MURTHY LAB @ Princeton
The Neural Basis of Sensory Perception
Our research focuses on addressing two fundamental questions in neuroscience: how does the brain convert sensory stimuli into meaningful representations, and how do these representations drive behavioral responses?
These questions become more complicated when we consider that sensory representations are generally not fixed; they can vary across individuals and time points, and can be modified by experience or learning. How then is the brain able to make sense of the world, and respond to environmental cues both quickly and reliably? We believe a full solution to these questions will come from understanding the precise relationship between sensory signals (such as sounds or odors) and animal behavior and from discovering the specific neural solutions (neural codes) that have evolved to detect and respond to these signals.
Drosophila, with its relatively simple nervous system, robust and complex behaviors, amenability for in vivo electrophysiology, and large genetic and molecular toolkit offers an ideal system in which to examine questions about sensory coding.
Artwork by Heidi Whitman (Transmission - © 2008 All rights reserved)
SOME LAB NEWS:
2013:
Andrew Weinstein awarded one of two '43 Brinster Prizes for the most outstanding Neuroscience undergraduate theses. Congrats, Andrew!
Mala receives a special grant from the PNI Innovation Fund.
For more information: http://www.princeton.edu/neuroscience/research/pni-innovation-fund/
New paper on Drosophila courtship song (collaboration between Murthy and Stern labs) published in BMC Biology!
2012:
Undergraduate Tristan Perez joins the lab for her senior thesis - Welcome Tristan!
Amanda Crocker receives an NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship from the NIGMS - congrats Amanda!
For more information: http://www.nigms.nih.gov
Pip Coen receives an HHMI International Student Research Fellowship - congrats Pip!
For more information: http://www.hhmi.org/grants/individuals/intl_fellows.html
Diego Pacheco passes his qualifying exam - congrats to PhD candidate Diego!
Mala receives a McKnight Foundation Scholar Award.
For more information: http://www.mcknight.org/neuroscience/
Mala receives a Klingenstein Fellowship Award in the Neurosciences.
For more information: http://www.klingfund.org/
New paper on the neural representations of courtship song in the Drosophila brain published in the Journal of Neuroscience!
2011:
Undergraduate Andrew Weinstein joins the lab for his senior thesis - Welcome Andrew!
Mala receives a grant from the Princeton-Oxford Collaborative Research Fund, along with her collaborator Scott Waddell.
For more information: http://www.princeton.edu/international/partnerships/linkages/oxford/
Pip Coen and Kelly LaRue pass their qualifying exams - congrats to PhD candidates Pip and Kelly!
Cyrille Girardin receives a Marie Curie International Postdoctoral Fellowship -- congrats, Cyrille!
For more information: http://cordis.europa.eu/mariecurie-actions/oif/home.html
Mala receives a Human Frontiers Young Investigator Award, along with three of her collaborators.
For more information: http://www.hfsp.org/awardees/newly-awarded
2010:
Mala receives an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.
For more information: http://www.sloan.org/fellowships
Three Princeton undergraduates join the Murthy lab - Rogelio (for his senior thesis) and Christine and Salmaan (sophomores) - Welcome!
Mala receives an NSF CAREER Award.
For more information: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503214
May 2010: Murthy Lab opens!
May 2013