Job Description

We study how animal behavior emerges from the complex interaction amongst the animal's nervous systems, their muscle-body dynamics, and their environment. We use fruit flies ( Drosophila melanogaster ) as our model organism because they perform many complex behaviors with a relatively simple brain, and because of the many genetic tools that are available in the flies. We employ a multi-pronged approach which includes in vivo whole-cell patch clamp recordings, imaging, and quantitative measurement of behavior, biomechanics and computation.

Essential functions include:

• Understand how neural activity, muscle properties, and the relation between muscle contraction and joint movement control the movement of a fly’s legs and the coordination between legs. In doing this research, the candidate will:
• Do high-speed videography;
• Do instrumentation;
• Make custom-holders, make sensors or combine available devices to perform data acquisition;
• Use machine learning methods to track the movement of the fly’s body as well as its center of mass;
• Use mechanics to fit models of locomotion to fly walking data;
• Use a force sensor to measure forces from a fly’s leg;
• Share in performing some routine jobs needed to run the lab.

#hiring #biomechanics #Research #neuroscience

Bhandawat lab:

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