Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( 🔒 ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Need Help

Structural, Functional, and Molecular Remodeling of an Adaptive Sensorimotor Circuit

Award Number: R01NS148475
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/12/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 02/28/2031

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Structural, Functional, and Molecular Remodeling of an Adaptive Sensorimotor Circuit - Project Summary When animals are reared in different environments, the brain adapts their sensorimotor behaviors to local condi- tions. Understanding how the brain creates adaptive behavior requires dissecting how specific mechanisms for synaptic and cellular plasticity spread to system-wide modulation of sensorimotor circuits and behavior. We will develop the mating behavior of the C. elegans male as a comprehensively accessible paradigm for experience- dependent plasticity throughout a sensorimotor circuit. The C. elegans male uses a separate circuit in its tail – ~100 sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons – to drive mating behavior. How this circuit executes information-processing and decision-making depends on the physical environment. When reared on flat surfaces, the male adapts his mating ritual to two-dimensions. During ‘parallel mating’, he limits his sensorimotor decision-making to sliding movements alongside his partner’s body from contact to copulation. When reared in liquids, the swimming male uses ‘spiral mating’, where sensorimotor decision-making includes three-dimensional movements like wrapping around his partner and using exploratory tail movements. Whether the sensorimotor circuit encodes parallel or spiral mating depends on life experience. Males reared in liquid are proficient at spiral mating. Males reared on plates are proficient at parallel mating. We seek synaptic, cellular, and wiring mechanisms that lead to different sensorimotor outcomes when an animal is reared in different environments. We will map the wiring diagram of the mating circuit as it adapt to 2D and 3D mating behaviors. We will record circuit-wide neural activity during parallel and spiral mating. We will use spatial transcriptomics and genetic manipulations to dissect how synaptic and cellular mechanisms lead to circuit and behavioral remodeling. We will build computational models that use neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, and neurogenetic datasets to interrelate synaptic, circuit, and behavioral mechanisms.


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: 2026 ( Subtotal = $636,084 )
2026	2026	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE	1033 MASSACHUSETTS AVE STE 3	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02138	MIDDLESEX	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	1	5/12/2026	NEW	$636,084
														Subtotal = $636,084

Grand Total All Awards = $636,084

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Structural, Functional, and Molecular Remodeling of an Adaptive Sensorimotor Circuit

Award Number: R01NS148475

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

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

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/12/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 02/28/2031

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer