<p> The study of <i>C. elegans</i> has led to ground-breaking discoveries in gene-function, neuronal circuits, and physiological responses. However, subtle behavioral phenotypes, are often difficult to measure and reproduce across experiments. As part of my dissertation work, I used experimental and computational techniques to quantify and model the dynamics of movement and reproductive behaviors. For movement behaviors, I developed a mathematical approach to correcting the uncertainty of tracking individual animals in a free-moving population, created behavioral profiles for each individual, and used a network to reveal the progression of behavioral changes in the aging process. For reproductive behaviors, I used perturbations in temperature to dissect the key processes that modify the dynamics of the <i> C. elegans</i> reproductive system. The primary goal of creating this set of tools and approaches was to acquire high-quality data for mathematically modeling how individuals respond to environmental stress and modify their behaviors during ageing.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10043987 |
| Date | 26 March 2016 |
| Creators | Winter, Peter B. |
| Publisher | Northwestern University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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