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SUMMARY:Foundations of Neuromechanical Systems Biology: Combining engineer
 ing\, biology\, and mathematics to understand how we move - Dr Andrew Spen
 ce\, The Royal Veterinary College
DTSTART:20130906T090000Z
DTEND:20130906T100000Z
UID:TALK46419@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Microsoft Research Cambridge Talks Admins
DESCRIPTION:This talk will present an overview of research going on in the
  Spence group. As a whole we are interested in both how and why animals mo
 ve\, with a focus on the neuromechanical basis of legged locomotion: disse
 cting how the nervous and musculoskeletal systems work together to produce
  movement. This currently includes comparative work on the control strateg
 ies used by insects\, dogs\, and humans to handle soft terrain\, that is s
 hedding light on why humans adapt to soft surfaces in the way that they do
 . We take an integrative approach to locomotion\, and employ legged robots
  to answer questions that are difficult or impossible in animals. Recently
  we have been funded to use optogenetics in mice to dissect the contributi
 ons of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems to locomotion\, which repre
 sents an exciting frontier. With optogenetics\, targeted subsets of neuron
 s can be genetically modified with light responsive ion channels\; shining
  light on these neurons makes them fire\, or silences them. Through the in
 tegration of these powerful new molecular genetic tools\, especially optog
 enetics\, with the latest bioengineering technologies and approaches to ma
 thematical modelling\, we aim to tease apart the role of nervous feedback 
 from feedforward musculoskeletal action. Critical to these efforts is taki
 ng advantage of the latest technologies to enable closed-loop experimental
  designs for running animals\, using real-time computer vision\, and to au
 tomate tracking and posture estimation from video\, such that large\, data
  driven models of the dynamics of animal locomotion can be built.\n\n
LOCATION:Microsoft Research Ltd\, 21 Station Road\, Cambridge\, CB1 2FB
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