Neuronal Control of Locomotion
Bio
Dr. Bidaye started his Research Group Leader position at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience in April 2021, leading the Neuronal Control of Locomotion group. His research focuses on understanding how fast and precise locomotor decisions are executed at the level of genetically defined neural circuits.
Prior to this Dr. Bidaye was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California – Berkeley in the lab of Professor Kristin Scott. Before that, he earned his Ph.D. at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna in Dr. Barry Dickson’s laboratory. Over the course of his doctoral and postdoctoral work, Dr. Bidaye has established an independent research program centered around understanding motor control using Drosophila walking as a model system. While a Ph.D. student, Bidaye discovered the neurons that constitute the central pathway for backward directed walking in fruit flies, dubbed the “moonwalker neurons”. This work has spurred several studies aimed at understanding how animals instantaneously switch their walking directions in response to sensory stimuli. During his postdoctoral work, Bidaye used Drosophila genetics tools to address another fundamental question pertaining to locomotor control: how do animals initiate walking? This led to the identification of two distinct brain pathways that initiate distinct forward walking programs. Functional characterization of these neurons uncovered how contextual information impinges on sensory-motor circuits to achieve task-specific walking control. This work not only characterizes the central nodes in the walking circuit of the fly but also provides genetic tools to begin unraveling the downstream circuits essential for executing an optimal walking pattern.
Research
Research Topic
A simple walk from the sofa to the refrigerator involves numerous decisions that generate an extremely precise maneuvering to avoid obstacles and optimize one’s path. How animals perform such fast and precise locomotor decisions is not known and understanding this could provide essential breakthroughs in a variety of fields ranging from rehabilitation to robotics. The Bidaye lab studies the neural circuit logic of these locomotor decisions using the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model system.
Drosophila has a numerically simple nervous system and yet shows a rich locomotor repertoire involving complex walking and flight behaviors. Moreover, with an unparalleled genetic toolkit and the emerging connectomics data, it offers a unique opportunity to obtain cellular resolution understanding of complex locomotor control. We will use a combination of techniques including behavioral assays, optogenetics, multiphoton imaging, and electrophysiology to precisely quantify and model these locomotor decisions across multiple levels:
- At a single neuron level, we will elucidate how physiology of a central neuron in the locomotor circuit is tuned to achieve context specific locomotor outputs.
- At a neural circuit level, we will characterize how specific neuronal ensembles and pathways encode features of naturalistic locomotion.
- At a systems level, we will address how interactions and hierarchy among these locomotor pathways lead to organization of behaviors across long timescales.
Lab
Lab Members
Alumni Members
Recent Papers
Preprints
Central versus peripheral neural control of a coordinated walking pattern in Drosophila
Sapkal, N., Kumar, D. S., Sunke, S., Mancini, N., Pitchford, J., Murakami, K., & Bidaye, S. S. (2026). Central versus peripheral neural control of a coordinated walking pattern in Drosophila. (p. 2026.04.29.721658). bioRxiv.
Avoidance engages dopaminergic punishment in Drosophila
Amin, F., Stone, J. T., König, C., Mancini, N., Murakami, K., Bidaye, S. S., Heim, M.-M., Owald, D., Majumder, U., Kadow, I. C. G., Pierzchlińska, A., Litwin-Kumar, A., Barnstedt, O., & Gerber, B. (2025). Avoidance engages dopaminergic punishment in Drosophila (p. 2025.07.07.663268). bioRxiv.
Publications
Neurofibromin deficiency alters the patterning and prioritization of motor behaviors in a state-dependent manner
Suarez, G. O., Kumar, D. S., Brunner, H., Knauss, A., Barrios, J., Emel, J., Teel, J., Botero, V., Broyles, C. N., Stahl, A., Bidaye, S. S., & Tomchik, S. M. (2025). Neurofibromin deficiency alters the patterning and prioritization of motor behaviors in a state-dependent manner. Journal of Neuroscience.
A Drosophila computational brain model reveals sensorimotor processing
Shiu, P. K., Sterne, G. R., Spiller, N., Franconville, R., Sandoval, A., Zhou, J., Simha, N., Kang, C. H., Yu, S., Kim, J. S., Dorkenwald, S., Matsliah, A., Schlegel, P., Yu, S., McKellar, C. E., Sterling, A., Costa, M., Eichler, K., Bates, A. S., … Scott, K. (2024). A Drosophila computational brain model reveals sensorimotor processing. Nature, 634(8032), 210–219.
Neural circuit mechanisms underlying context-specific halting in Drosophila.
Sapkal, N., Mancini, N., Kumar, D. S., Spiller, N., Murakami, K., Vitelli, G., Bargeron, B., Maier, K., Eichler, K., Jefferis, G. S. X. E., Shiu, P. K., Sterne, G. R., & Bidaye, S. S. (2024). Neural circuit mechanisms underlying context-specific halting in Drosophila. Nature, 634(8032), 191–200.
Two brain pathways initiate distinct forward walking programs in Drosophila.
Bidaye SS, Laturney M, Chang AK, Liu Y, Bockemühl T, Büschges A, Scott K. Two Brain Pathways Initiate Distinct Forward Walking Programs in Drosophila. Neuron. 2020 Nov 11;108(3):469-485.e8. (#corresponding author).
Six-legged walking in insects: How CPGs, peripheral feedback, and descending signals generate coordinated and adaptive motor rhythms.
Bidaye SS*, Bockemühl T*, Büschges A. (2018). Six-legged walking in insects: How CPGs, peripheral feedback, and descending signals generate coordinated and adaptive motor rhythms. J Neurophysiol. 119(2):459-475.
Neuronal control of Drosophila walking direction
Bidaye SS, Machacek C, Wu Y and Dickson BJ. (2014). Neuronal control of Drosophila walking direction. Science 344(6179):97-101.
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