Assistant Professor Mason Klein is fascinated by animal movement and behavior.
“Why do animals do what they do and how do they decide where to go? Also, what happens in the brain to make them behave this way? It’s these questions that have intrigued me,” said Klein, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ departments of physics and biology.
Klein recently received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further his research on the neurological and motor behavior of animals, such as the fly larva he studies in his lab.
“Our basic goal is to understand how living systems take in information about their environment, process that information in their brains, and then perform a physical action,” adds Klein. “We use the fruit fly larva as a model system; it’s a great animal for that because it moves slowly and is transparent, so we can see its neurons in action.”
Fly larvae only have a few thousand neurons, and they make connections that cause their muscles to move based on what’s going on around them. In Klein’s lab, he is using different stimuli such as temperature, movement and light to track and control the behavior of these tiny creatures just a millimeter in length.
“We put the fly larva on a flat surface and watch them move forward or turn,” Klein said. “What they are really doing is looking for food. This is always his main mission. However, what are the rules they follow to get what they want? They have a very small brain and no eyes. When we put them in a space they don’t know where they are, so what are the rules that determine where they move?”
It’s the fly larva’s transparent body that gives Klein a clear image directly inside the larva’s brain, allowing him to capture images of its brain activity in real time. The fly larva’s brain cells light up and get brighter when the cell is turned on, like a light bulb. Klein will use a special laser that can focus and target, then cut, a single brain cell, allowing him to study whether the larva behaves differently.
“The logic is that we can see how behavior changes when a neuron is missing and piece together what role that neuron plays,” Klein said. “We can then build ‘maps’ that can predict what kind of motor behavior the animal will display in response to a stimulus such as heat, cold, light, vibration, or even multiple stimuli at once,” Klein said. .
Movements of larvae for an art installation project
The NSF grant will help support Klein’s research by funding lab equipment, student research assistantships, and projects based on Klein’s research findings. For example, he plans to collaborate on a project that uses larval behavioral data collected by student researchers around the world to learn more about animal behavior. He is also connecting with the Lowe Art Museum for an installation that connects visuals of larval movement.
“The art installation aspect is going to happen in a few years, but it’s very exciting and interesting,” Klein said. “Looking at images of the movements of the fly larva on a flat surface reminds me of abstract expressionist art. It’s great to combine both the arts and sciences with this transformative NSF grant.”
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