NeuroNex: From odor to Action: Discovering Principles of Olfactory-Guided Natural Behavior - NSF Proposal Number: 2014217

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The overall goal of this collaborative project is to understand a fundamental problem in brain research---how natural stimuli are used by brains to generate natural behaviors. We approach thisproblem using the sense of smell of mice and insects and behaviours that are guided by smell. We see this, however, as an example of a more general problem of manycomplex brain systems---how are complex stimuli represented in brain circuits and mapped to actions? Thecompact architecture of the brain circuits processing smells offers unique opportunities to achieve an understandingfrom the stimulus to the behaviour and of the core computational logic by which brains organize and read out such complex variables to generate adaptive behaviors. We will study olfactory systems of mammals and insects, whichhave independently evolved brain circuits that solve these problems. These common elements may reflect convergent evolution towards a set ofsimilar solutions to shared olfactory problems. Our diverse and international group is comprised of three interdisciplinaryresearch groups that are designed around specific elements of an end-to-end investigation of olfaction.They encompass studies of encoding natural stimuli (Team 1), the natural behaviors that they give rise to(Team 2), and active search strategies animals use as they encounter stimuli in naturalenvironments (Team 3). Each Team integrates theory and experimental approaches in two or more species inways that produce complementary, synergistic interactions across levels of biological analysis.