The neurobiology of social context-dependent stress responses

Sociability or a lack of human contact are factors in mortality prediction. However, the biological mechanisms underlying sociability are not fully understood. The EU-funded NotSOSTRESSED project will investigate the sociability neurocircuitry in the model system Drosophila melanogaster. The project relies on the idea that the presence of others regulates an individual’s response to an environmental stressor. NotSOSTRESSED will delineate sensory cues and receptors modulating social context-dependent stress responses, identify neurons processing sensory information relevant to stress, map higher brain stress-responsive foci integrating stressor and social information, and dissect the hormonal pathway effectuating social-regulated stress responses. The project will address the current knowledge gap in behavioural and translational neurosciences.