Dopaminergic neurons are essential for regulating a wide range of functions, including reward processing, learning, and locomotion. A specific subset – dopaminergic descending neurons (DADNs) – ...

We investigate how the nervous system uses sensory information (vision, inner ear) to estimate body dynamics and guide motor processes for upright balance control. The applied goal is to better ...

Hundreds of millions of years before the evolution of animals with segmented bodies, jointed skeletons or appendages, soft-bodied invertebrates like sea slugs ruled the seas. A new study finds ...

In the Danner Laboratory, we study the operation of the neural circuits controlling locomotion. Specifically, we are interested in understanding the connectivity and function of spinal circuits, how ...

Once inside vertically confined spaces, cockroaches still locomoted rapidly at twenty body lengths per second using an unexplored mode of locomotion – body-friction legged crawling. Using materials ...

We presented our work on synergies in adaptive locomotion at Dynamic Walking in Madison Wisconsin, and at ISPGR in Montreal, Ca in the summer of 2022. Check out our posters below. Stepping down a curb ...

Sex and gender are often conflated or equated in everyday conversations, and most American adults believe a person’s gender is determined by sex assigned at birth. But a new study of nearly ...

Control over the simple mechanics of walking or running is fairly easy to describe: The mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR) of the brain sends signals to neurons in the spinal cord, which send ...

Since the 1930s, the so-called homunculus map has shown how different parts of the brain's motor cortex may control movement to different parts of the body. But it may be missing an important ...

A dramatic standoff between the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Trump administration ended this week, with a federal judge ruling the government's efforts to dismantle the think tank were illegal.