Gonçalo M. Poças

I am investigating the neural circuits associated to foraging and feeding behaviours, using Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) as an animal model. I am interested in characterising neural populations encoding nutritional choices by exploring how the activity of these neurons affect the total amount of food intake, rate of food consumption and macronutrient balance between protein and carbohydrates. Previously, during my PhD, I generated new transgenic Drosophila melanogaster models for Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. The main aim was to study the genetic and functional interactions of alpha-Synuclein and Huntingtin, two of the proteins associated to these human neuropathologies.