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Building a Complete, Predictive, Data-Driven Model of Action Selection During Olfactory Navigation: Diversity Supplement for Postbaccalaureate Training

Award Number: R01NS113048
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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Abstract To survive, living organisms must collect information about their environment and use it to select appropriate behaviors. However, information from the environment is often noisy, incomplete and ambiguous. Currently, no theory or model comprehensively explains how nervous systems solve the problem of navigation based on noisy information. Without such a theory, we cannot improve the ability of living systems or autonomous machines to make better decisions by processing the imperfect sensory information that is typically available to them. We propose to build a complete data-driven model of how nervous systems turn noisy sensory information into action selection during navigation. We have previously been able to decipher aspects of this process by studying the Drosophila melanogaster larva — a small, transparent organism that is exceptionally good at navigating towards food odors despite having only 10,000 neurons. My lab has developed methods to rigorously quantify odor landscapes; measure how neurons represent these odors; automatically track larval movement; create virtual sensory realities for the larva; and change the real-time behavior of the larva on- demand with optogenetics. We have also recently mapped an entire pathway within the larval nervous system. Here, we will determine how and when noisy sensory information causes the larva to reorient (stop and turn) as it is navigating towards an attractive odor source (chemotaxis). Our objective is to uncover the neural mechanisms that accumulate, filter, and process noisy sensory evidence and use ambiguous information to make coherent perceptual decisions (action selection). By combining theory, experiments, and modeling, we will iteratively build a quantitative model which predicts the cellular and circuit-level computations transforming sensory (olfactory) signals into navigational decision-making (chemotaxis) that is robust to environmental disturbances (noise).


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $59,090 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA	3227 CHEADLE HALL	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93106	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	5	1/22/2024	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$59,090
														Subtotal = $59,090

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $388,750 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA	3227 CHEADLE HALL	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93106	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	5	7/26/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$388,750
														Subtotal = $388,750

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $388,750 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA	3227 CHEADLE HALL	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93106	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	4	8/29/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$388,750
														Subtotal = $388,750

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $484,061 )
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA	3227 CHEADLE HALL	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93106	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	2	5/11/2021	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$95,311
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA	3227 CHEADLE HALL	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93106	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	001	3	8/2/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$388,750
														Subtotal = $484,061

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $388,750 )
2020	2020	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA	3227 CHEADLE HALL	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93106	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	2	7/28/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$388,750
														Subtotal = $388,750

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $387,500 )
2019	2019	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA	3227 CHEADLE HALL	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93106	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	1	7/26/2019	NEW	$387,500
														Subtotal = $387,500

Grand Total All Awards = $2,096,901

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Building a Complete, Predictive, Data-Driven Model of Action Selection During Olfactory Navigation: Diversity Supplement for Postbaccalaureate Training

Award Number: R01NS113048

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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