# Characterizing the Sensorimotor Transformation in Drosophila olfactory system

> **NIH NIH F31** · DREXEL UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $48,974

## Abstract

Characterizing the Sensorimotor Transformation in Drosophila olfactory system
Understanding how the nervous system transforms sensory inputs into motor commands is a
fundamental question in neuroscience. To understand how the nervous system performs these
complex sensorimotor transformations we must be able to provide a well-controlled stimulus
that elicits complex, multisequence behaviors and a means to quantitatively analyze this
behavior, as well as have a complete knowledge of the underlying neural circuitry involved in
this behavior. Here, we look to characterize the sensorimotor transformation occurring within
two olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) classes in Drosophila melanogaster and identify how they
impact behavior. Using an electron micrograph dataset of the fly brain we can identify the
connection patterns between the first-order neurons of the olfactory system and the downstream
second- and third-order neurons. The fly is highly tractable and we will use genetic strategies to
optogenetically activate this first-order ORN classes and record from the second- and third-
order neurons in response to this activation. By observing fly behavior in response to this ORN
activation we can determine the relationship between its selective activation and its impact on
behavior, as well as how the transformation between the first- to second- and second- to third-
order neurons impact this expressed behavior. By combining optogenetics, electrophysiology,
computational modeling, and behavior, this proposal seeks to further our understanding of how
the nervous system integrates sensory information to execute an accompanying motor plan.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10903744
- **Project number:** 5F31DC021377-02
- **Recipient organization:** DREXEL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Samuel Paura Wechsler
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $48,974
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10903744

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10903744, Characterizing the Sensorimotor Transformation in Drosophila olfactory system (5F31DC021377-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10903744. Licensed CC0.

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