Jagan Srinivasan
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA·Neuroscience
Males and females often respond differently to the same cue, even though their nervous systems share most of the same wiring. Many brain conditions that differ between the sexes, including depression, autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, involve altered neuromodulation, the process by which chemical signals adjust how circuits behave.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Biology
Genetics
- Topics
neuropeptides
neuromodulation
Caenorhabditis elegans
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2029
What they work on
- Define how NLP-3 neuropeptides drive hermaphrodite avoidance of the pheromone ascaroside-8 in C. elegans, using CRISPR mutants, rescue with synthetic peptides, and quantitative behavioral assays.
- Test whether the receptors NPR-36 and NPR-42 receive the NLP-3 signal, using cell-specific manipulations and calcium imaging to monitor activity in candidate neurons during the avoidance response.
- Identify which serotonin-producing neurons and which serotonin receptors set the strength of hermaphrodite avoidance, to test whether serotonin and NLP-3 peptides are co-transmitted or converge on shared neurons.
- Determine how the same ascaroside-8 pheromone pathway produces attraction in males but avoidance in hermaphrodites, mapping neuromodulatory differences on a shared circuit at single-neuron resolution.
More about the research
How these chemicals turn one shared circuit into two different behaviors is not well understood. This project tackles that question in a small animal where every neuron can be identified and manipulated.
Why it matters
Sex differences are common in depression, autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, yet the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Working out, neuron by neuron, how neuropeptides and serotonin convert a shared circuit into opposite decisions in the two sexes could reveal general principles for how neuromodulators create sex-specific behavior, which may inform more personalized approaches to brain health. The project also gives undergraduates hands-on training in genetics, imaging and behavioral analysis.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Mark Alkema
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, MA·Neuroscience
Identify the neuronal targets and molecular pathways through which nitric oxide made by gut bacteria suppresses seizures in C. elegans unc-2/CaV2α gain-of-function mutants, a worm model of a migraine-linked calcium channel disorder.
Michael R Koelle
Yale University, CT·Neuroscience
Test whether Gαo, a G protein that relays inhibitory signals, turns off egg-laying neurons and muscles in C. elegans. It may do so by activating a GTPase activator and a diacylglycerol kinase that end Gαq signaling. Approaches include biochemistry, genetics, calcium imaging and electrophysiology.
Rory Coleman
New York University, NY·Neuroscience·Early-career
Identify where pheromone-processing circuits differ among four Drosophila species, linking species-specific mate preferences to neural responses measured by in vivo imaging and high-resolution courtship tracking.
The school
Worcester Polytechnic Institute: 6 labs on PI Pages, $72M a year on research, 69 research doctorates a year.
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