Malia Miller

Predictive motor circuits (PMCs), as their name suggests, send a copy of motor commands to either sensory or other motor areas in advance of the related motor action. I am interested in how a specific PMC in Drosophila melanogaster, called the MsAHNs, contributes to sensorimotor coordination. The MsAHNs have their cell bodies within the mesothoracic neuromere in the ventral nerve cord (VNC) and have processes both in sensory areas of the brain and onto motor neurons in the VNC. In both the brain and VNC, the MsAHNs are deeply integrated into flight networks, so I am currently focusing on flight as the behavior the MsAHNs may contribute to coordinating. I am also highly invested in developing methods for involving undergraduate researchers in this work and helping them become scientists in their own right through their contributions to this project.