Conference: The Role of Mechanosensation in Robust Movement Control

该奖项资助了2023年1月综合与比较生物学学会（SICB）年会上的一个研讨会，该研讨会探讨了机械传感器如何集成到运动控制系统中并影响行为表现。许多动物即使在面对极端的外部干扰时，也表现出非常可预测的行为。这些生物体接受了什么感觉信号，使它们能够在这些干扰下持续协调运动反应？研讨会将研究关于机械感觉在动物行为中的作用的各种想法，并鼓励跨生物体工作的研究人员综合想法并为该领域制定共同的研究议程。研讨会的特点是来自不同类型的机构，代表多个职业阶段的各种各样的发言者，他们的谈话和发表的文章将共同涵盖脊椎动物和无脊椎动物的机械感觉，以及机器人“有机体”。除了主要的研讨会演讲外，预定的补充会议将以学生演讲者为特色，他们将在工作午餐会议期间与研讨会参与者进行讨论。研讨会发言人将为SICB杂志《综合与比较生物学》的特刊撰写文章。研讨会组织者正在安排与Longhorn TIES（过渡，包容，赋权，成功）合作的闪电谈话系列，这是德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（UT Austin）的一个项目，致力于支持那些确定为自闭症谱系或神经多样性的学生。这个外展活动的目标是向学生介绍研究与生物科学有关的一系列科学问题的科学家的多元化群体。机械感觉的研究最近进展迅速，这次及时的研讨会汇集了研究人员，比较和对比他们不同的系统，分享实验建议和方法，并激发协作，跨物种的方法来理解机械感觉在运动控制系统中的作用。研讨会的主要目标是鼓励一种比较的方法来理解机械传感器是如何被纳入有机体控制系统，并制定一个进化的方法来理解机械传感器的基本生物学，特别是考虑到潜在的类似（或同源）传感器的结构和功能的类群。希望专题讨论会的与会者将为该领域制定一个共同的研究议程，并希望参加专题讨论会将集体激励研究人员开展合作项目，包括他们选择的模型系统之外的物种和跨生物尺度的物种。研讨会的结果将通过在SICB杂志上发表，整合和比较生物学，以及在德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的学生外展活动进行传播。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award funds a symposium at the January 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) that explores how mechanical sensors are integrated into movement control systems and impact behavioral performance. Many animals exhibit extraordinarily predictable behaviors even in the face of extreme external disruptions. What sensory signals do these organisms receive that allow them to consistently coordinate their motor responses in spite of these disturbances? The symposium will examine a variety of ideas regarding the role of mechanosensation in animal behavior and encourage researchers working across organisms to synthesize ideas and develop a shared research agenda for the field. The symposium features a diverse array of speakers from different types of institutions that represent multiple career stages, and their talks and published articles will collectively cover mechanosensation in vertebrate and invertebrate animals, as well as robotic “organisms.” In addition to the main symposium talks, a scheduled complementary session will feature student speakers, who will join discussions with symposium participants during a working lunch meeting. The symposium speakers will contribute articles for a special issue of the SICB journal, Integrative and Comparative Biology. The symposium organizers are arranging a lightning talk series in collaboration with Longhorn TIES (Transition, Inclusion, Empower, Success), a program at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) dedicated to supporting students who identify as being on the autism spectrum or neurodiverse. The goal of this outreach event is to introduce the students to a diverse group of scientists studying a range of scientific questions related to the Biological Sciences. Research on mechanosensation has recently progressed rapidly, and this timely symposium brings together researchers to compare and contrast their different systems, share experimental advice and methods, and inspire collaborative, cross-species approaches to understanding the role of mechanosensation in movement control systems. The major goals of the symposium are to encourage a comparative approach to understanding how mechanosensors are incorporated in organismal control systems, and to develop an evolutionary approach to understanding the basic biology of mechanosensors, especially considering the potential for analogous (or homologous) sensor structure and function across taxa. It is hoped that the symposium participants will develop a shared research agenda for the field and that participation in the symposium will collectively inspire researchers to take on collaborative projects that include species outside of their chosen model system and that cross biological scales. Symposium results will be disseminated through publication in the SICB journal, Integrative and Comparative Biology, and the outreach event to students at the University of Texas Austin.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.