
The long-term goal in the lab is to understand the developmental processes that establish the basic organizational and functional principles of the neuronal circuits in the brain. We investigate how the neuronal circuits assemble, functionally mature, remodel in developmental and evolutionary time scales. To understand these processes the Volkan lab uses the olfactory system of the genetically tractable Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism and apply molecular, developmental and systems level approaches. Our research aims to answer three fundamental questions in developmental and evolutionary neurobiology using the Drosophila olfactory system: 1- What are the transcriptional and epigenetic networks that regulate cellular specification and diversity of olfactory receptor neurons? 2- How is sensory neuron function established during development and modulated with experience? 3- What are the molecular, developmental and functional changes underlying evolution of species-specific differences in odor-guided behaviors?
Education and Training
- Bogazici University (Turkey), B.S. 1995
- Bogazici University (Turkey), M.S. 1997
- University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Ph.D. 2003
Associated Faculty Labs
Selected Grants and Awards
- Genetic and Genomics Training Grant
- Role of insect olfactory receptors and cell adhesion molecules in circuit organization
- Neurobiology Training Program
- Sensing Dietary Amino Acids from Gut to Brain
- Epigenetic reprogramming of behaviors with sensory experience
- Training Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology
- Genetics Training Grant
- Organization and Function of Cellular Structure
- Collaborative Research: The impacts of the distribution of phenotypic effects and distribution of pleiotropic costs on the genetics of natural adaptations
- Basic predoctoral training in neuroscience
- Chromatin modulation in structural and functional refinement of olfactory circuits
Department Affiliation
- Department of Biology