We study the neurobiology of locomotion in the nematode C. elegans. Our focus is at the levels from neuronal network to behavior and we have projects that address the connectivity, activity, and recovery from injury, of the locomotion network. Only 75 motoneurons of eight classes innervate 75 body wall muscle cells to produce the dorsoventral undulatory wave of activation that travels either backward or forward, against the direction of locomotion.

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The goals are 1) To nurture lab members and improve ourselves as scientists; and 2) to discover principles that underlie animal locomotion by studying the neuroethology of locomotion in the nematode C. elegans.