NSF PRFB FY 2023: Flexible strategies for multisensory integration inspired by the insect central complex

NSF PRFB 2023 财年：受昆虫中枢复合体启发的多感官整合灵活策略

• 批准号: 2305641
• 负责人: Benjamin Cellini
• 金额: $ 24万
• 依托单位: Cellini, Benjamin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-12-01 至 2025-11-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305641&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; PRFB; FY; 2023; Flexible

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment, and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. This research will address fundamental questions regarding how the brain integrates and transforms sensory information to improve navigation in new environments. Taking inspiration from the insect brain, the fellow will develop a comprehensive model that can predict how low-level changes in brain circuits influence high-level behaviors, from a mathematical perspective. Broadly, this work will generate wide-spread and testable hypotheses about brain function. This project will also have an immediate impact on the design of intelligent robotic systems relying on sensory information to navigate complex environments, such as in search-and-rescue situations. This project will leverage a combination of mathematical and experimental tools to develop a model of the ‘rules of operation’ governing multisensory integration in the insect brain. The fellow will focus on anemosensing (sensing the wind direction), a multisensory task critical for survival in many insects. The fellow will 1) develop a predictive model of multisensory integration during anemosensing, 2) validate the model in the real word using a flying robotic system, and 3) test hypotheses generated from the model in freely flying Drosophila (fruit flies). Specifically, the fellow will leverage tools from nonlinear dynamical systems to model how distinct combinations of sensory cues (vision, proprioception, mechanosensation) can be combined for anemosensing. The model will then be applied to understand how the brain might reconfigure the weights of sensory cues. The fellow will validate this model in real-word scenarios using an autonomously controlled quadcopter equipped with sensors analogous to that of Drosophila’s sensory systems. The fellow will apply the model to generate hypotheses about insect flight trajectories during anemosensing and test these hypotheses in freely flying Drosophila in a wind tunnel. As a FAA certified pilot, with the ability to supervise individuals flying unmanned aircraft, the fellow will translate the robotic testing portion of this project to an activity at a summer camp at a nearby high school. Ultimately, the aim is to foster an interest in science in young students through direct participation in hands-on research, while providing the fellow with experience in mentoring and instruction.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该行动资助 2022 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将为规则领域做出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。这项研究将解决有关大脑如何整合和转换感官信息以改善新环境中的导航的基本问题，该研究人员将从昆虫大脑中汲取灵感，开发出一个可以预测如何进行的综合模型。从数学角度来看，大脑回路的低级变化会影响高级行为，这项工作将产生关于大脑功能的广泛且可测试的假设，该项目还将对依赖于智能机器人系统的设计产生直接影响。该项目将利用数学和实验工具的结合来开发控制昆虫大脑中多感官整合的“操作规则”模型。关于风向感应（感知风向），这是对许多昆虫的生存至关重要的多感官任务。该研究员将 1）开发风速感知过程中多感官整合的预测模型，2）使用飞行机器人系统在现实世界中验证该模型，以及 3）。具体来说，该研究员将利用非线性动力系统的工具来模拟感官线索（视觉、本体感觉、视觉）的不同组合。然后，该模型将被用于理解大脑如何重新配置​​感觉线索的权重，该研究员将使用配备了类似于传感器的自动控制四轴飞行器在真实场景中验证该模型。果蝇的感觉系统。该研究员将应用该模型来生成有关风速感知过程中昆虫飞行轨迹的假设，并在风洞中自由飞行的果蝇中测试这些假设。该研究员是一名经过认证的飞行员，能够监督驾驶无人机的人员，他将把该项目的机器人测试部分转化为附近高中夏令营的活动，最终目的是培养年轻人对科学的兴趣。通过直接参与实践研究，同时为研究员提供指导和指导的经验。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。