Rate My Professor Barry Dickson

Professor Barry Dickson is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1984 and a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Molecular Genetics in 1987, both from the University of Melbourne. Dickson completed his PhD in developmental biology at the University of Zurich in 1992 under the supervision of Professor Ernst Hafen. He then pursued postdoctoral research with Hafen in Zurich from 1993 to 1994 and with Professor Corey Goodman at the University of California, Berkeley from 1994 to 1995. Dickson established his independent laboratory as a Junior Group Leader at the University of Zurich from 1996 to 1998. In 1998, he joined the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna as a Group Leader, advanced to Senior Scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) in 2003, and served as Scientific Director of IMP from 2006 to 2013. From 2013 to 2021, he led a research group at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, before returning to Australia in 2021 to his current position.

Dickson's research centers on the neural circuits and genetic mechanisms underlying instinctive behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster, with a focus on locomotion control, courtship songs, proprioception, feeding, sexual receptivity, and decision-making. His laboratory investigates how local neural circuits generate rhythmic motor patterns, coordinate movements across legs, and integrate descending brain signals to modulate gait, speed, and direction. He has pioneered genetic tools for dissecting neural function and advanced connectomics for whole-brain wiring diagrams. Notable contributions include elucidating the role of the fruitless gene in orchestrating male courtship behavior. Key publications encompass 'fruitless splicing specifies male courtship behavior in Drosophila' (Cell, 2005, with E. Demir), 'Wired for sex: the neurobiology of Drosophila mating decisions' (Science, 2008), 'A rise-to-threshold process for a relative-value decision' (Nature, 2023), 'Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain' (Nature, 2024), and 'Whole-brain annotation and multi-connectome cell typing of Drosophila' (Nature, 2024). Dickson has received the EMBO Young Investigator Award (2000), Wittgenstein Prize (2005), AAAS Fellowship (2009), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2024. He holds current grants including an NHMRC Investigator Grant (2026-2030) for connectomics in anxiety and depression.