Connectomics across sexes, species and states
Medical Research Council (Cambridge) — Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Dr Gregory Jefferis
Tuesday, December 08, 2026
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Behavioural Biology, Bioengineering, Biophysics, Molecular Biology, Neuroscience
About the Project
Neuroscience in the fly and beyond is being transformed by the availability of connectomes, synaptic resolution wiring diagrams. We have played leading roles in two large collaborations that have recently generated and analysed separate (female) brain and (male) nerve cord connectomes for the fly. Furthermore, we have now completed a male CNS connectome (brain and nerve cord together). This is enabling comparative connectomics, allowing us to identify sex differences across the brain.
We are now expanding this comparative work to understand brain evolution across species including other Drosophilids and the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes. In D. melanogaster, we are also developing new approaches to overlay molecular information about neurons onto the connectome using computational and experimental approaches including deep single cell transcriptomics and expansion microscopy.
Together, these resources offer rich opportunities to understand the circuit basis of behaviour. We are investigating the circuit logic of innate behaviours, especially sexually dimorphic behaviours dependent on pheromones. We are also interested in how learned behaviours interact with and modify innate behavioural responses. Finally, we are following the transformations from sensory input, multimodal integration to descending control of motor behaviour.
We have active projects in each of these areas and many new avenues are opening up. We encourage any student fascinated by the synaptic, neuronal and network basis of behaviour to apply. This includes not just biologists and neuroscientists but also computer scientists, engineers and physicists.
Funding Notes
References
Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system.
Berg S, Beckett IR, Costa M, Schlegel P, …, Rubin GM, Jefferis GSXE.
bioRxiv 2025.10.09.680999; (in press at Cell https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.015)
Whole-brain annotation and multi-connectome cell typing of Drosophila
Schlegel P, Yin Y, Bates AS, Dorkenwald S, Eichler K, Brooks P, Han DS, Gkantia M, Dos Santos M, Munnelly EJ, Badalamente G, Capdevila LS, Sane VA, Pleijzier MW, Tamimi IFM, Dunne CR, Salgarella I, Javier A, Fang S, Perlman E, Kazimiers T, Jagannathan SR, Matsliah A, Sterling AR, Yu SC, McKellar CE; FlyWire Consortium; Costa M, Seung HS, Murthy M, Hartenstein V, Bock DD, Jefferis GSXE.
Nature 634, 139–152 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07686-5.
Neurotransmitter classification from electron microscopy images at synaptic sites in Drosophila melanogaster.
Eckstein N, Bates AS, Champion A, Du M, Yin Y, Schlegel P, Lu AK, Rymer T, Finley-May S, Paterson T, Parekh R, Dorkenwald S, Matsliah A, Yu SC, McKellar C, Sterling A, Eichler K, Costa M, Seung S, Murthy M, Hartenstein V, Jefferis GSXE, Funke J.
Cell. 2024 May 9;187(10):2574-2594.e23. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.03.016.
Generating parallel representations of position and identity in the olfactory system.
Taisz I, Donà E, Münch D, Bailey SN, Morris BJ, Meechan KI, Stevens KM, Varela-Martínez I, Gkantia M, Schlegel P, Ribeiro C, Jefferis GSXE, Galili DS. Cell. 2023 Jun 8;186(12):2556-2573.e22. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.04.038. Epub 2023 May 25.
Communication from Learned to Innate Olfactory Processing Centers Is Required for Memory Retrieval in Drosophila.
Dolan MJ, Belliart-Guérin G, Bates AS, Frechter S, Lampin-Saint-Amaux A, Aso Y, Roberts RJV, Schlegel P, Wong A, Hammad A, Bock D, Rubin GM, Preat T, Plaçais PY, Jefferis GSXE. Neuron. 2018 Nov 7;100(3):651-668.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.08.037
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