WHole Animal Modelling (WHAM): Toward the integrated understanding of sensory motor control in C. elegans

整体动物建模（WHAM）：全面理解秀丽隐杆线虫的感觉运动控制

• 批准号: EP/J004057/1
• 负责人: Netta Cohen
• 金额: $ 151.12万
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FJ004057%2F1
• 关键词: WHole; Animal; Modelling; WHAM; Toward

Animals are remarkable creatures. No man-made machine even comes close in its ability to navigate complex environments, respond to rich sensory cues, learn and adapt its behaviour when encountering completely novel scenarios and much much more. But even the simplest animals, ruled by even the simplest nervous systems, can achieve this. Simple animals may not be able to play chess or balance bank statements, but there is much we can learn from them about their robust mechanisms for sensory-integration and motor control which may be of use to us in control engineering, bio-robotics and even in future brain-machine interfaces that are being developed for neuro-prosthetic applications.An excellent starting point for understanding animal behaviour is a tiny, free living 1mm long roundworm, called C. elegans. By comparison to our 100 billion nerve cells, or even a fly's 100 thousand nerve cells, this worm's entire nervous system consists of a mere 302 nerve cells. Unlike our nervous system, the worm's circuitry is hard wired and identical across individuals of the species, making it possible to study rigorously and reproducibly. Due in part to its simplicity, and in part to its ease of manipulation in the lab, this is the only animal for which this entire nervous system has been mapped in exquisite detail (to sub-cellular resolution). But despite its relative simplicity, this worm possesses many of the functions that are attributed to more complex animals, including feeding, mating, complex sensory abilities, memory and learning. It is not surprising, therefore, that the modelling of this worm has captured the imagination of physicists, computer scientists and engineers alike. The integrated modelling of C. elegans has even been proposed as one of the UK's ``Grand Challenges for Computing Research.''In this Fellowship, I will begin to integrate our understanding of C. elegans sensory motor behaviour in a single computational model. The challenge is to bridge the gap between the effectively static neural circuit architecture and the dynamic neural computation it sustains. This fellowship will enable me to deliver a step change, not only in our understanding of an important model organism, but also in advancing the science and engineering of complex systems, whether in the context of reverse engineering real world networks, or in the context of designing them.

动物是了不起的生物。在复杂的环境中导航、对丰富的感官线索做出反应、在遇到全新的场景时学习和调整自己的行为等方面，人造机器的能力甚至都无法与之相比。但即使是最简单的动物，由最简单的神经系统控制，也能做到这一点。简单的动物可能不会下棋或平衡银行账单，但我们可以从它们身上学到很多东西，比如它们强大的感觉整合和运动控制机制，这些机制可能对我们在控制工程、生物机器人甚至未来正在开发的用于神经假肢应用的脑机接口有帮助。了解动物行为的一个极好的起点是一种微小的、自由生活的1毫米长的蛔虫，叫做秀丽隐杆线虫。与人类的1000亿个神经细胞，甚至苍蝇的10万个神经细胞相比，这种蠕虫的整个神经系统仅由302个神经细胞组成。与我们的神经系统不同，这种蠕虫的神经回路是固定的，并且在不同的个体之间是相同的，这使得严格的研究和可重复性成为可能。部分由于它的简单，部分由于它易于在实验室中操作，这是唯一一种完整的神经系统被精确地绘制出来的动物（亚细胞分辨率）。尽管相对简单，这种蠕虫却拥有许多复杂动物才有的功能，包括觅食、交配、复杂的感觉能力、记忆和学习能力。因此，这种蠕虫的模型吸引了物理学家、计算机科学家和工程师的想象力，这并不奇怪。秀丽隐杆线虫的综合建模甚至被提议作为英国“计算研究的重大挑战”之一。“在这项研究中，我将开始将我们对秀丽隐杆线虫感觉运动行为的理解整合到一个单一的计算模型中。挑战在于如何弥合有效的静态神经电路结构和它所维持的动态神经计算之间的差距。这个奖学金将使我能够提供一个台阶的变化，不仅在我们对一个重要的模式生物的理解，而且在推进复杂系统的科学和工程，无论是在逆向工程现实世界的网络的背景下，还是在设计它们的背景下。

项目成果

Gait Modulation in C. elegans: An Integrated Neuromechanical Model.

• DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2012.00010
• 发表时间: 2012
• 期刊: Frontiers in computational neuroscience
• 影响因子: 3.2
• 作者: Boyle JH;Berri S;Cohen N
• 通讯作者: Cohen N

A new computational method for a model of C. elegans biomechanics: Insights into elasticity and locomotion performance

线虫生物力学模型的新计算方法：洞察弹性和运动性能

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1702.04988
• 发表时间: 2017
• 作者: Cohen N

Plasticity in gustatory and nociceptive neurons controls decision making in C. elegans salt navigation.

• DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02561-9
• 发表时间: 2021-09-09
• 期刊: Communications biology
• 影响因子: 5.9
• 作者: Dekkers MPJ;Salfelder F;Sanders T;Umuerri O;Cohen N;Jansen G
• 通讯作者: Jansen G

Supplementary Materials from Signatures of proprioceptive control in

本体感觉控制特征的补充材料

• DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.6993668
• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: Denham J