Integrative neurobiology

Behavioural neurobiology

Research Focus

Our group aims to understand how neural circuits generate behaviour and enable animals to adapt to a changing environment. We work at the interface of neurophysiology, sleep research and circadian biology, focusing on how internal states—such as arousal, social context and immune activation—reshape sleep and behavioural organization. Building on foundational work by the group leader on molecular and circuit-level regulation of circadian clocks and sleep, our research highlights the plasticity and complexity of brain regulatory networks across evolution.

Using Drosophila melanogaster as a genetically tractable model, we integrate behavioural analysis with molecular, cellular and circuit-level approaches. Our work has contributed to redefining classical views of sleep regulation by showing that sleep is dynamically modulated by sexual arousal, social experience and sensory context, and by revealing that chronic sleep restriction is not intrinsically lethal. More recently, we have expanded our focus to the interaction between sleep, immunity and metabolism, including pathological contexts such as infection, cancer and dysbiosis.

Proyects:

Neural and immune mechanisms linking sleep, circadian rhythms and physiological homeostasis

Sleep and immune function are tightly interconnected, yet the principles governing their interaction remain poorly understood. Immune activation reshapes sleep architecture and circadian organization, while sleep disruption alters immune competence. In this project, we study sleep–immunity interactions as a bidirectional regulatory system, focusing on how neural circuits integrate immune signals to adjust behavioural and physiological states.

We aim to identify the mechanisms through which immune challenges influence sleep and circadian rhythms, and to determine how persistent sleep disruption feeds back onto immune and metabolic function. By framing sleep as an adaptive response to internal physiological demands, this project provides insight into how sleep contributes to resilience or vulnerability in health and disease.

Social interactions as modulators of sleep and circadian clock function

Social environment is a powerful but often overlooked regulator of sleep and circadian rhythms. Social interactions can reorganise daily activity patterns, alter sleep stability and induce long-lasting changes in brain function. In this project, we investigate how social experience shapes sleep and circadian regulation, and how social context becomes embedded in physiological control systems.

In collaboration with Dr Nicolás Pírez (IFIByN), we explore how different forms of social interaction influence sleep organization, circadian synchrony and behavioural flexibility. This work addresses how sleep and circadian rhythms are tuned not only by environmental cycles, but also by the social structure in which individuals are embedded.

Sex-specific regulation of sleep and arousal states

Sex differences in sleep and arousal are widespread across species, yet their mechanistic basis remains unclear. Building on our work showing that sexual arousal actively regulates sleep homeostasis, this project examines how biological sex shapes sleep regulation and the balance between sleep, wakefulness and motivated behaviour.

We aim to identify sex-specific pathways that modulate sleep architecture and recovery, and to understand how reproductive and motivational states interact with sleep regulatory mechanisms. By positioning sleep as a flexible and state-dependent process, this project contributes to a broader understanding of individual variability in sleep function.