Connor Doyle

PhD thesis: How flexible are the olfactory circuits involved in innate sexual behaviours?

Animal behaviours are often characterised as either innate or learned. Innate behaviours are stereotyped behaviours that occur in all members of a species without any prior learning or experience following exposure to a species-specific cue (e.g., pheromones). Traditionally, it has been thought that the brain circuits responsible for these innate behaviours were genetically “hard-wired” and were, therefore, rigid and insensitive to change.

However, recent work has shown that many evolutionarily ancient brain regions, such as the hypothalamus, responsible for controlling innate behaviours are surprisingly malleable, shaped by both experience and changes in internal states. Olfaction is the primary sense in rodents and olfactory cues have long been known to be important in producing parenting, fighting and mating. My PhD project will focus on how olfactory circuits in mice are flexibly and adaptively modulated by internal and experiential factors, ultimately leading to changes in mating behaviour.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?

Oliver Sacks’s ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat’ first inspired my interest in neuroscience and the brain, prompting me to study neurobiology at the University of Cambridge. Through various courses and research projects, my fascination with the brain only deepened. The specific inspiration for my PhD research came from lectures I received during my final year at university on olfaction, innate behaviour and neuronal plasticity. Knowing I wanted to undertake I PhD, I reached out to Dr Elisa Galliano who has been instrumental in shaping the direction of my project and supporting me throughout the entire process.