A neural coding logic of how metabolic pathways control motivational drive

Abstract: Survival under selective pressure depends on the ability of our brain to use sensory information to our advantage to control need states. To that end, neural circuits integrate external environmental cues and internal physiological signals to form learned sensory associations, which consequently motivate our behaviour. In the talk, I will discuss how the brain represents, integrates and prioritises bodily and external signals to initiate appropriate behavioural and physiological responses, focusing on circuit-level mechanisms, signalling pathways and motivated behaviour. At the example of metabolic regulation and energy maintenance, I demonstrate how physiological signals can act as neuromodulators to adapt our behaviour to an interoceptive state, rendering classically assumed behavioural traits, such as impulsivity and motivation, state-dependent.

Bio: Marc Tittgemeyer took up the position as a tenured research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in 2013; in 2016, he received independence status and was awarded 2021 as adjunct professor to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Cologne. He is furthermore faculty member of the Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-associated Diseases (CECAD) as well as of the Cologne Graduate Schools of Aging Research and associate faculty member of the Graduate School for Biological Sciences within the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Cologne.

He gained his Diploma in Geophysics and PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Physics from the Karlsruhe Technical University, Germany. For a post-doctoral period, he moved to Leipzig to the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, where he was introduced to the field of Neuroscience and pre-clinical Medicine at the Department of Cognitive Neurology. Later, he was affiliated as a research associate at the same institute with the “Cortical Networks” group, which he led until he moved to Cologne; there he also headed a research group associated with the Department of Neurology at the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research. After the Institute’s reorientation to become the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in 2013, he became tenured as a research group leader and founded the group for Translational Neurocircuitry.

Marc Tittgemeyer’s current research focus concerns understanding biological pathways that mediate individual differences in behaviour and risk for (psycho-)pathology implicated in the control of energy homeostasis. To that end, he is especially interested in understanding how the brain senses the body's needs – such as the need for food – and then generates specific behavioural responses that restore physiologic balance.

Lab's webpage: https://www.sf.mpg.de/research/tittgemeyer

Access to the meeting: Zoom Link