{"690247":{"#nid":"690247","#data":{"type":"event","title":"BioE PhD Proposal Presentation-  Emi M. Wheelock","body":[{"value":"\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\u003EBioE PhD Proposal Presentation- \u0026nbsp;\u0022Experience-Dependent Reweighting of Conserved Neural Circuit Dynamics in C. elegans\u0022 - Emi M. Wheelock\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"\u0022Experience-Dependent Reweighting of Conserved Neural Circuit Dynamics in C. elegans\u0022"}],"uid":"27917","created_gmt":"2026-05-13 00:23:47","changed_gmt":"2026-05-13 00:27:02","author":"Laura Paige","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":"3029 EBB","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"65448","name":"Bioengineering Graduate Program"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172056","name":"go-BioE"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}