Researchers in the lab of John Tuthill, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology and Biophysics, are using fruit flies on miniature treadmills to study how the nervous system enables animals to move in an unpredictable and complex world.

Brandon G. Pratt, a recent PhD graduate of the department, engineered the small-scale machines from inexpensive parts to study how the nervous system detects unexpected changes underfoot and controls the body to regain balance during locomotion. The study is featured in a UW School of Medicine News article. “Miniature linear and split-belt treadmills reveal mechanisms of adaptive motor control in walking Drosophila” is available in the Aug. 30 issue of Current Biology.