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SUMMARY:Faculty Seminar:Uncovering principles for biological motor control
  by reverse engineering the mind of a fly
DTSTART:20230605T121500
DTEND:20230605T131500
DTSTAMP:20260916T070309Z
UID:1733f3e77800e236ac0c1433422746e7fb05816eecd222f4390491ba
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Pavan Ramdya\nA shared goal of neuroscience and robotics is to
  understand how systems can be designed to move autonomously and efficient
 ly through complex environments. However\, state-of-the-art robotic contro
 llers are relatively primitive compared with the nervous systems of animal
 s. To gain a deeper understanding of biological motor control and to narro
 w this gap\, we are investigating how the fly\, Drosophila melanogaster\, 
 generates complex limb-dependent behaviors. Our studies benefit from the f
 ly’s small nervous system and the ability to precisely manipulate identi
 fied neurons using a variety of genetic tools. I will summarize how my gro
 up has developed additional experimental and computational tools\, allowin
 g us to gain fundamental insights into biological motor control. First\, I
  will describe our new approaches to precisely quantify behaviors\, record
  motor circuits in behaving animals\, and model neural controllers in a ph
 ysics based simulation of the fly. Then\, I will show how we have used the
 se tools to explore the brain’s descending control of behavior and how a
 scending motor circuits communicate ongoing actions to the brain. Ultimate
 ly\, we aim to uncover multi-scale mechanisms for biological motor control
  that can inform an understanding of ourselves and also inspire the design
  of more autonomous artificial systems.\n\nPavan Ramdya is an Assistant Pr
 ofessor at EPFL jointly in the Brain Mind Institute and in the Institute o
 f Bioengineering. He received his PhD in neurobiology from Harvard Univers
 ity and then performed postdoctoral work in robotics and neurogenetics. Hi
 s laboratory uses computational\, engineering\, genetics\, and microscopy 
 approaches to understand how neural population dynamics\, biomechanics\, a
 nd gene expression sculpt behaviors in the fly\, Drosophila melanogaster. 
 He has been awarded an HFSP Career Development Award\, a Swiss National Sc
 ience Foundation Eccellenza Grant\, a UNIL Young Investigator Award in Bas
 ic Science\, and is a member of the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence.\n\nT
 his seminar is part of the evaluation of Prof. Ramdya for the promotion to
  Associate Professor.
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717 https://epfl.zoom.u
 s/j/68674613881
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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