valence encoder guides behavioral decisions. bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2025.09.26.678749\nMudunuri, A., Zadigue-Dubé, É., \u0026amp; Vogt, K. (2025). Multimodal social context modulates behavior in larval Drosophila. bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2025.03.24.644986\nVogt, K. (2025). The texture-taste connection: Multimodal sensory neurons in fly larvae. PLOS Biology, 23(1), e3003000. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003000\nWeber, D., Vogt, K., Miroschnikow, A., Pankratz, M. J., \u0026amp; Thum, A. S. (2025). Four individually identified paired dopamine neurons signal taste punishment in larval Drosophila. eLife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.91387\nVogt, K. (2024). Behavioral neuroscience: Flexible integration on the fly. Current Biology, 34(23), R1175–R1177. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.037\nFulton, K. A., Zimmerman, D., Samuel, A., Vogt, K., \u0026amp; Datta, S. R. (2024). Common principles for odour coding across vertebrates and invertebrates. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 25(7), 453–472. doi: 10.1038/s41583-024-00822-0\nVogt, K. (2023). Neuroscience: Merging multisensory memories. Current Biology, 33(15), R817–R819. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.052\nZhu, M. L., Herrera, K. J., Vogt, K., \u0026amp; Bahl, A. (2021). Navigational strategies underlying temporal phototaxis in Drosophila larvae. Journal of Experimental Biology, 224(11), jeb242428. doi: 10.1242/jeb.242428\nVogt, K., Zimmerman, D., Schlichting, M., Hernandez, L., Qin, S., Malacon, K., Rosbash, M., Pehlevan, C., Cardona, A., \u0026amp; Samuel, A. D. T. (2021). Internal state configures olfactory behavior and early sensory processing in Drosophila larvae. Science Advances, 7(1), eabd6900. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd6900\nVogt, K. (2020). Towards a functional connectome in Drosophila. Journal of Neurogenetics, 34(1), 156–161. doi: 10.1080/01677063.2020.1712598\nVogt, K., Aso, Y., Hige, T., Knapek, S., Ichinose, T., Friedrich, A. B., Turner, G. C., Rubin, G. M., \u0026amp; Tanimoto, H. (2016). Direct neural pathways convey distinct visual information to Drosophila mushroom bodies. eLife, 5, e14009. doi: 10.7554/eLife.14009\nVogt, K., Yarali, A., \u0026amp; Tanimoto, H. (2015). Reversing stimulus timing in visual conditioning leads to memories with opposite valence in Drosophila. PLOS ONE, 10(10), e0139797. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139797\nVogt, K., Schnaitmann, C., Dylla, K. V., Knapek, S., Aso, Y., Rubin, G. M., \u0026amp; Tanimoto, H. (2014). Shared mushroom body circuits underlie visual and olfactory memories in Drosophila. eLife, 3, e02395. doi: 10.7554/eLife.02395\nAso, Y., Sitaraman, D., Ichinose, T., Kaun, K. R., Vogt, K., Belliart-Guérin, G., Plaçais, P.-Y., Robie, A. A., Yamagata, N., Schnaitmann, C., Rowell, W. J., Johnston, R. M., Ngo, T.-T. B., Chen, N., Korff, W., Nitabach, M. N., Heberlein, U., Preat, T., Branson, K. M., Tanimoto, H., \u0026amp; Rubin, G. M. (2014). Mushroom body output neurons encode valence and guide memory-based action selection in Drosophila. eLife, 3, e04580. doi: 10.7554/eLife.04580\nEschbach, C., Vogt, K., Schmuker, M., \u0026amp; Gerber, B. (2011). The similarity between odors and their binary mixtures in Drosophila. Chemical Senses, 36(7), 613–621. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjr016\nSchnaitmann, C., Vogt, K., Triphan, T., \u0026amp; Tanimoto, H. (2010). Appetitive and aversive visual learning in freely moving Drosophila. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 4, 10. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2010.00010\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/vogt/publications/","section":"Behavioral Neuroscience in Drosophila Larvae","summary":" Mudunuri, A., Zadigue-Dubé, É., \u0026 Vogt, K. (2026). Multimodal social context modulates larval behavior in Drosophila. Science Advances, 12(5), eady0750. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ady0750\nEdmaier, A., Walter, D., Tutas, N., Probst, R., \u0026 Vogt, K. (2026). Social context modulates cannibalistic attraction in Drosophila larvae. bioRxiv. doi: 10.64898/2026.01.08.698439\n","title":"Publications","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/vogt/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/vogt/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":" Katrin Vogt Group Leader Email: katrin.vogt@uni-konstanz.de\nPhone: +49-7531-88-5912\nRoom: ZT923 Hari P. Narayanan PhD Student Akhila Mudunuri PhD Student Mark Barreto de Pinho Bachelor Thesis 2026 Roxana Probst Bachelor Thesis 2026 Aljoscha Markus Bachelor Thesis 2025 Jonathan Ernst Bachelor Thesis 2025 Amelie Edmaier Bachelor Thesis 2023 - Research Assistant Constantin Dyroff Bachelor Thesis 2023 Julius Klein Bachelor Thesis 2022 - Research Assistant Nora Tutas Bachelor Thesis 2021 - Research Assistant Yewushuang Chen Visiting student from Beijing (Chinese Academy of Sciences) Élyse Zadigue-Dubé DAAD summer student 2023 ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/vogt/team/","section":"Behavioral Neuroscience in Drosophila Larvae","summary":"Katrin Vogt Group Leader Email: katrin.vogt@uni-konstanz.de\nPhone: +49-7531-88-5912\nRoom: ZT923 ","title":"Team","type":"page"}]