{"393451":{"#nid":"393451","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Daniel Porto","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDaniel Porto\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPhD Thesis Proposal\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETime: Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 9:00 A.M.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELocation: ES\u0026amp;T, room L1118\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdvisor:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHang Lu, Ph.D. (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee Members:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERobert Butera, Ph.D. (Electrical and Computer Engineering)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPatrick McGrath, Ph.D. (Biology)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELena Ting, Ph.D. (Biomedical Engineering)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPatricio Vela, Ph.D. (Electrical and Computer Engineering)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETitle\u003C\/strong\u003E: All-optical white noise analysis of mechanosensory neural circuits in\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ECaenorhabditis elegans\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProject Summary:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe human brain is a system that processes sensory information from the environment to output behavioral responses. A fundamental question in neuroscience is how the neural circuitry calculates the appropriate output from a given input, or in terms of systems analysis, what are transfer functions that describe this system\u2019s function? A key challenge in answering this question is the overwhelming complexity of this system. Another challenge is acquiring accurate output measurements while simultaneously controlling the input of the system\u003Cem\u003E. C. elegans\u003C\/em\u003E serves as a useful model organism in answering this question by addressing and overcoming both of these issues. First, the \u003Cem\u003EC. elegans\u003C\/em\u003E\u2019 nervous system contains only 302 neurons, and is the only organism that has its entire connectome mapped. Second, it has easily manipulated genetics, high progeny number, and a transparent body, allowing for high-throughput calcium imaging, optogenetics, and behavior tracking experiments. In my thesis, I will develop a platform that can precisely control neuronal activity with optogenetics, while simultaneously measuring neuronal activity with calcium imaging and behavioral output with computer vision tools in order to perform white-noise analysis. This will allow for estimation of impulse responses that characterize \u003Cem\u003EC. elegans\u003C\/em\u003E neural circuitry, providing accurate models of its function. This method will be applied to two mechanosensory circuits in order to compare their spatial and temporal properties.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"All-optical white noise analysis of mechanosensory neural circuits in Caenorhabditis elegans"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2015-04-03 09:06:40","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:11:31","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2015-04-15T10:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2015-04-15T12:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2015-04-15T12:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2015-04-15 14:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2015-04-15 16:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2015-04-15 16:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"569","name":"bioengineering"},{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"},{"id":"913","name":"PhD"},{"id":"3395","name":"proposal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}