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Shawn Lockery Professor, Department of Biology B.A., 1981, Yale Ph.D., 1989, University of California, San Diego Research Interests: Neuronal basis of behavior Email Web

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We study how the nervous system controls behavior by analyzing the neural networks that control chemotaxis and thermotaxis, simple forms of spatial orientation behavior, in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.

We investigate how these networks function using a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches. We track the movements of normal and mutant worms at high spatial and temporal resolution to determine the behavioral strategies underlying spatial orientation in C. elegans. Individual neurons in the networks are killed with a laser microbeam to identify their role in behavior. Patch-clamp recordings are made from normal and mutant animals to determine how the electrical properties of neurons influence network function. We also make optical recordings in freely moving animals to correlate neuronal activity patterns and behavior; these experiments are facilitated by microfluidic devices to control the worm's local environment.

Data generated by the experimental approaches are synthesized in theoretical models of the spatial orientation networks. Predictions from the models are tested experimentally and the results are used to improve our theoretical understanding of the function of biological networks. These results provide new insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms of information processing underlying animal behavior.

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Movies

Concentration clamp movie

Simultaneous recording of neuronal activity and behavior

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Representative Publications

• Suzuki, H., et al., Functional asymmetry in C. elegans salt taste neurons and its computational role in chemotaxis behaviour. Nature (in press) 2008.
  
  
• Lockery, S.R., et al., Artificial dirt: Microfluidic substrates for nematode neurobiology and behavior. J Neurophysiol (epub ahead of print), 2008.
  
  
• Dunn, N.A., J.S. Conery, and S.R. Lockery, Circuit motifs for spatial orientation behaviors identified by neural network optimization. J Neurophysiol, 2007. 98(2): p. 888-97.
  
  
• Ortiz, C.O., et al., Searching for neuronal left/right asymmetry: Genome wide analysis of nematode receptor-type guanylyl cyclases. Genetics, 2006. 173(1): p. 131-49.
  
  
• Faumont, S. and S.R. Lockery, The awake behaving worm: simultaneous imaging of neuronal activity and behavior in intact animals at millimeter scale. J Neurophysiol, 2006. 95(3): p. 1976-81.
  
  
• Pierce-Shimomura, J.T., M. Dores, and S.R. Lockery, Analysis of the effects of turning bias on chemotaxis in C. elegans. J Exp Biol, 2005. 208(Pt 24): p. 4727-33.
  
  
• Miller, A.C., et al., Step-response analysis of chemotaxis in Caenorhabditis elegans. J Neurosci, 2005. 25(13): p. 3369-78.
  
  
• Faumont, S., A.C. Miller, and S.R. Lockery, Chemosensory behavior of semi-restrained Caenorhabditis elegans. J Neurobiol, 2005. 65(2): p. 171-8.
  
  
• Dunn, N.A., et al., A neural network model of chemotaxis predicts functions of synaptic connections in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. J Comput Neurosci, 2004. 17(2): p. 137-47.
  
  
• Chang, S., et al., MicroRNAs act sequentially and asymmetrically to control chemosensory laterality in the nematode. Nature, 2004. 430(7001): p. 785-9.
  
  
• Pierce-Shimomura, J.T., et al., The homeobox gene lim-6 is required for distinct chemosensory representations in C. elegans. Nature, 2001. 410(6829): p. 694-8.
  
  
• Pierce-Shimomura, J.T., T.M. Morse, and S.R. Lockery, The fundamental role of pirouettes in Caenorhabditis elegans chemotaxis. J Neurosci, 1999. 19(21): p. 9557-69.
  
  
• Goodman, M.B., et al., Active Currents Regulate Sensitivity and Dynamic Range in C. elegans Neurons. Neuron, 1998. 20: p. 763-772.