Pelin Cayirlioglu Volkan

The long-term goal in the lab is to understand the developmental processes that establish the basic organizational and functional principles of the neuronal circuits in the brain. We investigate how the neuronal circuits assemble, functionally mature, remodel in developmental and evolutionary time scales. To understand these processes the Volkan lab uses the olfactory system of the genetically tractable Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism and apply molecular, developmental and systems level approaches. Our research aims to answer three fundamental questions in developmental and evolutionary neurobiology using the Drosophila olfactory system: 1- What are the transcriptional and epigenetic networks that regulate cellular specification and diversity of olfactory receptor neurons? 2- How is sensory neuron function established during development and modulated with experience? 3- What are the molecular, developmental and functional changes underlying evolution of species-specific differences in odor-guided behaviors?

Education

Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2003
M.S., Bogazici University (Turkey) 1997
B.S., Bogazici University (Turkey) 1995

Hueston, C., and P. C. Volkan. “Generation of neuronal diversity in the peripheral olfactory system in drosophila.” In Decoding Neural Circuit Structure and Function: Cellular Dissection Using Genetic Model Organisms, 399–418, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57363-2_16. Full Text

Sethi, Sachin, Hui-Hao Lin, Andrew K. Shepherd, Pelin C. Volkan, Chih-Ying Su, and Jing W. Wang. “Social Context Enhances Hormonal Modulation of Pheromone Detection in Drosophila.” Current Biology : Cb 29, no. 22 (November 2019): 3887-3898.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.045. Full Text

Barish, Scott, Sarah Nuss, Ilya Strunilin, Suyang Bao, Sayan Mukherjee, Corbin D. Jones, and Pelin C. Volkan. “Combinations of DIPs and Dprs control organization of olfactory receptor neuron terminals in Drosophila.” Plos Genetics 14, no. 8 (August 13, 2018): e1007560. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007560. Full Text

Barish, Scott, and Pelin C. Volkan. “Preparing Developing Peripheral Olfactory Tissue for Molecular and Immunohistochemical Analysis in Drosophila.” Journal of Visualized Experiments : Jove, no. 136 (June 13, 2018). https://doi.org/10.3791/57716. Full Text

Pan, Jia Wern, Joi McLaughlin, Haining Yang, Charles Leo, Paula Rambarat, Sumie Okuwa, Anaïs Monroy-Eklund, Sabrina Clark, Corbin D. Jones, and Pelin Cayirlioglu Volkan. “Comparative analysis of behavioral and transcriptional variation underlying CO2 sensory neuron function and development in Drosophila.” Fly 11, no. 4 (October 2017): 239–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/19336934.2017.1344374. Full Text

Pan, Jia Wern, Qingyun Li, Scott Barish, Sumie Okuwa, Songhui Zhao, Charles Soeder, Matthew Kanke, Corbin D. Jones, and Pelin Cayirlioglu Volkan. “Patterns of transcriptional parallelism and variation in the developing olfactory system of Drosophila species.” Scientific Reports 7, no. 1 (August 18, 2017): 8804. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08563-0. Full Text

Barish, Scott, Qingyun Li, Jia W. Pan, Charlie Soeder, Corbin Jones, and Pelin C. Volkan. “Transcriptional profiling of olfactory system development identifies distal antenna as a regulator of subset of neuronal fates.” Scientific Reports 7 (January 19, 2017): 40873. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40873. Full Text

Hueston, Catherine E., Douglas Olsen, Qingyun Li, Sumie Okuwa, Bo Peng, Jianni Wu, and Pelin Cayirlioglu Volkan. “Chromatin Modulatory Proteins and Olfactory Receptor Signaling in the Refinement and Maintenance of Fruitless Expression in Olfactory Receptor Neurons.” Plos Biology 14, no. 4 (April 19, 2016): e1002443. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002443. Full Text Open Access Copy

Li, Q., S. Barish, S. Okuwa, and P. C. Volkan. “Examination of Endogenous Rotund Expression and Function in Developing Drosophila Olfactory System Using CRISPR-Cas9 Mediated Protein Tagging (vol 5, pg 2809, 2015).” G3 Genes Genomes Genetics 6, no. 3 (March 1, 2016): 771–771.

Li, Qingyun, Scott Barish, Sumie Okuwa, Abigail Maciejewski, Alicia T. Brandt, Dominik Reinhold, Corbin D. Jones, and Pelin Cayirlioglu Volkan. “A Functionally Conserved Gene Regulatory Network Module Governing Olfactory Neuron Diversity.” Plos Genetics 12, no. 1 (January 14, 2016): e1005780. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005780. Full Text Open Access Copy

Barish, Scott, and Pelin Cayirlioglu Volkan. “Mechanisms of olfactory receptor neuron specification in Drosophila.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Developmental Biology 4, no. 6 (November 2015): 609–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/wdev.197. Full Text

Pages

Pan, Jia W., Scott Barish, Tristan Li, Catherine Hueston, Doug Olsen, Songhui Zhao, Sayan Mukherjee, Corbin D. Jones, and Pelin C. Volkan. “Stability and plasticity in the Drosophila olfactory system across timescales.” In Chemical Senses, 42:E3–E3. OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2017.

Distinguished UNC Alumnus Award. UNC-CH. May 17, 2013