BRC-BIO: neural mechanisms underlying stable flight in insects

Bryn Mawr College was awarded $419,379 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Biological Infrastructure under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) on June 15, 2025, for a project extending through May 31, 2028. The project investigates the neural mechanisms underlying stable flight in insects, with specific focus on characterizing mechanosensory signals that convey information about wing bending during flight and how these signals guide stabilizing flight behaviors. Deliverables include experimental analyses of flight behaviors and neural responses, computational simulations examining sensory-to-behavioral signal transformation, and the development of mechanistic models to explain how insects achieve rapid compensatory adjustments to wing perturbations.

In addition to core research activities, the project will produce a workshop series with publicly accessible training materials focused on modern data analysis and visualization methods for undergraduate researchers conducting scientific research. The work contributes to fundamental understanding of fast and efficient information processing in small neural circuits, with potential applications for bio-inspired sensing technologies and autonomous systems development.

Abstract

Animals require input from their senses to achieve accurate movements, such as stable walking on rough terrain or grasping an object with appropriate strength. This sensory feedback must be both fast and accurate to effectively guide behaviors, and IT is particularly necessary in complex and changing environments. Perhaps no behavior is more demanding of sensory feedback than flight. For example, an insect must make rapid adjustments in flight to a small gust of wind. Due to insects? Small body size relative to other flying animals, sensory processing must be achieved in small neural circuits comprised of few neurons. Insect flight therefore presents unique opportunities not only to enrich our understanding of how sensory feedback guides behavior, but also to uncover general strategies for fast and efficient information processing that can inform the development of new BIO-inspired sensing technologies. This project will investigate sensory signals that convey information about wing bending during flight and how these signals are used to guide flight behaviors. Experiments will examine flight behaviors and neural responses, and simulations will be used to examine how incoming sensory information might be transformed into behavioral responses. This project will support the development of a workshop series, including publicly accessible training materials, in modern data analysis and visualization methods for undergraduates conducting scientific research. Mechanosensory feedback operates with remarkable speed and sensitivity to small perturbations, making IT especially critical for guiding rapid movements. Previous experiments have shown that perturbations to insect wings induce compensatory stabilizing behaviors, demonstrating that feedback from the wings is directly involved in behavioral control. However, the sensory signals mediating this behavior remain poorly understood. This work will characterize neural and behavioral responses to destabilizing perturbations and will examine computations that transform sensory input to behaviors. The first aim will quantify behavioral responses to perturbations, such as wind gusts and collisions, in a tethered flight preparation using high speed 3D videography. The second aim will identify how these perturbations are encoded by neurons, using extracellular electrophysiology to directly record from primary sensory neurons. In the third aim, computational methods will be used to identify plausible circuit computations that are consistent with observed behaviors. A focus on this small and well-defined neural population provides exceptional opportunities to understand neural function across multiple stages of processing, from sensing to motor output, and directly link neural activity to animal behavior. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.