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Damon Clark, PhD

Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and of Physics and of Neuroscience

Contact Information

Damon Clark, PhD

Mailing Address

  • 219 Whitney Ave

    New Haven, CT 06511

    United States

Clark Lab

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

  • Heterogeneous Temporal Contrast Adaptation in Drosophila Direction-Selective Circuits.Matulis CA, Chen J, Gonzalez-Suarez AD, Behnia R, Clark DA. Heterogeneous Temporal Contrast Adaptation in Drosophila Direction-Selective Circuits. Current Biology : CB 2020, 30: 222-236.e6. PMID: 31928874, PMCID: PMC7003801, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.11.077.
  • Object-Displacement-Sensitive Visual Neurons Drive Freezing in Drosophila.Tanaka R, Clark DA. Object-Displacement-Sensitive Visual Neurons Drive Freezing in Drosophila. Current Biology : CB 2020, 30: 2532-2550.e8. PMID: 32442466, PMCID: PMC8716191, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.068.
  • Mechanism for analogous illusory motion perception in flies and humans.Agrochao 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.
  • Dynamic nonlinearities enable direction opponency in Drosophila elementary motion detectors.Badwan 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 Drosophila.DeAngelis BD, Zavatone-Veth JA, Clark DA. The manifold structure of limb coordination in walking Drosophila. ELife 2019, 8 PMID: 31250807, PMCID: PMC6598772, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.46409.
  • Visual Control of Walking Speed in Drosophila.Creamer 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.
  • The Neuronal Basis of an Illusory Motion Percept Is Explained by Decorrelation of Parallel Motion Pathways.Salazar-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 : CB 2018, 28: 3748-3762.e8. PMID: 30471993, PMCID: PMC6317970, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.007.
  • Parallel Computations in Insect and Mammalian Visual Motion Processing.Clark DA, Demb JB. Parallel Computations in Insect and Mammalian Visual Motion Processing. Current Biology : CB 2016, 26: R1062-R1072. PMID: 27780048, PMCID: PMC5108051, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.003.
  • Direct Measurement of Correlation Responses in Drosophila Elementary Motion Detectors Reveals Fast Timescale Tuning.Salazar-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.
  • Nonlinear circuits for naturalistic visual motion estimation.Fitzgerald JE, Clark DA. Nonlinear circuits for naturalistic visual motion estimation. ELife 2015, 4: e09123. PMID: 26499494, PMCID: PMC4663970, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.09123.
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