Damon Clark, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and of Physics and of Neuroscience
Research & Publications
Biography
News
Research Summary
We are interested in how groups of neurons work together to perform computations in the brain. We use Drosophila as a model system where we have the genetic tools to manipulate circuitry and neural activity in order to map and dissect circuit activity and function.
Coauthors
Research Interests
Behavior; Drosophila; Motion Perception; Neurobiology; Sensation; Visual Perception; Computational Biology; Optogenetics
Research Image
Tethered Drosophila
To test quantitative models of neural function, we often measure the behavior of flies in virtual reality environments.
Selected Publications
- Neural mechanisms to incorporate visual counterevidence in self-movement estimationTanaka R, Zhou B, Agrochao M, Badwan B, Au B, Matos N, Clark D. Neural mechanisms to incorporate visual counterevidence in self-movement estimation. Current Biology 2023, 33: 4960-4979.e7. PMID: 37918398, PMCID: PMC10848174, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.011.
- Long-timescale anti-directional rotation in Drosophila optomotor behaviorMano O, Choi M, Tanaka R, Creamer M, Matos N, Shomar J, Badwan B, Clandinin T, Clark D. Long-timescale anti-directional rotation in Drosophila optomotor behavior. ELife 2023, 12: e86076. PMID: 37751469, PMCID: PMC10522332, DOI: 10.7554/elife.86076.
- Direct comparison reveals algorithmic similarities in fly and mouse visual motion detectionChen J, Gish C, Fransen J, Salazar-Gatzimas E, Clark D, Borghuis B. Direct comparison reveals algorithmic similarities in fly and mouse visual motion detection. IScience 2023, 26: 107928. PMID: 37810236, PMCID: PMC10550730, DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107928.
- Odour motion sensing enhances navigation of complex plumesKadakia N, Demir M, Michaelis B, DeAngelis B, Reidenbach M, Clark D, Emonet T. Odour motion sensing enhances navigation of complex plumes. Nature 2022, 611: 754-761. PMID: 36352224, PMCID: PMC10039482, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05423-4.
- Excitatory and inhibitory neural dynamics jointly tune motion detectionGonzalez-Suarez AD, Zavatone-Veth JA, Chen J, Matulis CA, Badwan BA, Clark DA. Excitatory and inhibitory neural dynamics jointly tune motion detection. Current Biology 2022, 32: 3659-3675.e8. PMID: 35868321, PMCID: PMC9474608, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.075.
- Neural mechanisms to exploit positional geometry for collision avoidanceTanaka R, Clark DA. Neural mechanisms to exploit positional geometry for collision avoidance. Current Biology 2022, 32: 2357-2374.e6. PMID: 35508172, PMCID: PMC9177691, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.023.
- Parallel locomotor control strategies in mice and fliesGonçalves AI, Zavatone-Veth JA, Carey MR, Clark DA. Parallel locomotor control strategies in mice and flies. Current Opinion In Neurobiology 2022, 73: 102516. PMID: 35158168, DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2022.01.001.
- Shallow neural networks trained to detect collisions recover features of visual loom-selective neurons.Zhou B, Li Z, Kim S, Lafferty J, Clark DA. Shallow neural networks trained to detect collisions recover features of visual loom-selective neurons. ELife 2022, 11 PMID: 35023828, PMCID: PMC8849349, DOI: 10.7554/elife.72067.
- Predicting individual neuron responses with anatomically constrained task optimizationMano O, Creamer MS, Badwan BA, Clark DA. Predicting individual neuron responses with anatomically constrained task optimization. Current Biology 2021, 31: 4062-4075.e4. PMID: 34324832, PMCID: PMC8741219, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.090.
- Mechanism for analogous illusory motion perception in flies and humansAgrochao M, Tanaka R, Salazar-Gatzimas E, Clark DA. Mechanism for analogous illusory motion perception in flies and humans. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 2020, 117: 23044-23053. PMID: 32839324, PMCID: PMC7502748, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2002937117.
- Object-Displacement-Sensitive Visual Neurons Drive Freezing in DrosophilaTanaka R, Clark DA. Object-Displacement-Sensitive Visual Neurons Drive Freezing in Drosophila. Current Biology 2020, 30: 2532-2550.e8. PMID: 32442466, PMCID: PMC8716191, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.068.
- Heterogeneous Temporal Contrast Adaptation in Drosophila Direction-Selective CircuitsMatulis CA, Chen J, Gonzalez-Suarez AD, Behnia R, Clark DA. Heterogeneous Temporal Contrast Adaptation in Drosophila Direction-Selective Circuits. Current Biology 2020, 30: 222-236.e6. PMID: 31928874, PMCID: PMC7003801, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.11.077.
- Dynamic nonlinearities enable direction opponency in Drosophila elementary motion detectorsBadwan BA, Creamer MS, Zavatone-Veth JA, Clark DA. Dynamic nonlinearities enable direction opponency in Drosophila elementary motion detectors. Nature Neuroscience 2019, 22: 1318-1326. PMID: 31346296, PMCID: PMC6748873, DOI: 10.1038/s41593-019-0443-y.
- The manifold structure of limb coordination in walking DrosophilaDeAngelis BD, Zavatone-Veth JA, Clark DA. The manifold structure of limb coordination in walking Drosophila. ELife 2019, 8: e46409. PMID: 31250807, PMCID: PMC6598772, DOI: 10.7554/elife.46409.
- The Neuronal Basis of an Illusory Motion Percept Is Explained by Decorrelation of Parallel Motion PathwaysSalazar-Gatzimas E, Agrochao M, Fitzgerald JE, Clark DA. The Neuronal Basis of an Illusory Motion Percept Is Explained by Decorrelation of Parallel Motion Pathways. Current Biology 2018, 28: 3748-3762.e8. PMID: 30471993, PMCID: PMC6317970, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.007.
- Visual Control of Walking Speed in DrosophilaCreamer MS, Mano O, Clark DA. Visual Control of Walking Speed in Drosophila. Neuron 2018, 100: 1460-1473.e6. PMID: 30415994, PMCID: PMC6405217, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.10.028.
- Direct Measurement of Correlation Responses in Drosophila Elementary Motion Detectors Reveals Fast Timescale TuningSalazar-Gatzimas E, Chen J, Creamer MS, Mano O, Mandel HB, Matulis CA, Pottackal J, Clark DA. Direct Measurement of Correlation Responses in Drosophila Elementary Motion Detectors Reveals Fast Timescale Tuning. Neuron 2016, 92: 227-239. PMID: 27710784, PMCID: PMC5097865, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.09.017.
- Parallel Computations in Insect and Mammalian Visual Motion ProcessingClark DA, Demb JB. Parallel Computations in Insect and Mammalian Visual Motion Processing. Current Biology 2016, 26: r1062-r1072. PMID: 27780048, PMCID: PMC5108051, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.003.
- Nonlinear circuits for naturalistic visual motion estimationFitzgerald JE, Clark DA. Nonlinear circuits for naturalistic visual motion estimation. ELife 2015, 4: e09123. PMID: 26499494, PMCID: PMC4663970, DOI: 10.7554/elife.09123.
- Sensorimotor control during isothermal tracking in Caenorhabditis elegansLuo L, Clark D, Biron D, Mahadevan L, Samuel A. Sensorimotor control during isothermal tracking in Caenorhabditis elegans. Journal Of Experimental Biology 2007, 210: 3696-3696. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.012815.
- Femtosecond laser dissection in C. elegans neural circuitsSamuel A, Chung S, Clark D, Gabel C, Chang C, Murthy V, Mazur E. Femtosecond laser dissection in C. elegans neural circuits. Proceedings Of SPIE--the International Society For Optical Engineering 2006, 6108: 610801-610801-6. DOI: 10.1117/12.657396.
- How did brains evolve?Wang S, Mitra P, Clark D. How did brains evolve? Nature 2002, 415: 135-135. DOI: 10.1038/415135a.
- Scalable architecture in mammalian brainsClark D, Mitra P, Wang S. Scalable architecture in mammalian brains. Nature 2001, 411: 189-193. PMID: 11346794, DOI: 10.1038/35075564.