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.
