CAREER:A Multidisciplinary Approach to Unraveling the Neural Circuits that Govern Odor Modulation of Locomotion and to Improving Neuroscience Education

一个简单的任务，比如步行到一个人最喜欢的咖啡店，涉及到几个时间尺度的计算。 在短时间尺度上（小于1秒），一个人必须在不平坦的表面上移动他的腿并保持平衡;在中等时间尺度上（几秒），一个人必须在人行道上相对笔直地行走;在较长的时间尺度上（分钟），一个人必须遵循街道标志或使用他的记忆来导航;并且在甚至更长的时间尺度上，做出诸如是否喝咖啡的决定。 首席研究员实验室的使命是了解神经计算在多个时间尺度下的行为，因为它们适用于一个给定的任务，使用新的技术，如创建行为的数学模型和开发新的方法来探测神经活动，因为它涉及到行为。 这项拟议中的研究还有一个重要的教育使命：世界上的大多数问题都需要跨学科的思维，这一点最好在很小的时候就教授。 在这个项目中，高中生直接参与研究者的多学科研究计划，其目标是（1）深化学生的神经科学教育，重点是工程，数学和技术，（2）让他们在更年轻，更容易接受的年龄接受跨学科培训，（3）为他们做好准备，全面思考复杂的科学问题。首席研究员的研究的首要目标是了解感觉运动转换如何在动物自然行为库的一部分的复杂行为的表现过程中在大脑中展开。 对这一过程的理解存在差距，因为解决这一问题需要一种综合的、多学科的方法，将神经科学技术、动物行为和计算技能结合起来--这种结合在一个研究者身上并不常见。该项目的中心假设是，灵活的行为来自模块化组织，可以分为两个神经子任务：（1）设计一个“行动计划”，将感官反应转化为行动;（2）使行动计划适应当前的需求，从而产生成功执行任务所需的行为灵活性。 该项目在气味引导运动的背景下测试这一假设，这是一种复杂的灵活行为，在一个相对简单且遗传上高度易处理的模型系统中，果蝇。 一个多学科的方法，包括数学建模，在体内全细胞膜片钳记录，功能成像和定量行为分析，以解决中央的假设。

A simple task like walking to one's favorite coffee shop involves computation across several timescales. On a short timescale (less than 1 second), one has to move one's legs on an uneven surface and maintain balance; on a medium timescale (a few seconds) one has to walk relatively straight on a sidewalk; on a longer timescale (minutes), one has to follow the street signs or use one's memory to navigate; and on an even longer timescale decisions such as whether or not to drink coffee are made. The mission of the principal investigator's laboratory is to understand neural computations underlying behavior at multiple timescales as they apply to a given task using novel techniques such as creating mathematical models of behavior and developing new methods for probing neural activity as it relates to behavior. The proposed research also has an important educational mission: Most problems in the world require interdisciplinary thinking, which is best taught at an early age. In this project, high school students are directly involved in the investigator's multidisciplinary research program, with the goals of (1) deepening the students' neuroscience education with a focus on engineering, mathematics, and technology, (2) exposing them to interdisciplinary training at a younger and more receptive age, and (3) preparing them well to think holistically about complex scientific problems. The overarching objective of the principal investigator's research is to understand how sensorimotor transformation unfolds in the brain during the performance of complex behaviors that are part of an animal's natural behavioral repertoire. The gap in understanding of this process exists because attacking this problem requires an integrated, multidisciplinary approach that combines neuroscience techniques, animal behavior, and computational skills- a combination not often found in one investigator. The central hypothesis of the project is that flexible behaviors emerge from a modular organization and can be divided into two neural subtasks: (1) to devise an "action plan" that transforms sensory responses into actions; and (2) to adapt the action plan to current demands and thereby generate behavioral flexibility needed for successful task execution. The project tests this hypothesis in the context of odor-guided locomotion, a complex flexible behavior, in a relatively simple and genetically highly tractable model system, Drosophila. A multidisciplinary approach that includes mathematical modeling, in vivo whole-cell patch clamp recordings, functional imaging, and quantitative behavioral analysis is employed to address the central hypothesis.