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Faculty of Mathematics and Natural SciencesInstitute of Zoology - AG Ito

Curriculum Vitae for Dr. Thomas Riemensperger

  • since 2/2018 Akademischer Rat in Prof. Dr. Kei Ito’s laboratory
    • Experimentelle Morphologie und Neuroanatomie
    • Institute: University of Cologne, Institut für Zoologie
    • Subject: Neuronal Connectivity and Cellular Mechanisms of neural plasticity in health and disease
    • Financing: Axa foundation
    • Third-party Funds:: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

 

  • 10/2011 – 2/2018 Senior-Post-Doc in Prof. Dr. André Fiala’s laboratory
    • Molecular Neurobiology of Behavior
    • Institute: Georg August University Göttingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute for Anthropology and Zoology
    • Subject: Cellular Mechanisms of experience dependent changes in neural plasticity
    • Financing: Georg August Universität Göttingen
    • Third-party Funds: Niedersächsisches Vorab Stipendium der VW Stiftung

 

  • 03/2009 – 09/2011 Post-doc in Dr. Serge Birman’s team
    • Institute: ESPCI ParisTech, Laboratory of neurobiology, CNRS UMR 7637
    • Subject: Studies of dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila melanogaster: “Function of dopamine in the control of behavior and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease models”
    • Third-party Funds: Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (2009), Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour la Recherche (2010) NeRF (2011)

 

  • 01/2007 – 02/2009 Post-doc in Dr. Serge Birman’s team
    • Institute: Institut de Biologie du développement de Marseille-Luminy, CNRS UMR 6216
    • Subject: Studies of dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila melanogaster: Function of dopamine in the control of behavior and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease models
    • Third-party Funds: Fondation de la Recherche Médicale (2008) Association France Parkinson (2007)

Other

  • since 2020 Organizer of ANN weekly (Arthropod Neuroscience Network – Weekly lecture series)
  • since 2018 Local Organizer of the Arthropod Neuroscience Network Meeting (ANN)
  • 2011 NeRF (Neuropole pour la Recherche Ile-de-France) - Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2010 Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour la Recherche - Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2009 Fondation de la Recherche Médicale - Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2008 Fondation de la Recherche Médicale - Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2007 Association France Parkinson - Postdoctoral Fellowship

Academic training and degrees

Bayerische Julius Maximilians Universität Würzburg– Theodor Boveri Institut, Biozentrum, Dept. of Genetics and Neurobiology

  • 10/2003 – 08/2006 PhD, Neurobiology & Genetics
  • 08.2002 – 05.2003 Diploma-Thesis, Neurobiology & Genetics
  • 1999-2003 Biology studies
  • 1996-1998 Biology studies – Teaching Profession

 

Publications

Research Articles

  • Bornstein B., Meltzer H., Alder R., Alyagor I., Berkun V. Cummings G., Reh F., Keren-Shaul H., David E., Riemensperger T. and Schuldiner O. (2021). Transneuronal Dpr12/DIP-δ facilitate compartmentalized dopaminergic innervation of Drosophila mushroom body. EMBO J (2021)e105763 https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2020105763
  • Warth Pérez Arias C.C., Frosch P., Fiala A†. and Riemensperger T † (2020). Stochastic and Arbitrarily Generated Input Patterns to the Mushroom Bodies Can Serve as Conditioned Stimuli in Drosophila. Accepted for publication in Front. Physiol.
  • Bornstein B., Alyagor I., Berkun V., Meltzer H., Reh F., Keren-Shaul H., David E., Riemensperger T. and Schuldiner O. (2019). Transneuronal interactions facilitate axonal compartment formation. BioRxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/834515
  • Mayseless O., Berns DS., Yu XM., Riemensperger T., Fiala A. and Oren Schuldiner. (2018). Developmental coordination during olfactory circuit remodeling in Drosophila Neuron: 1204-1215.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.07.050.
  • Sun J., Xu A.Q., Giraud J., Poppinga H., Riemensperger T., Fiala A. and Birman S. (2018). Neural Control of Startle-Induced Locomotion by the Mushroom Bodies and Associated Neurons in Drosophila. Front. Syst. Neurosci. doi :10.3389/fnsys.2018.00006.
  • Niens J, Reh F, Çoban B, Cichewicz K, Eckardt J, Liu YT, Hirsh J, Riemensperger T. (2017). Dopamine Modulates Serotonin Innervation in the Drosophila Brain. Front. Syst. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2017.00076.
  • Martelli C, Pech U, Kobbenbring S, Pauls D, Bahl B, Sommer MV, Pooryasin A, Barth J, Warth Perez Arias C, Vassiliou C, Farca Luna AJ, Poppinga H, Richter FG, Wegener C, Fiala A, Riemensperger T. (2017). SIFamide translates hunger signals into appetitive and feeding behavior in Drosophila. Cell Rep. 20: 464-478
  • Cassar M*, Issa AR*, Riemensperger T*, Petitgas C, Rival T, Coulom H, Iché-Torres M, Han KA, Birman S. (2015). A dopamine receptor contributes to Paraquat-induced neurotoxicity in Drosophila. Hum Mol Genet. 24: 197-212.
  • Lavista-Llanos S, Svatoš A, Kai M, Riemensperger T, Birman S, Stensmyr MC, Hansson BS. (2014). Dopamine drives Drosophila sechellia adaptation to its toxic host. Elife. 9: 3
  • Azimi-Hashemi N, Erbguth K, Vogt A, Riemensperger T, Rauch E, Woodmansee D, Sheves M, Fiala A, Kattner L, Trauner D, Hegemann P, Gottschalk A, Liewald JF. (2014). Synthetic retinal analogs modify spectral and kinetic characteristics of microbial rhodopsin optogenetic tools. Nat Commun. 6: 6458.
  • Vasmer D, Pooryasin A, Riemensperger T†, Fiala A†. (2014). Induction of aversive learning through thermogenetic activation of Kenyon cell ensembles in Drosophila. Front Behav Neurosci. 8:174.
  • Barth J, Dipt S, Pech U, Hermann M, Riemensperger T, Fiala A. (2014). Differential associative training enhances olfactory acuity in Drosophila melanogaster. J Neurosci. 34: 1819-37.
  • Riemensperger T, Issa AR, Pech U, Coulom H, Nguyễn MV, Cassar M, Jacquet M, Fiala A, Birman S. (2013). A single dopamine pathway underlies progressive locomotor deficits in a Drosophila model of Parkinson disease. Cell Rep. 5: 952-60.
  • Pech U, Dipt S, Barth J, Singh P, Jauch M, Thum AS, Fiala A†, Riemensperger T†. (2013). Mushroom body miscellanea: transgenic Drosophila strains expressing anatomical and physiological sensor proteins in Kenyon cells. Front Neural Circuits. 7: 147.
  • Huser A, Rohwedder A, Apostolopoulou AA, Widmann A, Pfitzenmaier JE, Maiolo EM, Selcho M, Pauls D, von Essen A, Gupta T, Sprecher SG, Birman S, Riemensperger T, Stocker RF, Thum AS. (2012). The serotonergic central nervous system of the Drosophila larva: anatomy and behavioral function. PLoS One. 7: e47518.
  • Humphrey DM, Parsons RB, Ludlow ZN, Riemensperger T, Esposito G, Verstreken P, Jacobs HT, Birman S, Hirth F. (2012). Alternative oxidase rescues mitochondria-mediated dopaminergic cell loss in Drosophila. Hum Mol Genet. 21: 2698-712.
  • Riemensperger T, Isabel G, Coulom H, Neuser K, Seugnet L, Kume K, Iché-Torres M, Cassar M, Strauss R, Preat T, Hirsh J, Birman S. (2011). Behavioral consequences of dopamine deficiency in the Drosophila central nervous system. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 108: 834-9.
  • Hirsh J, Riemensperger T, Coulom H, Iché M, Coupar J, Birman S. (2010). Roles of dopamine in circadian rhythmicity and extreme light sensitivity of circadian entrainment. Curr Biol. 20: 209-14.
  • Schroll C, Riemensperger T, Bucher D, Ehmer J, Völler T, Erbguth K, Gerber B, Hendel T, Nagel G, Buchner E, Fiala A. (2006). Light-induced activation of distinct modulatory neurons triggers appetitive or aversive learning in Drosophila larvae. Curr Biol. 16: 1741-7.
  • Riemensperger T, Völler T, Stock P, Buchner E, Fiala A. (2005). Punishment prediction by dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila. Curr Biol. 15: 1953-60.
  • Wagner TU, Renn J, Riemensperger T, Volff JN, Köster RW, Goerlich R, Schartl M, Winkler C. (2003). The teleost fish medaka (Oryzias latipes) as genetic model to study gravity dependent bone homeostasis in vivo. Adv. Space Res. 32: 1459-65.

* contributing equally first authors

† contributing equally last authors

Review Articles

  • Riemensperger T, Pech U, Dipt S, Fiala A (2012). Optical calcium imaging in the nervous system of Drosophila melanogaster. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1820: 1169-1178.

 

Book Chapters

  • Fiala A & Riemensperger T. (2017). Localization of a Memory Trace: Aversive Associative Olfactory Learning and Short-Term Memory in Drosophila. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference (Second Edition). Elsevier, ISBN: 978-0-12-805291-4.
  • Riemensperger T, Bilz. F, Fiala A. (2017). Visualization of Synapses and Synaptic Plasticity in the Drosophila Brain. In: Decoding Neural Circuit Structure and Function. Humana Press / Springer, ISBN: 978-3-319-57362-5.
  • Riemensperger T, Kittel R, Fiala A. (2016). Optogenetics in Drosophila neuroscience. In: A. Kianianmomeni (Ed.) Optogenetics: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology). Humana Press / Springer, ISBN 978-1493935109.
  • Dipt S, Riemensperger T, Fiala A (2014): Optical calcium imaging using DNA-encoded fluorescence sensors in transgenic fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster. In: J Zhang, Q. Ni, R.H. Newman (Eds.). Fluorescent Protein-Based Biosensors: Methods and Protocols. Series: Methods Mol. Biol. 1071 (pp. 195-206). Humana Press / Springer, ISBN 9781627036214.
  • Riemensperger T & Fiala A (2013): Optophysiological approaches to learning and memory in Drosophila melanogaster. In: R. Menzel, P.R. Benjamin (Eds.), Invertebrate Learning and Memory. Elsevier / Acadademic Press., ISBN 9780124158238.
  • Strutz A, Völler T, Riemensperger T, Fiala A, Sachse S (2012). Calcium imaging of neural activity in the olfactory system of Drosophila. In: J.-R. Martin (Ed.), Neuromethods 72 / Genetically Encoded Functional Indicators (pp. 43-70). Humana Press / Springer, ISBN 9781627030137.

Interviews