Research Interest

Brain is an ensemble of neuronal circuits performing complex cognitive processes. A neuronal circuit has the ability to learn from experiences, leading to improved performance or potential for survival in a dynamic environment by shaping the behavioral plasticity. Associative memory is a complex learning outcome where the brain correlates between two unrelated events making us capable to withstand complex challenges to ensure our survival in a very dynamic environment. With repeated or prolonged training, those memories can last for long, sometimes for lifetime. A “single odor – bitter taste” aversive conditioning memory paradigm has been standardized in this regard where an attractive odorant has been coupled with bitter taste. A spaced training paradigm triggers the formation of long-term associative memory in the adult flies, eventually modulating their behavioural response which is quantifiable in a simple binary odor choice assay. Post-training, the adult flies showed strong repulsion towards the conditioned odor. The LTM induced in adults shows a gradual decay pattern over the course of 5-6 days. And, the probability of trans-generational and trans-metamorphic persistence of this long-term memory (LTM) is under investigation.

Chromatin, an intricately ordered DNA-protein complex, which assists to organize the genomic architecture as well as regulate the transcriptional machinery to access certain genomic regions, while retain the other regions as repressed. However, the diversity & distribution of chromatin across the genome is still barely understood. Formerly, the chromatin was divided into two basic forms; euchromatin (transcriptionally active form of chromatin) & heterochromatin (remains transcriptionally silent). But Filion et al., in 2010, first characterized the Drosophila genome into five principal chromatin types by analyzing the genome wide binding pattern of 53 chosen chromatin proteins. Following on, Marshall & Brand, in 2017, discovered the role of large-scale chromatin state change in neural development of Drosophila. During that journey of literature survey, I found myself thrilled by thinking about the possibilities of large scale chromatin remodelling during Long Term Memory (LTM) formation as it also demands for the de novo gene expression to alter the neural circuitry both structurally and functionally.