Prof. Hans Straka

• Assembly of vestibulo-motor circuits during ontogenetic development.
• Sensory-motor transformation of visuo-vestibular signals.
• Interactions between intrinsic locomotor efference copies and sensory feed-back signals.
• Cerebellar control of extraocular and locomotor precision.
  
• Evolutionary organization of hindbrain circuits.

• In vitro approach employing isolated or semi-intact brain/head preparations of Xenopus laevis for analyzing cellular and network configurations in brainstem and cerebellar circuits.

• Electrophysiology, fluorescent tract tracing and calcium imaging for deciphering singe cell activity, large scale projections and population responses during visuo-vestibular inputs.

• Cellular and network modeling to quantify signal-processing procedures during sensory-motor transformations and feed-back/feed-forward interactions.

Related publications

Rössert C., Moore L.E., Straka H.*, Glasauer S.* (2011): Cellular and network contributions to vestibular signal processing: impact of ion conductances, synaptic inhibition and noise. Journal of Neuroscience 31, 8359-8372. * Equal contribution of both authors.

Straka H. (2010): Ontogenetic rules and constraints of vestibulo-ocular reflex development. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 20, 689-695.

Malinvaud D., Vassias I., Reichenberger I., Rössert C., Straka, H. (2010): Functional organization of vestibular commissural connections in frog. Journal of Neuroscience 30, 3310-3325.

Combes D., Le Ray D., Lambert F.M., Simmers J., Straka H. (2008): An intrinsic feed-forward mechanism for vertebrate gaze stabilization. Current Biology 18, R241-R243.

Lambert F.M., Beck J.C., Baker R., Straka H. (2008): Semicircular canal size determines the developmental onset of angular vestibuloocular reflexes in larval Xenopus. Journal of Neuroscience 28, 8086-8096.

Project B-T1 – Cerebellar control of eye motion dynamics: from animal model to patients. Hans Straka, Stefan Glasauer, Dieter Kutz and Michael Strupp (LMU Munich)