BME PhD Prospectus Presentation: Zachary Loschinskey

Title: "The Flexible Motor System: Coordination, Computation, and Constraint"

Advisory Committee: Dr. Brian DePasquale, PhD - BME (Co-Advisor) Dr. Michael Economo, PhD - BME (Co-Advisor) Dr. Kamal Sen, PhD - BME (Chair) Dr. Shaul Druckmann, PhD - Neurobiology, Stanford

Abstract: The mammalian motor system must flexibly adapt movements to a constantly changing environment. This flexibility operates at multiple levels: the brain dynamically recruits different motor centers in a context-dependent manner, and individual regions reorganize their internal dynamics to support multiple computations. Despite how central flexibility is to intelligent behavior, we lack a clear understanding of how it is implemented at either level. This proposal addresses both. In Aim 1, I will apply state space models to neural recordings from task-performing mice to characterize when and why specific motor centers are recruited during movement. In Aim 2, I will use task-trained spiking neural networks to investigate the fundamental limits of flexible computation in individual neural circuits, specifically relating to spiking noise. Finally, recognizing that neural computation does not occur in isolation from the body, Aim 3 introduces a graph neural network learned simulator of mouse tongue dynamics, enabling differentiable joint brain-body modeling of licking for the first time. Together, this work will advance our understanding of how the brain coordinates activity across regions, and reorganizes dynamics within them, to enable flexible motor control.