Computational Brain

Research Workshop

Co-organized and Supported by the UK Neuroinformatics Node

November 23d, 2009, 09:00-16:00 

University of Leicester, 
Quorn room - 4th floor, Charles Wilson Building
No registration fee, Everyone is Welcome

Organizing Committee

A.N. Gorban, R. Quian Quiroga, I. Tyukin (Leicester, UK)

Y. Timofeeva (Warwick, UK), R. Borisyuk (Plymouth, UK)

E. Izhikevich (Chairman & CEO Brain Corporation, San-Diego, USA)

Workshop  Program 

Arrival:  9.00-9.55 (Coffee and Biscuits)

9.55-10.00 Opening of the Workshop

Morning session:

Chair: E. Izhikevich

10.00-10.40. Anil Seth (University of Sussex, UK) Causal networks in neural systems

10.40-11.20 Yulia Timofeeva (University of Warwick, UK) Mathematics of dendritic democracy

11.20-11.30. Coffee Break

11.30-12.10 Kevin Gurney  (University of Sheffield, UK) Computational modelling of the basal ganglia: from membranes and circuits, to systems and robots

12.10-14.00 Lunch (Charles Wilson)

Afternoon session:

Chair: R. Quian Quiroga

14.00-14.40. Stefano Panzeri  (Italian Institute of Technology,  Genoa, Italy) On the role of slow fluctuations of cortical excitability in the encoding of sensory information

14.40-15.20. Natalia Janson (University of Loughborough, UK) Stochastic neuron-like networks and control of their collective behaviour

15.20-16.00. Roman  Borisyuk (University of Plymouth,  UK)  A biologically realistic model of the tadpole spinal cord

16.00-16.40. Marcus Kaiser (University of Newcastle, UK), Feedback loops and oscillations in modular hierarchical brain networks:  The topological origin of brain rhythms

16.40-17.00. Refreshments (will be served in a foyer at the Attenborough Tower Lecture Theatre 3)

Main Evening Event:             Distinguished Lecture by Eugene Izhikevich

Attenborough Tower Lecture Theatre 3            17.00-18.00

 17.00-18.00: Eugene Izhikevich

Large-scale modeling of the human brain

Abstract: I will describe an ambitious research program to build a large-scale model of the human brain. Anatomy of the model is based on MRI studies of humans, though data from cats and rats are used to fill in missing details such as spiking dynamics, 6-layer cortical microcircuitry, synaptic plasticity, and neuromodulation. Simulations of the model  demonstrate that many features of normal brain activity emerge spontaneously as a result of self-organization. This talk is based on the PNAS paper http://izhikevich.org/publications/large-scale_model_of_human_brain.htm