Mechanosensory neurons

Mechanosensory neurons across the body have axon projections that terminate in distinct arborizations in the brain corresponding to body location. These somatotopically-organized projections provide the interface with neural circuits that direct body location-appropriate behavioral responses, such as aimed grooming. Using electron microscopy-based reconstructions, we investigate how circuits transform mechanical stimulations into location-appropriate behavior. We previously described the somatotopic organization of bristle mechanosensory neurons (BMNs) around the Drosophila head that elicit a

Mechanosensory neurons located on the body surface show somatotopic organization in their projections into the central nervous system and elicit diverse behavioral responses, from relatively simple stimulus location-aimed movements to complex movement sequences. How mechanosensory neurons and their postsynaptic circuits influence such diverse behaviors remains unclear. We previously identified nearly all mechanosensory neurons around the Drosophila head whose individual stimulation elicit aimed grooming of specific head parts (e.g. eyes or mouthparts) while their simultaneous stimulation elici

…It relies on sensory signals from mechanosensory neurons distributed within muscles, tendons, and joints. Muscle spindles convey information through sensory afferents to the central nervous system. While traditionally viewed as stretch receptors encoding muscle length and velocity, recent insights suggest they may function as adaptable signal-processing devices. Spinal gamma motor neurons are believed to drive this adaptability by modulating the responses of sensory afferent to task demands. However, the mechanisms b

…In early sensory systems, the way neurons respond to stimuli can be summarized in their receptive fields (RFs), and these are structured to detect certain features. Experimental data show that they are also noisy, but this randomness remains unaccounted for in existing models. By taking this unexplained variability into account, we reveal how the interplay between structure and random noise provides important computational benefits for sensory encoding. Furthermore, structured randomness offers a biolog

…Primary sensory neurons that detect a wide range of somatosensory stimuli have been identified and characterized. In contrast, very little is known about how peripheral signals are integrated and processed within the sp

…by diverse populations of internal mechanosensory neurons distributed throughout the body. My lab is trying to understand how proprioceptive stimuli are detected by sensory neurons, integrated and transformed in central circuits, and used to guide motor output. We approach these questions using genetic tools, in vivo two-photon imaging, and patch-clamp electrophysiology in Drosophila. We recently found that the axons of fly leg proprioceptors are o

Olfactory navigation provides a tractable model for studying the circuit basis of sensori-motor transformations and goal-directed behaviour. Macroscopic organisms typically navigate in odor plumes that provide a noisy and uncertain signal about the location of an odor source. Work in many species has suggested that animals accomplish this task by combining temporal processing of dynamic odor information with an estimate of wind direction. Our lab has been using adult walking Drosophila to understand both the computational algorithms and the neural circuits that support navigation in a plume