Speaker
Gaute T. Einevoll, Professor of Physics, Computational Neuroscience Group, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås.
Abstract
A striking development in today’s science is the increased used of mathematical modelling in biological sciences. Good mathematical descriptions of signal processing in single nerve cells have been developed, and as a consequence computational neuroscience has become a particularly active discipline. A single nerve cell is not particularly smart, however. Our amazing mental capabilities arise from interactions between millions and billions of neurons connected in complex neural networks. A main challenge is to understand this network behaviour and to establish connections between properties at the microscopic level (single nerve cells) and measurements of network activity in the brain at the macroscopic systems level using various brain imaging techniques (MEG, EEG, PET, or fMRI).
During the last decade an active computational neuroscience research group has emerged at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (http://compneuro.umb.no/). In the seminar an overview of the field will be given with a particular focus on some of our projects addressing challenges that must be met in order to eventually bridge the current gap in understanding between microscopic and macroscopic brain behaviour.