Profile
Professional career
- since 07/2019
Group Leader, Department of Animal Physiology, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University - 07/2014 - 06/2019
Group Leader, Neurobiology and Genetics, Theodor-Boveri Institute, University of Würzburg - 10/2011 - 06/2014
Research Assistant, Neurobiology and Genetics, Theodor-Boveri Institute, University of Würzburg - 10/2010 - 09/2011
PostDoc, Department of Neurobiology and Animal Physiology, University of Marburg - since 12/2020
Habilitation, Dr. rer. nat. habil, PD
Education
- 10/2006 - 09/2010
Doctoral studies (Dr. rer. nat.), University of Fribourg, Switzerland - 09/2001 - 06/2006
Biology studies, Diploma, University of Gießen and University of Würzburg
Time integration into memories. Essential information is encoded as enduring physical changes in the brain, i.e. synaptic plasticity. In addition to precise memory formation, the accurate retrieval of stored information is also of utmost importance. Only when information is stored accurately and retrieved at the right time, a memory can provide the expected benefits. Our goal is therefore to understand the neuronal mechanisms of integrating time into memories.
Neurometabolic mechanisms of bad food decisions. Animals avoid food that appear to be either harmful or at least unpalatable. However, in certain situations - for example prolonged food deprivation - animals must reconsider their innate aversion to potentially harmful or unpalatable food in order to survive. Our goal is therefore to dissect the neurophysiological, metabolic and endocrinological mechanisms of bad food decisions.
- show detailsOctopamine function revisited: Reward processing in Drosophila larvaePauls, DennisDuration: 09/2019 – 08/2023Funded by: DFG Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftInvolved organisational units of Leipzig University: Tier- und Verhaltensphysiologie
- show detailsNeurobiological basis of the integration of time in memoriesPauls, DennisDuration: 07/2023 – 06/2026Funded by: DFG Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftInvolved organisational units of Leipzig University: Tier- und Verhaltensphysiologie
- show detailsMetabolic signatures and neurophysiological mechanisms of bad food decisionsPauls, DennisDuration: 02/2024 – 02/2027Funded by: DFG Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftInvolved organisational units of Leipzig University: Tier- und Verhaltensphysiologie; Integriertes Forschungs- und Behandlungszentrum (IFB) AdipositasErkrankungen
- show detailsDannhäuser, S.; Lux, T. J.; Hu, C.; Pauls-Selcho, M.; Chen, J. T.-C.; Ehmann, N.; Sachidanandan, D.; Stopp, S.; Pauls, D.; Pawlak, M.; Langenhan, T.; Soba, P.; Rittner, H. L.; Kittel, R. J.Antinociceptive modulation by the adhesion GPCR CIRL promotes mechanosensory signal discrimination.eLife. 2020. pp. 1–23.DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.56738
- show detailsPauls-Selcho, M.; Pauls, D.Linking feeding relevant behaviors to physiological processes by octopamineCurrent Opinion in Insect Science. 2019. pp. 125–130.
- show detailsLyutova, R.; Selcho, M.; Pfeuffer, M.; Segebarth, D.; Habenstein, J.; Rohwedder, A.; Frantzmann, F.; Wegener, C.; Thum, A. S.; Pauls, D.Reward signaling in a recurrent circuit of dopaminergic neurons and peptidergic Kenyon cellsNature Communications. 2019.
- show detailsBeck, S.; Yu-Strzelczyk, J.; Pauls, D.; Constantin, O. M.; Gee, C. E.; Ehmann, N.; Kittel, R. J.; Nagel, G.; Gao, S.Synthetic Light-Activated Ion Channels for Optogenetic Activation and InhibitionFrontiers in Neuroscience. 2018.
- show detailsPauls, D.; Pauls-Selcho, M.; Räderscheidt, J.; Amatobi, K. M.; Fekete, A.; Krischke, M.; Hermann-Luibl, C.; Ozbek-Unal, A. G.; Ehmann, N.; Itskov, P. M.; Kittel, R. J.; Helfrich-Förster, C.; Kühnlein, R. P.; Mueller, M. C.; Wegener, C.Endocrine signals fine-tune daily activity patterns in DrosophilaCurrent biology. 2021. 31 (18). pp. 4076–4087.e5.