Pavan Ramdya (born 1979) is an American and Swiss neuroscientist and bioengineer. His research centers on understanding the cognitive and neuromechanical control of behavior toward applications in robotics and artificial intelligence. He holds the Firmenich Next Generation Chair in neuroscience and bioengineering at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), and is head of the Neuroengineering Laboratory at EPFL's School of Life Sciences.[1][2][3]

Professor
Pavan Ramdya
Pavan Ramdya in 2016
Born1979 (age 44–45)
New York City
CitizenshipUnited States
Switzerland
Academic background
EducationNeuroscience
Alma materDrew University
Harvard University
Doctoral advisorFlorian Engert
Other advisorsRichard Benton
Dario Floreano
Michael Dickinson
Academic work
DisciplineNeuroscience
Sub-disciplineNeuroengineering
InstitutionsÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Main interestsNeuroscience
Neuroengineering
Robotics
Synthetic neurobiology
Websitehttps://www.epfl.ch/labs/ramdya-lab/

Career

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Ramdya studied neuroscience at Drew University, where he received his bachelor's degree with honors (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) in 2001.[4] He continued his studies at Harvard University and in 2009 received a PhD for his work in the group of Florian Engert.[5][6] He then went on to perform postdoctoral work in neurogenetics and robotics in the laboratories of Richard Benton at University of Lausanne (UNIL) and Dario Floreano at EPFL, respectively. There he studied locomotor control and collective behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.[7][8][9] In 2015, he moved to the California Institute of Technology to work as a visiting postdoctoral fellow with Michael Dickinson where he developed a means for imaging motor circuit activity in behaving Drosophila.[10][11]

Since 2017 he has been a professor of neuroscience and bioengineering at EPFL, and head of the Neuroengineering Laboratory located in both the Brain Mind Institute and at the Institute of Bioengineering in EPFL's School of Life Sciences.[1][2][3][12]

Research

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Ramdya's research is focused on reverse-engineering biological neuromechanical control to inspire the development of artificial systems that can mimic the flexibility and agility of animal behaviors. Specifically, he studies limb-dependent behaviors in the adult fly, Drosophila melanogaster, employing an interdisciplinary approach which draws on genetic manipulations, neural and behavioral recordings, physics simulations and artificial neural networks.[10][12][13][14][15][16][excessive citations]

His research has been featured in National Geographic,[17] IEEE Spectrum,[18] Nature,[19] Quanta Magazine,[20] and Le Monde.[21]

Distinctions

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He is a member of the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence.[22] He has been the recipient of HFSP Long-term and Career Development Awards,[23] as well as the UNIL Biology and Medicine, Young Investigator Award in Basic Science.[3] In 2019, he was awarded an SNSF Eccellenza Grant.[24]

Selected works

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Brexit: closer cooperation with the UK cannot replace participation in Horizon 2020 | ETH-Board". www.ethrat.ch. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Neuroengineering Laboratory - EPFL". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "Keynote speakers" (PDF). Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. July 30, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  4. ^ "Curriculum vitae – Pavan Ramdya" (PDF). February 16, 2019.
  5. ^ "Alumni". Engert Lab. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  6. ^ Ramdya, Pavan; Engert, Florian (August 10, 2008). "Emergence of binocular functional properties in a monocular neural circuit". Nature Neuroscience. 11 (9): 1083–1090. doi:10.1038/nn.2166. ISSN 1097-6256. PMC 2958220. PMID 19160507.
  7. ^ Ramdya, Pavan; Lichocki, Pawel; Cruchet, Steeve; Frisch, Lukas; Tse, Winnie; Floreano, Dario; Benton, Richard (December 24, 2014). "Mechanosensory interactions drive collective behaviour in Drosophila". Nature. 519 (7542): 233–236. Bibcode:2015Natur.519..233R. doi:10.1038/nature14024. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 4359906. PMID 25533959.
  8. ^ Ramdya, Pavan; Thandiackal, Robin; Cherney, Raphael; Asselborn, Thibault; Benton, Richard; Ijspeert, Auke Jan; Floreano, Dario (March 17, 2017). "Climbing favours the tripod gait over alternative faster insect gaits". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 14494. Bibcode:2017NatCo...814494R. doi:10.1038/ncomms14494. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5321742. PMID 28211509.
  9. ^ Maesani, Andrea; Ramdya, Pavan; Cruchet, Steeve; Gustafson, Kyle; Benton, Richard; Floreano, Dario (November 23, 2015). Faisal, Aldo A (ed.). "Fluctuation-Driven Neural Dynamics Reproduce Drosophila Locomotor Patterns". PLOS Computational Biology. 11 (11): e1004577. Bibcode:2015PLSCB..11E4577M. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004577. ISSN 1553-7358. PMC 4657918. PMID 26600381.
  10. ^ a b Chen, Chin-Lin; Hermans, Laura; Viswanathan, Meera C.; Fortun, Denis; Aymanns, Florian; Unser, Michael; Cammarato, Anthony; Dickinson, Michael H.; Ramdya, Pavan (October 22, 2018). "Imaging neural activity in the ventral nerve cord of behaving adult Drosophila". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 4390. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.4390C. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06857-z. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 6197219. PMID 30348941.
  11. ^ "PEOPLE | Dickinson Lab". dickinsonlab.caltech.edu. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Günel, Semih; Rhodin, Helge; Morales, Daniel; Campagnolo, João; Ramdya, Pavan; Fua, Pascal (October 4, 2019). O'Leary, Timothy; Calabrese, Ronald L; Shaevitz, Josh W (eds.). "DeepFly3D, a deep learning-based approach for 3D limb and appendage tracking in tethered, adult Drosophila". eLife. 8: e48571. doi:10.7554/eLife.48571. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 6828327. PMID 31584428.
  13. ^ Ramdya, Pavan; Thandiackal, Robin; Cherney, Raphael; Asselborn, Thibault; Benton, Richard; Ijspeert, Auke Jan; Floreano, Dario (February 17, 2017). "Climbing favours the tripod gait over alternative faster insect gaits". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 14494. Bibcode:2017NatCo...814494R. doi:10.1038/ncomms14494. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5321742. PMID 28211509.
  14. ^ Uhlmann, Virginie; Ramdya, Pavan; Delgado-Gonzalo, Ricard; Benton, Richard; Unser, Michael (April 28, 2017). "FlyLimbTracker: An active contour based approach for leg segment tracking in unmarked, freely behaving Drosophila". PLOS ONE. 12 (4): e0173433. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1273433U. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173433. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5409058. PMID 28453566.
  15. ^ Ramdya, Pavan; Lichocki, Pawel; Cruchet, Steeve; Frisch, Lukas; Tse, Winnie; Floreano, Dario; Benton, Richard (December 24, 2014). "Mechanosensory interactions drive collective behaviour in Drosophila". Nature. 519 (7542): 233–236. Bibcode:2015Natur.519..233R. doi:10.1038/nature14024. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 4359906. PMID 25533959.
  16. ^ Gosztolai, Adam; Günel, Semih; Abrate, Marco Pietro; Morales, Daniel; Ríos, Victor Lobato; Rhodin, Helge; Fua, Pascal; Ramdya, Pavan (September 20, 2020). "LiftPose3D, a deep learning-based approach for transforming 2D to 3D pose in laboratory animals". bioRxiv: 2020.09.18.292680. doi:10.1101/2020.09.18.292680. S2CID 221882266.
  17. ^ Yong, Ed (December 24, 2014). "The Wisdom of the Fly Crowds". National Geographic. Archived from the original on July 24, 2020. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  18. ^ "Six-Legged Robot One-Ups Nature With Faster Gait". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. February 21, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  19. ^ Kwok, Roberta (September 30, 2019). "Deep learning powers a motion-tracking revolution". Nature. 574 (7776): 137–138. Bibcode:2019Natur.574..137K. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-02942-5. PMID 31570871. S2CID 203592858.
  20. ^ Cepelewicz, Jordana (December 10, 2019). "To Decode the Brain, Scientists Automate the Study of Behavior". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  21. ^ "Ce robot à six pattes a trouvé une façon plus rapide de se déplacer que les insectes". Le Monde.fr (in French). February 23, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  22. ^ "PAVAN RAMDYA – FKNE". Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  23. ^ "Awards | Human Frontier Science Program". www.hfsp.org. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  24. ^ "Eccellenza: List of awardees (2019)" (PDF). December 17, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
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