Short bio

I did my undergraduate studies in Physics at Lund University, Sweden, with a specialization in Biophysics. My interest in neuroscience led me to find the laboratory of Gonzalo de Polavieja, where I did my degree Final Project using electrophysiology in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) larval neuromuscular junction.

Excited about the combination of theory and in vivo experiments approach of the lab, I moved permanently to Madrid and enrolled in graduate school. After my first year of coursework I obtained a Master of Biophysics (2007), and have since been developing my thesis work. For my graduate studies I am graciously receiving funding by the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid’s Fellowship Program.

Research interests

In very general terms, my research interests revolve around the interplay between the environment of an animal and its behavioral response, and the processes that transform the sensory systems inputs into a behavioral output. The challenge of understanding how and where the information is processed in the brain motivates me, as well as trying to understand how the environment shapes and adapts that response. This broad interest gives rise to questions on many different levels, from neural properties and circuits and its molecular and genetic basis to questions based in evolutionary theory.

In particular I am currently interested in the structure of behavior, in the dynamics of transitions between specific behaviors and general differences in strategies of behavior. For this I use the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as model organism, due to its great genetic tractability and easy manipulation, remarkable similarities (homologies) to mammals (even though it is "only a fly"!) and its fast reproduction cycle.

Projects

In my first project I am looking at the fine structure of transitions between wakefulness and sleep in the fly. In collaboration with Beatriz García Armendariz and my supervisor Gonzalo G. de Polavieja we have studied the behavioral pattern of the fly, and found properties of neural circuits in the fly brain that regulate the sleep/wake dynamics. My work has a strong focus on the analysis of the fine structure of behavior, and our method is based on finding a mathematical description that helps us quantify and infer properties of the system.

My second project concerns correlates between behaviors and their molecular/genetic foundations. I am interested in the different behavioral patterns individuals show, and why these sets of behaviors have evolved. In particular I am intrigued by the phenomenon of polymorphisms, which is when two or more distinct phenotypes exist in a population in a natural setting. According to theory, the evolutionary pressure should select the traits that are the most optimized, i.e. has the highest fitness, and the stable coexistence of different morphs of the same trait in a population is still not fully understood. My goal is to understand the advantages of coexistence of polymorphisms, both experimentally and by modeling. To this end, I am using the Drosophila foraging gene (in collaboration with Prof. Marla Sokolowski, University of Toronto), which is a naturally occurring polymorphism on the foraging behavior of Drosophila.

Methods

Experiments using established and newly developed behavioral assays and electrophysiology, as well as theoretical/mathematical analysis and model building.

Contact

email: amanda [dot] sorribes [at] uam [dot] es

phone: +34 914 97 35 78

Curriculum Vitae

CV, January 2009 (pdf)