NIH R01 · 2025
Neural Mechanisms that Underlie Flexible Sensory Control of Behavioral States in C. elegans
The behavioral state of an animal – whether it is active, inactive, mating, or fighting – profoundly influences how it generates behavioral responses to environmental cues. However, because the environment is constantly changing, animals often switch behavioral states in a sensory-driven manner. Over longer timescales, experience and physiological changes may further bias animals towards certain states. For example, a starved animal may exhibit a higher probability of switching to a stable dwell ing state upon smelling a food odor, compared to a fed animal. How the nervous system flexibly changes so that animals generate context-appropriate behavioral states remains poorly understood. To…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.