Mogens Jensen

This visit was an extension of a long-standing collaboration on various aspects of oscillatory behaviour in biological systems. Recently we have been studying entrainment and synchronization in
coupled oscillators involved in vertebrate somitogenesis. During the visit we initiated a new collaboration with Sanjay Sane (NCBS) on coupled oscillators in insect wings. Our plan is to formulate a model based on Lagrangian dynamics in order to describe the coupling between the large wings on the insect and the smaller wings on the back, called halteres. Halteres are thought to be
important in stabilizing flight, but their precise role in this is not understood. We are interested in the synchronization between the two oscillating system under change of the frequency of the larger wings, obtained by cutting the length of the wings. We have recently obtained funding from The Danish Research Council for a PhD working on this project.