Neural Logic

Award Recipient: 

Julie H. Simpson

Award Date: 

Monday, May 11, 2020

Julie H. Simpson receives an NSF CAREER award to study how neural circuits coordinate behaviors

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Everything we do comes down to a series of neural signals that translate into physical behaviors. We receive information through our senses, sensory neurons convert this information into electrical and chemical signals that are processed by other neurons in our brains and ultimately, motor neurons fire muscles that move our limbs. But how these signals complete their circuits — and how these circuits compete — is not completely understood.

This mystery fascinates UC Santa Barbara researcher Julie Simpson. How do the multitude of different signals become the appropriate actions? How does the nervous system organize competing information into what to do and in what order?

“Animals do amazing things — and many of the behaviors we observe rely on precise movements,” said Simpson, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. “There are different tools and approaches to measure these behaviors and to manipulate the activity of the neurons and circuits that control them.”
 

CONTACT:

Sonia Fernandez

(805) 893-4765

sonia.fernandez@ucsb.edu

Shelly Leachman

(805) 893-8726

shelly.leachman@ucsb.edu

News Date: 

Monday, May 11, 2020