Bengochea Mercedes

During my early studies in biological sciences at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), I realized that the understanding of the neuronal mechanisms that drive behavior had become the center of my scientific interests driving my specialty in the field of physiology, neurosciences and animal behavior. For my master thesis I joined the Laboratory of Neurobiology of Memory (UBA) under the supervision of Dr. Martín Berón de Astrada where my research project focused on exploring diverse aspects of visual processing in the crab. For my postdoc and aiming to continue my studies in visual systems and physiology, I decided to switch model organism to Drosophila to take advantage of the powerful genetic tools for dissecting neuronal circuit function in that model. In June 2017 I joined Bassem Hassan’s lab at Paris Brain Institute which is interested in the question pertaining to the neurobiological bases of variability and behavioral individuality. My interest was to address questions of individuality in a neuroethological context. Since then, I'm working in a project aiming to study numerical cognition in flies. Are flies be able to distinguish different numbers of objects? My approach includes behavioral assays (learned and spontaneous choice) and neurogenetic approach.