Characterizing Multimodal Processing With Whole-Brain Approaches in Drosophila

Many of the tasks we perform every day, such as driving a car to work or having a conversation while on a stroll, require us to integrate information from multiple senses to drive behavior. Understanding the neural basis of such multimodal integration is a longstanding question in neuroscience. Studies in humans have shown that impairment of one sensory modality reduces performance on many tasks, and abnormal sensorimotor processing is associated with several neurological conditions, including autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and sensory processing disorders. While multimodal responses have been studied in the sensory or motor periphery in several model systems, we currently lack a comprehensive understanding of how multimodal computations are performed in the brain. Recent work across organisms has shown that stimuli and locomotion are often encoded in a distributed manner, suggesting that a whole-brain approach may be necessary to build such an understanding. Here, I propose to address this gap, using Drosophila courtship as a model and employing whole- brain functional imaging in behaving animals, together with connectome-constrained computational models, to understand how multimodal signals (audio and visual) are jointly represented in the brain in different behavioral contexts and to identify circuit mechanisms underlying multimodal integration. The proposed research will employ a wide array of modern approaches in neuroscience, including whole-brain functional imaging, connectomics, behavior quantification, genetic manipulations, and computational modeling. This work will advance our understanding of how information from multiple modalities is represented in the brain of the fly, and will uncover general principles of multimodal processing applicable to more complex brains. Additionally, this award will support my transition to an independent research career—establishing a systems neuroscience laboratory at a research university. Project Number: 1K99NS142349-01A1 | Fiscal Year: 2026 | NIH Institute/Center: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) | Principal Investigator: Albert Lin | Institution: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, Princeton, NJ | Award Amount: $132,813 | Activity Code: K99 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 ICN-T (94)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11301428