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Decision making is key to survival. Usually, our decisions are based on what see, hear or smell, butÌýoften they also depend on internal states like hunger or fear. Currently, we don’t understand how ourÌýbrains integrate these internal states with what we know about the outside world – mostly becauseÌýhuman brains are hard to study.ÌýInstead, I want to study decision making in zebrafish larvae. They are transparent, so we can useÌýmicroscopes toÌýlook at their brains. They are also easy to breed, so we can use biotechnology toÌýmake their brain cells light up when they are active – and use light to activate them. In the lab, weÌýplace the larvae in a virtual environmentÌýunder a microscope, allowing us to observe and manipulateÌýtheir brains while they are hunting virtual prey, which they will do innately without needing to beÌýtaught.
In my PhD, I want to find out how their brains integrate internal states into the decision whether toÌýhunt or not. Because zebrafish are related to us, my research will help us understand how our ownÌýbrains represent internal states, and why they are sometimes disturbed, such as in anxiety orÌýdepression.