THE GHOSH LAB
ONGOING RESEARCH
Research in the Ghosh Lab at Dartmouth seeks to identify neurobiological substrates of sensory information processing. Sensory information processing mediated by the nervous system informs how animals, including humans, implement a variety of health behaviors, including eating, sleeping, etc., as they navigate complex and dynamic environments in daily life. We leverage an integrative approach spanning molecular genetic to ecological analyses to understand how a relatively simple and experimentally accessible nematode roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans navigates its environment. We hope that our efforts increase our understanding not only of novel sensory biological phenomena, but also of fundamental processes at various levels of biological organization – ranging from molecules to cells to circuits – that underlie nervous system function.
A major interest in the lab is to understand how a microscopic worm C. elegans (pictured) senses light to navigate its environment. C. elegans lacks eyes and the canonical photoreceptor proteins known as opsins widely adopted by diverse organisms for sensing light. By exploring light-guided navigation without opsins, we hope to gain insight into new paradigms for photosensitivity and how nervous systems process sensory information.