Maedeh Seyedolmohadesin
Maedeh Seyedolmohadesin

Hi! I'm a physics PhD student at Northeastern University, where I develop experimental and computational tools to study brain-wide sensory processing underlying sexually-dimorphic behaviors and developmental decision-making. I was responsible for the frontend development of this website. Outside of the lab, I like to try new things; I enjoy playing the piano and painting with watercolors. I also love hiking and backpacking.

Sina Rasouli
Sina Rasouli

I'm an experienced data scientist, programming lover, and PhD student at Northeastern University.
Currently, a member of Venkatachalam Lab, trying to understand the brain and the behavior of C. elegans, e.g. by building microscopes, designing experiments, and analyzing all sorts of data.
Making coffee for the lab members slackmji:meow_coffee.png, while codes are running or models are training slackmji:typingcat.gif .

Mahdi Torkashvand
Mahdi Torkashvand

Mahdi has a PhD in physics and is currently a data scientist at Quiver Biosciences, where he is contributing to drug development efforts aimed at treating epilepsy and other neurological disorders. Mahdi was not involved in making this website, but he built the spinning-disk confocal microscope that was used to record all the datasets in this project. We are forever grateful and love him for that!

Whole-Brain Chemosensory Responses of Both C. elegans Sexes

Sexually dimorphic brain circuits play a critical role in shaping sex-specific behaviors in many species including the nematode C. elegans. In C. elegans males and hermaphrodites exhibit differences in their responses to environmental cues, such as food and pheromones. Previous studies suggest that the structural and functional differences in the nervous system play a crucial role in mediating sexually dimorphic behavior. Recently obtained male connectome data revealed substantial differences in neural wiring patterns between the sexes; however, the full extent of how functional connectivity and neuronal activity contribute to sexually dimorphic behavior remains unclear.

Experimental Setup

We developed a novel system to record whole-brain neuronal activity in both male and hermaphrodite C. elegans while presenting them with a diverse set of external sensory cues. Our system uses a modified confocal microscope with single-cell resolution, capable of imaging the worm's brain at up to 10 volumes/s. We designed and fabricated microfluidic devices for both sexes, enabling simultaneous imaging of neuronal activity in nearly all neurons. Through these devices, we sequentially delivered 10 different chemosensory stimuli, including gustatory, olfactory, and nociceptive cues, to the animals, and repeated the sequence three times and observed the animals' responses for over 30 minutes.


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LAMBDA: Custom Imaging Setup

Visit LAMBDA's github page for specifications.


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