BioE PhD Defense Presentation- Lucinda Peng

Advisor: Hang Lu, Ph.D. (School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Tech)

Committee Members:

Daniel I. Goldman, Ph.D. (School of Physics, Georgia Tech)

Patrick McGrath, Ph.D. (School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Tech)

Simon Sponberg, Ph.D. (School of Physics, Georgia Tech)

Lena Ting, Ph.D. (Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech)

The role of proprioception in locomotion control

      Animals must navigate through diverse terrain. This task requires them to adapt their locomotion strategy to the local environment. Locomotor adaptation requires integrating sensory feedback, particularly from proprioception, which provides critical information about body position and motion. While different proprioceptive neurons encode distinct sensory signals, how these inputs are integrated to modulate motor outputs remains unclear. I study proprioceptive integration and motor control using the model organism C. elegans. C. elegans moves using undulation, propagating a body wave from head to tail, and can adapt its gait to different physical environments. C. elegans is a useful model for studying locomotion adaptation due to its compact nervous system, ease of recording neural activity and readily available genetic tools. My thesis addresses this gap in proprioceptive integration and motor control by developing tools for improved functional imaging and using a combination of modeling and genetic perturbations to assess the role of proprioception and motor control in gait adaptation. First, I develop and apply deep learning tools to improve functional imaging during locomotion to determine the motor patterns used for gait adaptation (aim 1). Next, I investigate the role of several proprioceptive neurons in gait adaptation through genetic perturbation (aim 2). Finally, I develop a neuromechanical model based on locomotion changes in proprioceptive-deficient C. elegans mutants to gain insights into their proprioceptive control strategies (aim 3). The tools and framework developed in this work provide a foundation for future studies to further elucidate the role of proprioception in gait adaptation and motor control. This work provides insights into genetic mechanisms of proprioception for further study in other organisms and suggests control strategies for bioinspired robotics that require adaptive gait modulation across diverse environments.