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The EMBL Insight Lecture 2014 “Why do we do what we do? Exploring the neural basis of emotions” was presented by EMBL group leader Dr. Cornelius Gross on 5^th December 2014.

Cornelius Gross and his team study the molecular and neural basis of behaviour at EMBL Rome. In his talk, Cornelius Gross provides an introduction to the study of brain and behaviour and then explores the challenges scientists face when trying to understand how complex behaviour is determined. In the main part of his talk, Cornelius Gross focuses on the role of neural circuits in controlling emotions such as fear and anxiety and shares his research insights into this fascinating field of biology. Cornelius’ central question in the talk is: why do we do what we do?

Concepts covered

• Instinctive and voluntary behaviour control
• Synapses
• How neural circuits control emotions?
• Optogenetics: using light to control the brain
• Regions in the brain that control fear responses
• Measuring instinctive fear and fear memory in mice

Watch lecture

The EMBL Insight Lecture is available via on-demand-streaming from this website. You can watch it directly in the window below. Alternatively, you can open the EMBL Insight Lecture here.

Further reading

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Welcome: Liz Duke

The new team leader at EMBL Hamburg talks about her plans to establish biological X-ray imaging and high-throughput tomography.

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