Mark Frye

Our lab integrates biological and engineering techniques to investigate multi-sensory processing and sensory-motor integration at genetic, cell-circuit, and behavioral levels of organization in fruit flies. Making extensive use of state-of-the-art electronic flight and walking simulators ("virtual reality" for flies), we study how sensory signals are transformed into behavioral dynamics under conditions in which the animals actively control their sensory experience. We assess performance deficits resulting from targeted and conditional gene expression (e.g., the /pGal4-UAS /system) to manipulate specific neuronal microcircuits. We hope to reveal specific structural circuits and functional algorithms by which the rich multi-sensory world is processed, integrated, and transformed into the biomechanics of complex behavior.


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