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Research Interests
Research Interests
Animals evolved remarkable abilities that allow them to execute complex tasks in highly dynamic environments: they actively collect sensory information to detect, localize, and identify the objects around them; they use this information to construct internal models of their bodies and of the world; they develop behavioral policies that optimize variables such as reward (e.g., food intake), efficiency, and risk; and lastly, they carry out these policies by executing complex motor actions. The overarching objective of the Wallach lab is to investigate the closed-loop interactions between these processes: How the neural circuits implementing active sensing, internal models, and motor control interface and communicate.
vid1_trimmed.mp4About
About
I am an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Biology at the Technion and hold the David and Inez Myers Career Advancement Chair in Life Science. I am also a member of the Technion's Autonomous Systems Program (TASP). I am interested in using the tools and approaches of engineering to study how animals use their sensory and motor systems to understand the world and act within it.
Short Bio
Short Bio
I graduated B.Sc., Summa Cum Laude, in Electrical Engineering (Ben Gurion University, 2003). After working for a couple of years in the industry I started my graduate studies (direct track Ph.D.) in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technion, under the guidance of Profs. Ron Meir (Electrical Engineering) and Shimon Marom (Medicine). There, I designed closed-loop experimental set-ups and applied control and systems theories to the study of neural systems. Seeking to implement these approaches in neuroethology, I started my post-doctoral training studying active sensing with Prof. Ehud Ahissar at the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Neurobiology. There, I established a novel closed-loop technique to generate awake-like motion in anesthetized rats, thus enabling systematic characterization of the neural response to naturalistic sensorimotor stimulation; this work awarded me the Society for Neuroethology’s Young Investigator Award. I then moved to the University of Ottawa, to work with Profs. Len Maler and André Longtin. There, I performed the first successful recordings in the sensory thalamus of fish, where I found evidence for a spatial-to-temporal transformation required for spatial navigation and mixed selectivity coding of social signals. I completed my training in Prof. Nate Sawtell’s lab at Columbia University, where I established a new technique for long-term recordings in freely swimming electric fish. Using this system, I have found evidence for an internal model for sensorimotor context, which generates predictions for the cancellation of self-generated sensory input.
Join Us
Join Us
We are looking for highly motivated, independent minded and creative students/post-docs with diverse backgrounds to join the team!
If interested, please send your CV and grade transcript so I can know your background before we meet. My mail is: avnerw@technion.ac.il
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