About me
I did my PhD and Postdoc investigating the neural circuit involved in Drosophila motion vision. In 2016 I joined the science democratization organization Backyard Brains focussing on Summer Fellowships, Science Communication, and Citizen Science. I joined the CVBE Research group in 2023 investigating perception, attention, and non-verbal communication through eye-tracking.
Areas of interest:
multi-modal sensory perception, hidden senses, information processing, biodiversity
I am working on:
I am co-directing Summer Fellowships with Backyard Brains, where we invite undergraduates to perform their own scientific investigations and present the results at local or global conferences and/or publish it in peer-reviewed journals. I participate in events that promote open science, scientific literacy, and strengthening of the link between science and society. As co-founder of the science collective Hirnkastl, I am giving science lectures at schools, open events, and universities. We prototyped a Biodiversity Citizen Science project called ERGo!, where we perform electrophysiological recordings of insects and plants to investigate their health, visual sensitivity, and environmental interactions.
I have worked on:
Physiology: In vivo whole cell patch clamp recordings and two-photon calcium imaging.
Pharmacology: Immunohistochemistry to identify neurotransmitters and cell dye-fills to investigate gap-junctions.
Modeling: I used simple mathematic models to improve my understanding of arithmetic calculations in visually sensitive neurons.
Publications
Ammer G, Serbe-Kamp E, Mauss AS, Richter FG, Fendl S, Borst A (2023); Multi-level visual motion opponency implemented by a single cell type.
Mar’i J, Zhang R, Mircic S, Serbe-Kamp É, Meier M, Leonhardt A, Drews M, Del Grosso NA, Antony JW, Norman KA, Marzullo TC, Gage GJ (2023); Study While You Sleep: Using Targeted Memory Reactivation as an Independent Research Project for Undergraduates. Advances in Physiology Education. In review
Mishra A, Serbe-Kamp E, Borst A, Haag J (2023); Voltage to Calcium Transformation Enhances Direction Selectivity in Drosophila T4 neurons. Journal of Neuroscience. In press
Serbe-Kamp É, Bemme J, Pollak DJ, Mayer K (2023); Open Citizen Science: fostering open knowledge with participation. Research Ideas and Outcomes 9: e96476.
Eisenbeiser S, Serbe-Kamp E, Gage GJ, Marzullo TC (2022); Gills Just Want to Have Fun: Can Fish Play Games, Just like Us? Animals 12(13):1684.
Shin J, Serbe E, Gage GJ (2021); Authentic Research Investigations of a Controversial Question: Can Plants Learn? The American Biology Teacher 83(4):222–228.
Hörmann N, Schilling T, Haji Ali A, Serbe E, Mayer C, Borst A, Pujol-Martí J (2020); A combinatorial code of transcription factors specifies subtypes of visual motion-sensing neurons in Drosophila. Development 147(9).
Drews MS, Leonhardt A, Pirogova N, Richter FG, Schuetzenberger A, Braun L, Serbe E, Borst A (2020); Dynamic Signal Compression for Robust Motion Vision in Flies. Current Biology P209–2221.E8.
Pollak DJ, Feller KD, Serbe E, Mircic S, Gage GJ (2019); An Electrophysiological Investigation of Power-Amplification in the Ballistic Mantis Shrimp Punch. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education 17(2):T12.
Leonhardt A, Meier M, Serbe E, Eichner H, Borst A (2017); Neural mechanisms underlying sensitivity to reverse-phi motion in the fly. PLoS ONE 12(12):e0189019.
Serbe E (2016); Analysis of the neural circuit underlying the detection of visual motion in Drosophila melanogaster. PhD thesis.
Haag J, Arenz A, Serbe E, Gabbiani F, Borst A (2016); Complementary mechanisms create direction selectivity in the fly. eLife 5:e17421.
Leonhardt A, Ammer G, Meier M, Serbe E, Bahl A, Borst A (2016); Asymmetry of Drosophila ON and OFF Motion Detectors Enhances Real-World Velocity Estimation. Nature Neuroscience 19:706-715.
Serbe E, Meier M, Leonhardt A, Borst A (2016); Comprehensive Characterization of the Major Presynaptic Elements to the Drosophila OFF Motion Detector. Neuron 89(4):829-41.
Bahl A, Serbe E, Meier M, Ammer G, Borst A (2015); Neural Mechanisms for Drosophila Contrast Vision. Neuron 88(6):1240-52.
M Meier, E Serbe, MS Maisak, J Haag, BJ Dickson, A Borst (2014); Neural circuit components of the Drosophila OFF motion vision pathway. Current Biology 24(4), 385-392
Mauss AS, Meier M, Serbe E, Borst A (2014); Optogenetic and Pharmacologic Dissection of Feedforward Inhibition in Drosophila Motion Vision. Journal of Neuroscience 34(6):2254-2263.
Maisak MS, Haag J, Ammer G, Serbe E, Meier M, Leonhardt A, Schilling T, Bahl A, Rubin GM, Nern A, Dickson BJ, Reiff DF, Hopp E, Borst A (2013); A Directional Tuning Map of Drosophila Elementary Motion Detectors. Nature 500: 212–216.