Postdoctoral Neuroscientist
My research investigates the neuronal control of adaptive behaviour in flying insects, with a current focus on butterfly descending neurons (DNs). DNs occupy a central role in insects by connecting the brain to thoracic motor centres, thereby comprising the entire set of information sent from the brain to control movements. DNs are also notably fine-tuned to the control requirements of a given species, aligning with mounting evidence that sensorimotor systems have evolved to observe and control the species-specific natural modes of motion as an energy-efficient encoding strategy.
Butterflies present a unique opportunity to investigate the relationship between DN specialization and adaptive motor control due to their unusually exaggerated pattern of self-motion in flight. This distinctive flight style exacerbates the requirement for robust stabilisation reflexes, whilst their susceptibility to dynamical changes resulting from, e.g., wing damage, confers a selective pressure for adaptive control. Furthermore, their highly visual ecology presents opportunities to investigate how spectral and polarised light cues are integrated within the neuronal circuits coordinating movement.
