{"170391":{"#nid":"170391","#data":{"type":"event","title":"How Worms Wiggle","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch4\u003ESchool of Physcis Colloquium: Aravi Samuel, Harvard University\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDirected locomotion\u0026nbsp;requires coordinated motor activity throughout an animal\u2019s body. The nematode \u003Cem\u003EC. elegans\u003C\/em\u003E, with only 302 neurons, offers an opportunity to understand how locomotion is organized by an entire motor system. We discovered that the mechanism that organizes undulatory locomotion in \u003Cem\u003EC. elegans \u003C\/em\u003Eis a novel form of\u0026nbsp;sensory feedback within\u0026nbsp;the\u0026nbsp;motor circuit.\u0026nbsp;Stretch-sensory feedback simply compels each body segment to bend in the same\u0026nbsp;direction and shortly after the bending of the adjacent anterior segment. Remarkably, the entire sensorimotor loop operates is contained within a single (particularly sophisticated) type of neuron. We\u0026nbsp;used microfluidics, optogenetics, calcium imaging, and modeling to show how stretch-sensory feedback is integrated into the\u0026nbsp;motor circuit and how it explains the propagation of undulatory waves from head to tail. Our results point to a new framework for the organization of swimming and crawling gaits in worm undulatory locomotion.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Ch2 class=\u0022mainTitle\u0022\u003EHow worms wiggle\u003C\/h2\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Aravi Samuel, professor of physics at Harvard University, will give this lecture on directed locomotion."}],"uid":"27664","created_gmt":"2012-11-12 11:42:56","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:01:11","author":"Alison Morain","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2012-11-19T14:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2012-11-19T15:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2012-11-19T15:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2012-11-19 19:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2012-11-19 20:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2012-11-19 20:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/seminars-colloquia\/series\/physics-colloquium\/aravi-samuel-20121119","title":"https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/seminars-colloquia\/series\/physics-colloquium..."},{"url":"http:\/\/www.physics.harvard.edu\/people\/facpages\/samuel.html","title":"http:\/\/www.physics.harvard.edu\/people\/facpages\/samuel.html"}],"groups":[{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"49791","name":"Worms Wiggle"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:alison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ealison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}