Related papers: Inhibitory feedback from the motor circuit gates m…
C. elegans is the only animal for which a detailed neural connectivity diagram has been constructed. However, synaptic polarities in this diagram, and thus, circuit functions are largely unknown. Here, we deciphered the likely polarities of…
A quantitative understanding of how sensory signals are transformed into motor outputs places useful constraints on brain function and helps reveal the brain's underlying computations. We investigate how the nematode C. elegans responds to…
We investigate how locomotory behavior is generated in the brain focusing on the paradigmatic connectome of nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) and on neuronal activity patterns that control forward locomotion. We map the neuronal…
Despite the relative simplicity of C. elegans, its locomotion machinery is not yet well understood. We focus on the generation of dorsoventral body bends. While central pattern generators are commonly involved in animal locomotion, their…
We present a high-throughput optogenetic illumination system capable of simultaneous closed-loop light delivery to specified targets in populations of moving Caenorhabditis elegans. The instrument addresses three technical challenges: it…
We develop a biophysically realistic model of the nematode C. elegans that includes: (i) its muscle structure and activation, (ii) key connectomic activation circuitry, and (iii) a weighted and time-dynamic proprioception. In combination,…
Animals employ different strategies for relating sensory input to behavioral output to navigate sensory environments, but what strategy to use, when to switch and why remain unclear. In C. elegans, navigation is composed of 'steering' and…
Neuromechanics aims to understand the link between an animal's neural activity and its physical behaviors. Recent advances in experimental and machine learning techniques enable simultaneous recordings of neural and locomotion dynamics over…
C. elegans locomotion is composed of switches between forward and reversal states punctuated by turns. This locomotory capability is necessary for the nematode to move towards attractive stimuli, escape noxious chemicals, and explore its…
Limbless locomotors, from microscopic worms to macroscopic snakes, traverse complex, heterogeneous natural environments typically using undulatory body wave propagation. Theoretical and robophysical models typically emphasize body…
Computational approaches which emulate in-vivo nervous system are needed to investigate mechanisms of the brain to orchestrate behavior. Such approaches must integrate a series of biophysical models encompassing the nervous system, muscles,…
To establish the relationship between locomotory behavior and dynamics of neural circuits in the nematode C. elegans we combined molecular and theoretical approaches. In particular, we quantitatively analyzed the motion of C. elegans with…
Understanding how information about external stimuli is transformed into behavior is one of the central goals of neuroscience. Here we characterize the information flow through a complete sensorimotor circuit: from stimulus, to sensory…
Through natural evolution, nervous systems of organisms formed near-optimal structures to express behavior. Here, we propose an effective way to create control agents, by \textit{re-purposing} the function of biological neural circuit…
Animals move smoothly and reliably in unpredictable environments. Models of sensorimotor control have assumed that sensory information from the environment leads to actions, which then act back on the environment, creating a single,…
Animal locomotion is often subject to constraints arising from anatomical/physiological asymmetries. We use the nematode C.~elegans as a minimal model system to ask whether such constraints might shape locomotion patterns optimized during…
Sensory receptor neurons match their dynamic range to ecologically relevant stimulus intensities. How this tuning is achieved is poorly understood in most receptors. We show that in the C. elegans URX O2 sensing neurons two putative…
Animal behaviors are sometimes decomposable into discrete, stereotyped elements. In one model, such behaviors are triggered by specific commands; in the extreme case, the discreteness of behavior is traced to the discreteness of action…
We develop an artificial neural circuit for contour tracking and navigation inspired by the chemotaxis of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. In order to harness the computational advantages spiking neural networks promise over their…
Just like electrical engineers understand how microprocessors execute programs in terms of how transistor currents are affected by their inputs, neuroscientists want to understand behavior production in terms of how neuronal outputs are…