Biological Determinants of Social Networks

现代生物学中最大的挑战之一是了解动物的社会行为是如何通过遗传和环境因素的组合而产生的，以及它们是如何通过大脑中的电路实现的。莱文博士的研究项目旨在了解遗传和神经生物学对社会群体结构和动态功能的贡献。莱文博士的创新研究表明，醋蝇果蝇形成了非随机结构的社会网络，这些结构随着群体规模的不同而不同。他还表明，与群体结构相关的规则是继承的，并依赖于沟通途径。拟议的研究由两个目标定义。首先，它建立在这项工作的基础上，识别参与社交网络功能的基因和大脑电路。将对候选基因和新发现的基因进行分析，以了解社会行为的遗传特征。其次，我们将从进化的角度和当下的角度来研究网络的作用。莱文博士将建立在他的发现基础上，即苍蝇可能会“计数”来估计群体规模。苍蝇遗传学已经为人类的学习、生物钟和身体发育等过程提供了深刻的见解。莱文博士的CRC研究将进一步获得对人类社会动态的新理解，从而为自闭症谱系障碍和其他人类社交障碍的治疗带来见解。与此同时，他将开发新的计算方法来描述/诊断社会行为。尽管已经很清楚，社会群体中的行为并不完全由遗传决定，但了解生物对社会动态的贡献以及生物如何与世界相互作用将有助于我们理解人类的动机和社会病理。莱文博士的研究将提供对团队环境中人类行为的洞察，并将优化课堂学习、董事会决策和操作室中的高效团队合作--在任何涉及团队层面活动的地方都会有所改善。

Summary of ProposalOne of the great challenges in modern biology is to understand how the social behaviours of animals arise through a combination of genetic and environmental factors and how they are implemented by circuits in the brain. Dr. Levine's research program aims to understand genetic and neurobiological contributions to the structure and dynamic function of social groups. Dr. Levine's innovative research has shown that Drosophila melanogaster, the vinegar fly, form social networks with non-random structures and that these structures vary with group size. He has also shown that the rules associated with group structure are inherited and rely on communication pathways. The proposed research is defined by two objectives. First, it builds on this work to identify genes and brain circuitry that participate in social network function. Candidate genes and newly discovered genes will be analyzed to understand inherited features of social behaviour. Second, the role of networks will be investigated both from an evolutionary perspective and a present moment perspective. Dr. Levine will build on his discovery that flies may "count" to estimate group size. Fly genetics have already provided deep insights into human processes such as learning, biological clocks, and the development of the body. Dr. Levine's CRC research will go further to gain new understanding of human social dynamics, leading to insights for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder and other human social disorders. At the same time, he will develop new computational methods for describing/diagnosing social behaviour. Although it is already clear that behaviour in social groups is not completely determined by inheritance, understanding the biological contribution to social dynamics and how biology interacts with the world will help us understand human motivations and social pathology. Dr. Levine's research will provide insight into human behaviours in group settings and will optimize learning in classrooms, decision making in boardrooms, and efficient teamwork in operating rooms - improvements wherever group level activities are involved.