# Large-scale Optical Recording

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST · 2021 · $105,519

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY – Project 3. Large-scale Optical Recording
Humans have both centralized and highly distributed nervous systems (e.g., brain and myenteric plexus) that
are increasingly appreciated to have important interactions. The nature of those interactions, and especially the
degree to which such centralized and distributed nervous systems work together is poorly understood. The
proposed work will take advantage of a recently introduced model organism, the marine gastropod Berghia, to
begin an exploration of this challenging topic. Berghia has an embodied nervous system organization, consisting
of a centralized brain that works with a diffusely distributed peripheral neural plexus. Project 3 will use large
scale imaging to explore several features of such embodied processing. A notable feature of this U19 is its
investment in generating the first transgenic mollusc for neuroscience. Starting with a backbone of expertise in
large scale imaging of neural activity with fast voltage sensitive absorbance dyes, this Project will also employ
1- and 2-photon fluorescence activity imaging, first with dyes and then with GCaMP6f Berghia strains. Additional
strains with light-activated channels will enable optogenetics, making possible all-optical electrophysiology in a
system employing embodied neural processing. There are four specific aims. Aim 1 will test the hypothesis that
Berghia uses two motor control schemes for how it uses its oral tentacles: a traditional one in which the CNS
directly drives all aspects of behavior, and an “embodied” control scheme where the CNS cedes responsibility
to a highly distributed peripheral neural plexus for certain behaviors. This Aim will further test whether the animal
can switch back-and-forth between these two tentacle motor control schemes, depending on the circumstances
of the moment. Aims 2-4 are focused on issues related to sensory processing. Aim 2 will explore how
somatosensory information is represented in Berghia’s nervous system. Aim 3 will do the same for odor
processing, and Aim 4 will assess the degree to which cross-modal sensory interactions and modulation of
sensory processing play important roles. Throughout the study, Project 3 will interact extensively with the other
4 Projects of this U19, united by the common goal of revealing general principles and mechanisms of embodied
processing as a mode of nervous system function.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10302205
- **Project number:** 1U01NS123972-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
- **Principal Investigator:** William Frost
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $105,519
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-15 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10302205

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10302205, Large-scale Optical Recording (1U01NS123972-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10302205. Licensed CC0.

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