PoLS/Soft Matter Seminar - Dr. Eleni Gourgou Wayne State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Speaker = Dr. Eleni Gourgou Wayne State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

 

Seminar Title = Behavioral plasticity in complex and dynamic environments: insights from nematodes

Abstract = The mechanisms by which the nervous system supports cognitive and locomotor plasticity in complex environments remain poorly understood, particularly at the level of individual neurons and circuits. Addressing this challenge requires an animal with both a compact nervous system and a diverse behavioral repertoire. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans meets these criteria and provides a powerful model for investigating how neural circuits generate adaptive behavior. Our research aims to understand learning, decision-making, and locomotion in nematodes navigating both structured and unstructured complex environments, and to uncover the neural mechanisms underlying these behaviors. To better capture environmental complexity, we expand traditional behavioral assays by incorporating 3D printing technologies to create T-mazes and three-dimensional culture plates, as well as dynamic quasi-2D arenas filled with microparticles that form granular terrains. These environments provide rich sensory input and depart from the largely featureless surfaces of conventional agar plates. Using these platforms, we have identified previously uncharacterized behaviors, including spatial learning in maze environments and touch-seeking behavior in granular terrains. Our findings suggest that tactile sensing and proprioceptive feedback play critical roles in enabling behavioral plasticity in structured environments. We further hypothesize that muscle-based sensory mechanisms may contribute to navigation through granular terrains. Together, this interdisciplinary approach provides new insight into how compact nervous systems generate flexible behaviors, revealing evolution’s elegant solutions to complex environmental challenges.

 

Bio = Eleni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and an affiliate faculty of the Neuroscience Program at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Her research explores how nervous systems generate adaptive behavior in complex environments, combining approaches from biology, applied math and engineering using the nematode C. elegans as a model system. She earned her BSc in Biology and PhD in Animal Cell Physiology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece. After completing her PhD studying signaling pathways and apoptosis in marine bivalves, she joined the University of Michigan as a postdoctoral fellow, where she used microfluidic biochips and bio-MEMS technologies to investigate neuronal responses to oxidative stress. Her work later expanded to the dynamics of biological systems, aging, and learning, including the development of new behavioral assays for nematodes. Before joining Wayne State University in 2024, she served as non-tenure track Research Faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. She is the recipient of an NIH–NIA K01 Career Development Award and the Aspire, Advance, and Achieve Award from the University of Michigan Women in Science and Engineering, which recognizes outstanding mentorship.