Machine‑learning pipelines for real‑world biology
We build and share machine‑learning pipelines for pose estimation and tracking, behaviour discovery, and physics‑aware models. Applications include animal-welfare scoring, seizure and motor-symptom analytics, clinical models, and decision support systems.
Research interests
I build code‑first models to uncover the neuronal networks that enable cognition. We utilise machine learning, physics-aware modelling, and open-source tools to analyse behaviour, infer network dynamics, and test mechanisms down to the level of biophysics. My research focuses on insect brains, whose compact circuits deliver elegant computation and real cognitive behaviour. We translate these methods to animal welfare (automated behaviour scoring) and medical science (movement analytics and decision support).
Machine learning and AI
- Image recognition, markerless pose estimation, and behaviour discovery
- Computational modelling linking movement → networks → mechanisms
- Python‑first pipelines (PyTorch/NumPy), explainable and reproducible
Quantitative behaviour analysis
- High‑throughput videography with robust, automated tracking
- Event detection and ethogram building across species and contexts
Genetic and biochemical approaches
- Targeted modification of insect circuits to test causal hypotheses
- Molecular assays that connect channels and proteins to behaviour
Neurophysiology and Ca2+ imaging
- In vivo recordings and calcium imaging during cognitive tasks
- Identification of specific neurons that drive decision‑making and learning
Join us
Our approach is quantitative and computationally driven, and we teach the skills you need: Programming, analysis, genetics, and wet‑bench methods. If you're curious and ready to learn, there's a project for you.
Teaching
- AGRI 101 Agricultural Innovation
- BIOL 112 Animal Biology
- ZOOL 223 Animal Physiology
- ZOOL 314 Neurobiology
- ZOOL 412 Neurobiology and Behaviour
- COSC 420 Deep Learning
Current students
- Jess Carroll
- 2026, master's thesis
The influence of thermal stimuli on insect aggression
- 2026, master's thesis
- Theo Dodd
- 2026, bachelor with honours
Bifurcations in brain evolution and their path-dependent consequences
- 2026, bachelor with honours
- Jon Rolfes
- started in 2025, PhD thesis, Ecology and conservation needs of lizards in southern Rakiura with specific attention to the Harlequin gecko (Tukutuku rakiurae), southern skink (Oligosoma notosaurus) and small-eared skink (O. stenotis)
- Asj Taylor
- 2024, PhD Thesis, Behavioural and neuronal correlates of olfactory attention in honey bees (Apis mellifera)
- Ella Voight
- 2026, project student
Post-Docs
- Dr Phoebe Chapman (2023–2024)
- Dr Luna Grey (2025–2026)
Completed students
Our lab has graduated 4 PhDs, 21 master's students, and 8 bachelor's students.
- Andrea Adden
- 2014, Master's thesis, Characterisation of the thermoreceptive organ in the antenna of Drosophila melanogaster
- 2012 BSc thesis, The role of nompC in the thermoreceptive cells of Drosophila melanogaster
- Irene Aji
- 2018, Master's thesis, A novel foraging optimisation strategy
- Selina André
- 2017, Master's thesis, Danio rerio as a model organism for Hereditary spastic paraplegia
- 2014, BSc thesis, Spatio-temporal optima in Drosophila melanogaster motion vision
- Luisa Beckmann
- 2018, Master's thesis, Influence of prior knowledge on landmark selection and use in a virtual reality task
- Miriam Berger
- 2022, Master's thesis, The role of Rh7 in locomotion
- 2018, BSc thesis, Intersexual courtship behaviour of light-deprived Drosophila melanogaster
- Laurin Büld
- 2021, Master's thesis, Interactions of mechano and thermo transduction in Drosophila melanogaster during locomotion
- Alexander Busch
- 2019, BSc thesis, Rocking Behaviour of Stick Insects - Effects of Visual and Mechanosensory Cues
- 2023. Master's thesis, Effects of Methamphetamine on habituated Zebrafish,
- Katharina Brands
- 2021, Master's thesis, Preference via repetition - Approaches to investigate cognitive biases in Drosophila melanogaster
- Dr Kristina Corthals
- 2014–2018, PhD thesis, On the mechanisms of head-body coordination in Drosophila melanogaster
- 2013, Master's thesis, Characterisation of a neuroligin 2 knock-out in Drosophila melanogaster
- Lisse DeCraecker
- 2016, Master's thesis, Hearing and social behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster
- Julia Eckmeier
- 2019, Master's thesis, Favouring more pain - Approaches to investigate cognitive biases in Drosophila melanogaster
- Dr Vranda Garg
- 2019-2023, PhD thesis, Zebrafish as a model organism for hereditary spastic paraplegia
- Dr Diego Giraldo
- 2014–2018, PhD thesis, Linking Senses: Rhodopsins in mechanosensation
- 2014, Master's thesis, The role of Rhodopsin in thermoreception and proprioception: A neuroethological approach
- Isabell Großhenning
- 2016, Master thesis, Drosophila melanogaster als Modellorganismus für Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen: Ein Vergleich des Sozialverhaltens des Wildtyps mit Neuroligin-Mutanten
- Alina Heukamp
- 2016, BSc thesis, Characterisation of a neuroligin 4 knock-out in Drosophila melanogaster
- Luisa Heyer
- 2018, Master's thesis, Further evidence for Danio rerio as a model organism for Hereditary spastic paraplegia
- Annika Hinze
- 2018, Master's thesis, Visual Evolution in the dark
- Lena Hofman
- 2021, Master's thesis, Deep learning networks to model food choice in Drosophila melanogaster under cognitive biases
- Dr Robert Kossen
- 2015–2019, PhD thesis, Thermo and Mechano Sensation share transducers
- 2013, Master's thesis, Characterisation of the T1-Neuron in Drosophila melanogaster
- Ilyas Kuhlemann
- 2016, Master's thesis, A model of gain control in insect motion vision
- Alexander R. Matthews
- 2024, Bachelor Honours, Using Machine Learning to Quantify Seizure Behaviour in a Tadpole Model of Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies
- Marcel Mertes
- 2008, Master's thesis, The influence of different stimulus devices on the response characteristics of horizontal system cells in the hoverfly Eristalis
- Anne Oepen
- 2020, Master's thesis, Turbidity - Burden or Benefit? Optic Flow Based Odometry in a Semiaquatic Species: The Harbour Seal Phoca vitulina
- Hans-Martin Prill
- 2023, Master's Thesis, Non-Invasive Measurements on the Human Eye by Means of a Light Stimulator and their Possible Applications in Biology Lessons
- Lyall M. Shannon
- 2025, Postgraduate Diploma, Assessing the Viability of the Salt-Sugar Axis in Quantifying the Impact of the Distractor Bias On Decision Making in the Common Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster )
- Björn Twellsick
- 2021, BSc thesis, The Effects of Visual and Mechanosensory Stimuli On The Rocking Behaviour of Stick Insects
Contact
- Contact name
- Bart Geurten
- Address
- Department of Zoology, Marples Building, M109
340 Great King Street
Dunedin 9016
New Zealand - Tel
- +64 3 479 7968
- bart.geurten@otago.ac.nz
- Website
- https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=OAm7kgcAAAAJ&hl=en
Publications
Garg, V., Möbius, W., Heinrich, R., Ruhwedel, T., Perera, R. P., Scholz, P., … Geurten, B. R. H. (2025). Patient-specific mutation of contact site protein Tomm70 causes neurodegeneration. Disease Models & Mechanisms, 18, dmm.052029. doi: 10.1242/dmm.052029 Journal - Research Article
Hehlert, P., Effertz, T., Gu, R.-X., Nadrowski, B., Geurten, B. R. H., Beutner, D., … Göpfert, M. C. (2025). NOMPC ion channel hinge forms a gating spring that initiates mechanosensation. Nature Neuroscience, 28, 259-267. doi: 10.1038/s41593-024-01849-3 Journal - Research Article
Matthews, A., Banerjee, S., Beck, C., & Geurten, B. (2024). Using machine learning to quantify seizure behaviour in a tadpole model of developmental and epileptic encephalopathies. In K.-L. Horne (Ed.), Proceedings of the 40th International Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research (AWCBR). (pp. 54). Retrieved from https://www.awcbr.org Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Garg, V., André, S., Heyer, L., Kracht, G., Ruhwedel, T., Scholze, P., … Geurten, B. R. H. (2024). Axon demyelination and degeneration in a zebrafish spastizin model of hereditary spastic paraplegia. Open Biology, 14, 240100. doi: 10.1098/rsob.240100 Journal - Research Article
Çoban, B., Poppinga, H., Rachad, E. Y., Geurten, B., Vasmer, D., Rodriguez Jimenez, F. J., … Fiala, A. (2024). The caloric value of food intake structurally adjusts a neuronal mushroom body circuit mediating olfactory learning in Drosophila. Learning & Memory, 31(5), a053997.124. doi: 10.1101/lm.053997.124 Journal - Research Article