Kelly Goss
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Bing Ye
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan / Medicine
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Authors: Yujia Hu, Kelly Goss
Abstract
Much remains unknown regarding the behavioral decision-making process in animals and the roles of different neuronal groups in the translation from perception to behavior. Advancements in genetic manipulation of Drosophila larvae make them an ideal experimental model to study this process. Our research seeks to discover the function of LK neurons in larval escape decisions in reaction to harmful stimuli. The larval escape behaviors include curling and rolling, which are elicited by the activation of pain receptors, or nociceptors. In our experiments, larval nociceptors were activated with light by using channelrodopsin2 (ChR2)—a blue-light sensitive protein–-in a technique called optogenetics. In the meantime, we used an orange-light sensitive protein, GtACR1, to optogenetically inhibit the LK neurons. We then used LabGym, a novel computational tool, to analyze the larval escape behaviors in the LK-inhibition group and non-inhibition group. We found significant evidence of an increase in larval escape behaviors when LK neurons were inhibited, suggesting that these neurons may negatively regulate the escape decisions in Drosophila larvae. By furthering research concerning how stimulus is translated to behavior, these discoveries advance our knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying behavioral responses.
