Dr Judith Reinhard - Olfactory Function and Behaviour

Dr Judith Reinhard

 Contact Information

  j.reinhard@uq.edu.au
  Building: QBI Building #79
  Room: 334
  Tel: +61 7 334 66321

 Mailing Address

  Queensland Brain Institute
  The University of Queensland
  Brisbane, 4072
  Queensland,
  Australia

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Short Biography

Research directions

Current collaborations

Selected publications

Short Biography

Dr Reinhard obtained her PhD degree from the University of Bayreuth, Germany in 1998. Her thesis was on chemical communication systems and sensory processing in social insects. Dr Reinhard continued this research as DAAD-funded postdoctoral fellow at CSIRO Entomology in Canberra, Australia, and as DFG Research Fellow at CNRS Neurobiology in Marseille, France. In 2002, Dr Reinhard was awarded a Fellowship by the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation to start work on honeybee vision, olfaction and cognition at the Australian National University in Canberra, from where she was recruited to The Queensland Brain Institute in 2007.

 

 

Research directions

Dr Reinhard’s research lies in the field of neuroethology, linking brain function to behaviour. Combining insect model systems with human studies, her research focuses mostly on the sense of smell (olfaction). The Reinhard laboratory studies how the brain encodes, learns and recalls olfactory information, how plastic olfactory processes and memories are, and how sensory information (olfactory and visual) controls behavioural activity including cognitive function. The Reinhard lab uses sophisticated behavioural approaches and in collaboration with colleagues at QBI also investigates the underlying molecular and neural mechanisms.

Dr Reinhard’s research is carried out in close collaboration with Dr Charles Claudianos, Professor Jason Mattingley, and A/Prof Bruno van Swinderen, in a multidisciplinary team, which includes behavioural and cognitive scientists, neurophysiologists, and molecular geneticists. Student projects and postdoctoral positions are available in each of the following areas.

Olfaction

  • How do insects process the multidimensional information contained in complex scents?
  • How does the human brain process and learn complex natural scents like food aromas?
  • How plastic is the sense of smell: does scent perception change with experience?
  • What are the neural circuits and molecular mechanisms underlying scent learning?
  • How do scents modulate stress and aggression?
  • How do scents affect cognitive capacities?

Cognition

  • How do animals with small brains solve complex problems?
  • How do animals with small brains process complex visual information?
  • Do insects experience the phenomenon of selective attention?
  • Do insects have higher cognitive abilities?

Current collaborations

  • Dr Charles Claudianos, QBI, The University of Queensland
  • Prof Jason Mattingley, QBI, The University of Queensland
  • A/Prof Bruno van Swinderen, QBI, The University of Queensland
  • A/Prof David Merritt, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland
  • Dr Jason Tangen, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland
  • Prof Giovanni Galizia, University of Konstanz, Germany
  • A/Prof Richard Newcomb, University of Auckland, New Zealand
  • Prof Zila Simoes, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Techniques used in the lab include

  • Behavioural assays, including learning, memory and cognition protocols
  • Digital and high-speed video recording
  • Chemical and biochemical methods
  • Molecular biological approaches
  • Histology and immunohistochemistry
  • Electrophysiology
  • fMRI, EEG

Selected publications

Reinhard J, Claudianos C. Molecular insights into honeybee brain plasticity. In: Honeybee Neurobiology – A Tribute to Randolf Menzel (D Eisenhardt, CG Galizia, M Giurfa eds.) Springer Verlag (in press 2010)

Burne T, Scott E, van Swinderen B, Hilliard M, Reinhard J, Claudianos C, Eyles D, McGrath J (2011) Big ideas for small brains: what can psychiatry learn from worms, flies, bees and fish? Molecular Psychiatry 16:7-16(in press).

Reinhard J. Invertebrate Taste. In: Encyclopedia of Animal Behaviour - Vol. 3, Sensory Perception (M Breed, J Moore eds.). Oxford: Academic Press, pp. 379-385.

Biswas S, Reinhard J, Oakeshott JG, Russell R, Srinivasan MV, Claudianos C (2010) Sensory regulation of neuroligin and neurexin I in the honeybee brain. PLoS ONE 5(2): e9133.

Reinhard J, Sinclair M, Srinivasan MV, Claudianos C (2010) Honeybees learn odour mixtures via key odorants. PLoS ONE 5(2): e9110.

Reinhard J, Srinivasan MV (2009) The role of scents in honeybee foraging and recruitment. In: Food Exploitation by Social Insects: Ecological, Behavioral, and Theoretical Approaches (S Jarau, M Hrncir, eds.). CRC Press Boc Raton, pp. 165-182.

Reinhard J, Srinivasan MV, Zhang SW (2006) Complex memories in honeybees: can there be more than two? J. Comp. Physiol. A 192: 462-493.

Srinivasan MV, Zhang SW, Reinhard J (2006) Small brains, smart minds: Vision, perception, navigation and ‘cognition’ in insects. In: Invertebrate vision (E. J. Warrant, D.E. Nilsson, eds.) Cambridge University Press, pp. 462-493.

 

 

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