# Wilson Lab ![Wilson Lab Banner](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/wilson-lab/files/website_montage.jpg?h=4addff7a&itok=3gAe7QUy) **Mission:** Our mission is to understand key computations that occur in sensory processing and sensorimotor integration, and to describe the mechanisms underlying these computations. **Approach:** We use the brain of the fly Drosophila melanogaster to investigate these questions. This brain is relatively tractable because it contains only ~100,000 neurons. The Drosophila genetic toolbox allows us to rapidly generate new reagents to label or manipulate specific cell types. It turns out that many individual neurons are uniquely identifiable across brains, and they have fairly consistent connectivity and activity patterns. Individual neurons are also now digitally searchable, and powerful new computational neuroanatomy tools are allowing us to deduce the synaptic inputs and outputs of many individual cells. Finally, it is possible to routinely perform targeted intracellular electrophysiological recordings from identified cells in awake behaving organisms. Thus, we can study neural computations -- and their underlying mechanisms -- in fully-embodied brains. Because many neural systems in various species face the same constraints, we believe that some of the lessons we learn from this simple brain will provide clues to understanding similar problems in more complex brains. **Focus:** We are currently studying several different sensory processing regions of the Drosophila brain, including olfactory and mechanosensory regions. In parallel, we are studying motor control, with a particular focus on the the brain regions that steer leg movements during walking. Our overarching goal is to develop an integrated understanding of how sequences of runs, turns, and pauses are guided by external sensory cues, internal drives, and remembered information. **Questions:** - What neural computations occur at successive layers of a neural circuit? - What mechanisms implement these neural computations? - How do these particular neural computations (and their implementation) help us understand the behaviors that engage these circuits, as well as the constraints that shaped these circuits and behaviors? **Techniques:** - *in vivo* electrophysiological recording of neural activity - *in vivo* optical imaging of neural activity - genetic manipulation of specific cell classes - mathematical modeling - observation of behavior ## Recent Publications Download 6 citations download- [BibTeX](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=6&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=bibtex) - [EndNote X3 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=6&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=endnote8) - [EndNote 7 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=6&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=endnote7) - [Endnote tagged](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=6&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=tagged) - [Marc](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=6&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=marc) - [PubMedId](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=6&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=pubmed_id) - [RIS](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=6&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=ris) ### Submitted Alexander Shakeel Bates, Jasper S. Phelps, Minsu Kim, Helen H Yang, et al, Mala Murthy, Jan Drugowitsch, Rachel I Wilson, and Wei-Chung Allen Lee. 2026. “[Distributed Control Circuits across a Brain-and-Cord Connectome](/publication/distributed-control-circuits-across-brain-and-cord-connectome-0)”. Biorxiv Alexander Shakeel Bates, Jasper S. Phelps, Minsu Kim, Helen H Yang, et al, Mala Murthy, Jan Drugowitsch, Rachel I Wilson, and Wei-Chung Allen Lee. 2026. “[Distributed Control Circuits across a Brain-and-Cord Connectome](/publication/distributed-control-circuits-across-brain-and-cord-connectome-0)”. Biorxiv - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.31.667571v3) Just as genomes revolutionized molecular genetics, connectomes (maps of neurons and synapses) are transforming neuroscience. To date, the only species with complete connectomes are worms and sea squirts (103-104 synapses). By contrast, the fruit fly is... - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.31.667571v3) ### 2026 Matthew F. Collie, Chennan Jin, Victoria Rockwell, Emily Kellogg, Quinn X. Vanderbeck, Alexandra K. Hartman, Stephen L. Holtz, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2026. “[Specialized Parallel Pathways for Adaptive Control of Visual Object Pursuit](/publication/specialized-parallel-pathways-adaptive-control-visual-object-pursuit)”. Neuron Matthew F. Collie, Chennan Jin, Victoria Rockwell, Emily Kellogg, Quinn X. Vanderbeck, Alexandra K. Hartman, Stephen L. Holtz, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2026. “[Specialized Parallel Pathways for Adaptive Control of Visual Object Pursuit](/publication/specialized-parallel-pathways-adaptive-control-visual-object-pursuit)”. Neuron - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(26)00001-2) - [ picture\_as\_pdfCollie 2026.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/2026-03/Collie%202026.pdf) To pursue a moving visual object, the brain must continuously steer the object to the center of the visual field via feedback. The gain of this control loop is flexible, yet the biological mechanisms underlying such adaptive control are not well... - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(26)00001-2) - [ picture\_as\_pdfCollie 2026.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/2026-03/Collie%202026.pdf) ### 2025 Alexandra K. Hartman, Matthew F. Collie, Emily Kellogg, Chennan Jin, Stephen L. Holtz, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2025. “[A Cell Type in the Visual System That Receives Feedback about Limb Movement](/publication/cell-type-visual-system-receives-feedback-about-limb-movement)”. Current Biology, 35, 15, Pp. 3697-3709 Alexandra K. Hartman, Matthew F. Collie, Emily Kellogg, Chennan Jin, Stephen L. Holtz, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2025. “[A Cell Type in the Visual System That Receives Feedback about Limb Movement](/publication/cell-type-visual-system-receives-feedback-about-limb-movement)”. Current Biology, 35, 15, Pp. 3697-3709 - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00816-4) - [ picture\_as\_pdfHartman 2025.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/2026-03/Hartman%202025.pdf) Body movement often evokes strong changes in neural activity in visual brain regions. Some of this movement-related activity is locked to locomotion, while other activity is locked to the movements of particular body parts. Visual brain regions are... - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00816-4) - [ picture\_as\_pdfHartman 2025.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/2026-03/Hartman%202025.pdf) Melanie A. Basnak, Anna Kutschireiter, Tatsuo S. Okubo, Albert Chen, Pavel Gorelik, Jan Drugowitsch, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2025. “[Multimodal Cue Integration and Learning in a Neural Representation of Head Direction](/publication/multimodal-cue-integration-and-learning-neural-representation-head-direction)”. Nature Neuroscience, 28 Melanie A. Basnak, Anna Kutschireiter, Tatsuo S. Okubo, Albert Chen, Pavel Gorelik, Jan Drugowitsch, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2025. “[Multimodal Cue Integration and Learning in a Neural Representation of Head Direction](/publication/multimodal-cue-integration-and-learning-neural-representation-head-direction)”. Nature Neuroscience, 28 - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01823-z) - [ picture\_as\_pdfBasnak 2025.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/2026-03/Basnak%202025.pdf) Navigation requires us to take account of multiple spatial cues with varying levels of informativeness and learn their spatial relationships. Here we investigate this process in the *Drosophila* head direction system, which functions as a ring attractor and... - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01823-z) - [ picture\_as\_pdfBasnak 2025.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/2026-03/Basnak%202025.pdf) ### 2024 Elena A. Westeinde, Emily Kellogg, Paul M. Dawson, Jenny Lu, Lydia Hamburg, Shaul Druckmann, Benjamin Midler, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2024. “[Transforming a Head Direction Signal into Agoal-Oriented Steering Command](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07039-2)”. Nature Elena A. Westeinde, Emily Kellogg, Paul M. Dawson, Jenny Lu, Lydia Hamburg, Shaul Druckmann, Benjamin Midler, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2024. “[Transforming a Head Direction Signal into Agoal-Oriented Steering Command](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07039-2)”. Nature - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07039-2) - [ picture\_as\_pdfs41586-024-07039-2.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/wilson-lab/files/s41586-024-07039-2.pdf) To navigate, we must continuously estimate the direction we are headed in, and we must correct deviations from our goal[1](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07039-2#ref-CR1). Direction estimation is accomplished by ring attractor networks in the head direction system[2](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07039-2#ref-CR2),[3](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07039-2#ref-CR3). However, we do not fully understand... - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07039-2) - [ picture\_as\_pdfs41586-024-07039-2.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/wilson-lab/files/s41586-024-07039-2.pdf) Helen H. Yang, Bella E. Brezovec, Laia Serratosa Capdevila, Quinn x. Vanderbeck, Atsuko Adachi, Richard S. Mann, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2024. “[Fine-Grained Descending Control of Steering in Walking Drosophila](/publication/fine-grained-descending-control-steering-walking-drosophila)”. Cell, 187, 22 Helen H. Yang, Bella E. Brezovec, Laia Serratosa Capdevila, Quinn x. Vanderbeck, Atsuko Adachi, Richard S. Mann, and Rachel I. Wilson. 2024. “[Fine-Grained Descending Control of Steering in Walking Drosophila](/publication/fine-grained-descending-control-steering-walking-drosophila)”. Cell, 187, 22 - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00962-0?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867424009620%3Fshowall%3Dtrue) - [ picture\_as\_pdfYang 2024.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/2026-03/Yang%202024.pdf) Body movement often evokes strong changes in neural activity in visual brain regions. Some of this movement-related activity is locked to locomotion, while other activity is locked to the movements of particular body parts. Visual brain regions are... - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00962-0?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867424009620%3Fshowall%3Dtrue) - [ picture\_as\_pdfYang 2024.pdf](/sites/g/files/omnuum8421/files/2026-03/Yang%202024.pdf) [ More arrow\_circle\_right ](/publications)