Funding Source: NSF (Division of Integrative Organismal Systems) – Award #: 2016188 – The overall goal of the current work in the lab is to explore how the brain integrates internal and external environments to modify the perception of visual cues to promote survival in different habitats. Work across organisms has investigated how internal state modulates perception of odor, pheromone, temperature, and water, however, little work has examined how internal state differentially modulates the perception of visual stimuli of organisms from environments with distinct visual ecologies (such as the forest and desert) that may have imposed very different evolutionary pressures. We are examining the contributions of anatomical and neural circuit changes in guiding visually evoked behaviors in Drosophila (fruit fly) species living in distinct ecological habitats. These experiments will elucidate the impact of ecological habitats on the generation of state-dependent behavior and neuromodulatory circuits in order to understand how behavioral responses and the neural circuits involved may have been altered by differential evolutionary pressures. We utilize a multifaceted approach: (1) genetic manipulation to allow control over specific neural pathways, (2) visual and olfactory ‘virtual-reality’ flight simulators to measure sensory motor integration that drives adaptive behavior, and (3) in-vivo two photon calcium imaging as an indicator of neural activity. (Research summary adapted from NSF Public Award Abstract.)

Faculty: Sara Wasserman
Department: Neuroscience
Funding Source: NSF (Division of Integrative Organismal Systems) – Award #: 2016188