{"690158":{"#nid":"690158","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Emi M. Wheelock","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEmi M. Wheelock\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBioE Ph.D. Proposal\u0026nbsp;Presentation\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDate and Time: Friday, May 15th, 2026, at 1:00 PM (EDT)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELocation: EBB Krone Conference Room 3029\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgatech.zoom.us%2Fj%2F97249014901\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Ctm186%40gtvault.onmicrosoft.com%7C5678057b7c424966a49808dea7b5481d%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C639132594203256323%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=eJy5W6LdJBDHdSCXXAK9UxeAnNKBYFUc67KtpAKIdvU%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/97249014901\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdvisor:\u003C\/strong\u003E Hang Lu, Ph.D. (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGordon Berman, Ph.D. (Biology, Emory University)\u003Cbr\u003EMatthieu Bloch, Ph.D. (Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003Cbr\u003EAnqi Wu, Ph.D. (Computational\u0026nbsp;Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003Cbr\u003EPatrick McGrath, Ph.D. (Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExperience-Dependent Reweighting of Conserved Neural Circuit Dynamics in \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EC. elegans\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELearning allows animals to use past experience to change how sensory cues guide future behavior, but it remains unclear how this change is implemented in brain-wide neural activity. One possibility is that learning creates a new neural response pattern; another is that learning changes how sensory cues recruit pre-existing patterns already present in the circuit. Distinguishing these possibilities requires treating neural activity as a time-evolving population process, rather than only asking which neurons increase or decrease their activity. \u003Cem\u003EC. elegans\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;is well suited for this problem because controlled sensory stimulation, whole-brain calcium imaging, quantitative behavior, and genetic perturbation can be combined in the same animal. This thesis investigates how aversive olfactory learning changes brain-wide neural dynamics in \u003Cem\u003EC. elegans\u003C\/em\u003E, using odors from standard bacterial food (\u003Cem\u003EE. coli\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;OP50), pathogenic bacteria (\u003Cem\u003EPseudomonas aeruginosa\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;PA14), and buffer controls. Aim 1 will identify reproducible odor-evoked dynamical features across animals using latent dynamical modeling and invariant summaries. Aim 2 will test whether pathogen training shifts pathogen-evoked dynamics toward food-associated structure or produces a distinct trained-state response. Aim 3 will determine whether learning-sensitive dynamical readouts predict turning behavior and reveal how targeted genetic perturbations disrupt learned sensorimotor computation.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExperience-Dependent Reweighting of Conserved Neural Circuit Dynamics in \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EC. elegans\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Experience-Dependent Reweighting of Conserved Neural Circuit Dynamics in C. elegans"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2026-05-05 20:31:51","changed_gmt":"2026-05-05 20:32:27","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-05-15T13:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-05-15T15:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-05-15T15:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-05-15 17:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-05-15 19:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-05-15 19:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"EBB Krone Conference Room 3029","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd 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":""}}}