Department News
Faculty Spotlight
Mark Frye
My 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.
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Research
The Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology (formerly the Department of Physiological Science) is dedicated to explaining the function of complex biological systems, in cells, organs, and individuals. The recent rapid advances in molecular and cell biology and genetics, including the sequencing of numerous genomes, has provided an unprecedented opportunity to use this new information to understand how the genes interact to produce emergent phenotypes in complex systems. The research of our faculty spans many levels. We use approaches that range from RNA interference to ion channel electrophysiology to genetic intervention in behavior to mathematical modeling to robotics, all to make sense of sensory, motor, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems.
Educational Programs
At the undergraduate level, the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology offers the B.S. degree in Physiological Science, and contributes strongly to the
Interdepartmental Undergraduate Program in
Neuroscience. The Department also offers a 2-year
research-oriented M.S. program in Physiological Science. Ph.D. students in
the Department come from a variety of interdepartmental programs, including, the Ph.D. Program in
Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology, and the
Interdepartment Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience.
