Using neuro-engineering to investigate sensorimotor transformations - Catherine von Reyn

Postdoctoral AssociateJanelia Research Campus, HHMI

(SNI Jr. Faculty Candidate)

Abstract:  Although escape behaviors are commonly associated with hard-wired, reflex-like motor programs, freely behaving animals perform complex and variable escapes when evading a predator.  For example, as a predator approaches, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster escapes using a sequence of sub-behaviors, including postural adjustments, wing raising, leg extension, and wing depression.  By changing the order of this sequence, the fly can alter the kinematics of its takeoff jump.  Until recently, the neural circuits orchestrating this behavior remained unknown.  Here, through cell type-specific genetic engineering, I identify components of the escape circuit and demonstrate how kinematic variability emerges from two sensorimotor pathways.