|
 |
|
||
|
||
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
12/1/98:
12/1/98:
10/27/98:
10/23/98:
10/23/98:
10/23/98:
10/23/98:
8/24/98:
But to researchers at the intersection of biology, chemistry, physics and engineering, C. elegans is invaluable. Scientists at the University of Oregon -- funded in part by the Navy -- are utilizing C. elegans's brain wiring to run an electronic robot that could one day be a model for a cheap, artificial eel that can locate explosive mines at sea. Their eel would be built with a computerized brain that allows it to think, sniff and move as efficiently as C. elegans does. Much like the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, C. elegans became a scientific star because it is both physiologi cally simple and has a quick reproductive cycle. Scientists were able to map C. elegans's synapses -- the message-bearing connections within its nervous system -- because it has a mere 302 neurons, or nerve cells. By comparison, humans have 1 trillion. Despite its tiny brain, C. elegans is pretty smart for its world. If one adjusts for the nematode's smaller size, C. elegans can actually handle about 1,000 times as much information per second as an Intel Pentium processor can. That comparison, conceived and jotted down by University of Oregon neuroscientist Shawn R. Lockery a few years ago, "supported the idea that there are really important engineering secrets hidden in an animal system," Lockery said. Thinking about artificial intelligence that way represents a sharp break from the past. Historically, scientists have tried to fashion electronic systems into approximations of animal behaviors. By contrast, Lockery and his team are trying to hard-wire the principles of animal brains into the instructions that run electronic robots. "We don't call it artificial intelligence -- we call it biological intelligence," said Joel L. Davis, a program officer with the Office of Naval Research, which has funded Lockery's work. "Our goal is to look at the animal kingdom for behaviors or capabilities that we can reverse-engineer into devices that solve real-world Navy problems." Several other federal agencies, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Institutes of Health, have followed the Navy's lead on biological intelligence, Davis said. The Navy and DARPA have funded efforts by Joseph Ayres to pry into the minds of lobsters and lampreys. Lobsters are famed for their skill at moving through rocky, underwater surfaces buffeted by heavy water currents. Ayres, of Northeastern University's marine biology station in Nahant, Mass., has studied the simple "pattern generator" in the lobster's neural networks that governs how each leg moves. The goal, Davis says, is to use a synthetic copy of the lobster's pattern generator to drive an artificial lobster that could one day be a prototype for an autonomous undersea vehicle. Early versions of the simulated lobster body and legs are complete and are scheduled for testing this summer, Davis says. Similarly, the lamprey -- a relatively primitive sea creature -- might eventually provide scientists with clues about mimicking the movements of fish. Ayres is studying how the lamprey's brain controls its sine-wave-like movements, but the project is still in an early stage. "We'd like to create a device where the movement of the body mimics the flex of a fish," Davis said. The focus of Lockery's lab is a process known as chemotaxis -- the method animals use to follow smells or tastes. A blindfolded man finding his way toward a just-baked apple pie uses chemotaxis to decide which direction to move. Similarly, nematodes use chemotaxis to find bacterial food sources by following the odors of their favorite bacteria's chemical byproducts. Chemotaxis, Lockery says, "is arguably the most widespread form of goal-directed behavior -- that is, intelligent behavior -- in the animal world." To figure out how nematodes practiced chemotaxis, Lockery and lab mates Thomas Morse and Jonathan Pierce constructed chemical gradients for their worms to wander through. What they found is that nematodes forged ahead as long as they were finding equal- or higher-strength odors that they liked. As soon as the odor began to abate even slightly, the worms spun around. If their new direction offered stronger odors, they continued in that direction. But if the odors proved to be weaker still, the nematode kept spinning until it found a direction that offered more of what it wanted. Once Lockery and his lab mates understood that process, they wrote computer instructions that mimicked the behavior and installed them in a $350 makeshift robot made of Lego tiles, model airplane parts, a light sensor and the plastic canister from a gumball-machine prize. The foot-long robot moves exactly as a nematode would under a microscope: It meanders haltingly, but within a minute or two, it always winds up at the brightest light source in the room. Eventually, Lockery -- and the Navy -- would like to adapt that sensing system to track the minuscule plumes of waterborne chemicals that leach from underwater mines. To do that, they would embed a microchip containing the nematode's chemotaxis instructions into an eel-like robot fitted with a chemical sensor.
Building a real-life mine detector from Lockery's research "is possible," said Anne Hart, a neuroscientist who studies C. elegans at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. "But either way, we're going to learn a lot. The fundamental mechanisms behind chemosensation in C. elegans seem to be the same as for humans. And it's a lot easier to learn those principles from a worm." © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
8/24/98:
Limbird is an internationally-recognized scientist who has been a member of the VUMC faculty since 1979. Under her guidance the Department of Pharmacology has grown in stature as a leader in research, consistently ranked at or near the top of nationally recognized pharmacology departments in NIH funding. In her new position as vice chancellor for research, Limbird will work to promote VUMC's research mission, both internally and externally. "Vanderbilt is home to a great deal of talent. There are a lot of creators here, both scientists and clinicians, with the capabilities to solve a lot of problems," Limbird said. "This new role will give me the chance to help create interdisciplinary opportunities and to develop the resources necessary to enhance discovery." Over the course of her career, Limbird has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, and American Journal of Physiology and as an associate editor of Molecular Pharmacology. In 1987 Limbird was selected to receive the John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology given by the American Society for Pharmacologists and Experimental Therapeutics in recognition of outstanding research in the area of pharmacology. Limbird has also been honored with a NIH Young Investigator Award, an NIH Merit Award and an Established Investigator Award of the National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. Copyright © 1998, Vanderbilt University Office of News & Public Affairs
5/13/98:
4/24/98:
3/15/98:
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Fifteen individuals doing research in the chemical and biological sciences will each have an additional $180,000 to support their research programs during the next three years. The fifteen have been named as the 1998 Searle Scholars. With the names announced today, 302 Searle Scholars have shared over $52,380,000 in grants made since the program began in 1981. This year, 163 applications were considered from recently appointed assistant professors, nominated by 90 universities and research institutions. The final selection of Scholars was based on recommendations made by a committee of eleven scientists distinguished for their research and leadership in the scientific fields of interest to the Searle Scholars Program. In selecting the Scholars, the committee looked for individuals who have already demonstrated innovative research and who have given evidence of having the potential to make significant contributions to biological research over an extended period of time. The funds that support the awards come from trusts established under the wills of John G. and Frances C. Searle. Mr. Searle was President of G.D. Searle & Co., of Skokie, Illinois, a research-based pharmaceutical company. Mr. and Mrs. Searle expressed the wish that some of the proceeds of their estates be used for the support of research in medicine, chemistry, and biological science. In 1980, members of the Searle family acting as Consultants to the Trustees of the Trusts established under the wills of Mr. & Mrs. John G. Searle, recommended the development of a program of support for young biomedical scientists. This idea evolved into the Searle Scholars Program, which is funded through grants from the family trusts to The Chicago Community Trust and administered by Kinship Foundation in Northbrook, Illinois. The Chicago Community Trust is Chicago's community foundation. Since 1915, the Trust has helped concerned citizens put charitable dollars to work for the benefit of metropolitan Chicago. The Trust is a union of gifts and bequests from individuals, families, and organizations that form endowed funds. Income from these funds is used to make grants to qualified agencies serving area residents, unless otherwise stipulated by the donors. In its 1997 fiscal year, the Trust used the income from over $900 million in endowments and trusts to make over $30 million in grants.
3/1/98:
Peter was cited "For innovative genetic approaches to the field of sensory neurobiology which have furthered our understanding of the development of sensory systems." |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| SCHOLAR NETWORK | NEWS | EVENTS | APPLY | PROGRAM HISTORY | CONTACT | HOME |
|
Questions about/problems with this site? Please e-mail the webmaster. © Copyright 2007 Kinship Foundation. All rights reserved. |
The little Lego robot -- though it's only "phase one, if not phase zero" of Lockery's project -- has already showcased how eons of evolution come up with ingenious solutions. For instance, Lockery unexpectedly discovered that C. elegans and its robot progeny use an elegant method to right themselves once they have hit an obstacle. When the robot hits a chair or a bookcase, it doesn't remain stuck for long, even though the light level at that spot, to the naked eye at least, seems constant. In reality, the light level is always fluctuating slightly, so before long it usually drops low enough for the brain to conclude that it's time to turn around.
Lee E. Limbird, Ph.D., professor and chair of Pharmacology, has been named associate vice chancellor for research.