The UCI Computational & Theoretical Neurobiology Forum (CTNF) was established to provide an opportunity for UCI faculty, postdocs and graduate students interested in computational and theoretical neuroscience to get to know each other, interact, share ideas and foster collaborations.

Computational modeling and theoretical neurobiology offer unique tools to determine what nervous systems do and how they function. Computational and theoretical neuroscience searches for unifying principles and concepts, frequently through the creation of descriptive, mechanistic and interpretive models, from the study of ion channels to behavior. Since a major goal of theoretical and computational neurobiology is to build bridges between different disciplines and levels of analysis within neuroscience, it can serve as an important and unique tool to help solving a wide array of problems, from ion channel mutational analysis, synaptic plasticity, sensory processing, and learning and memory. Computational modeling techniques have been proven to be also extremely useful in identifying underlying mechanisms of neurological diseases and offer novel possibilities for treatment, especially in fields related to epilepsy, hearing, vision, neuronal prosthetics and robotics.

In addition to facilitating collaboration and joint grant applications within UCI, it is believed that the Forum will help in recruiting of both faculty and graduate students. For example, Biomedical Engineering plans to recruit several faculty in computational neuroscience, and the formal existence of CTNF will be an additional factor in attracting new faculty. Similarly, as biological and medical neurosciences become more and more quantitative, more and more graduate student applicants are expected to seek programs and campuses where there are possibilities for interactions with computational and theoretical neuroscientists. The new Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program will certainly attract quantitatively minded applicants with background and strong interest in computational and biophysical approaches.

CTNF is an open entity, welcoming participation from all departments and schools. Currently, we have member laboratories from the Departments of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering, Cognitive Sciences, Neurobiology and Behavior, Physiology & Biophysics and Psychiatry, with expertise and interest ranging from ion channels to cognitive processes. The initial list of participating faculty includes both junior and senior faculty, and more are expected to participate as the news of this Forum spreads on campus, especially from other neuroscience- and computer science-related departments:

Michael D. Cahalan (Physiology & Biophysics)

Thomas J. Carew (Neurobiology and Behavior)

Frances S. Chance (Neurobiology and Behavior)

Gary Lynch (Psychiatry)

David J. Reinkensmeyer (Biomedical Engineering)

Ivan Soltesz (Anatomy & Neurobiology)

George Sperling (Cognitive Sciences)

Fan-Gang Zeng (Biomedical Engineering)

There are a number of research groupings on campus that share some similarities with the proposed Forum. These include the Center for Complex Biological Systems, the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, the Epilepsy Research Center and others. However, none of these entities are completely appropriate as a platform for computational neuroscience as defined above. For example, the Center for Complex Biological Systems does not focus on neural systems and the processing of neural signals. The Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory focuses on only one, albeit important, aspect of neural systems, namely, the creation and retrieval of memory, which may be one of the many topics that can be covered by computational neuroscience. Similarly, Epilepsy Research may be one application of computational neuroscience as it applies to e.g. the investigation of altered seizure thresholds in neural circuits, but, again, computational neuroscience is much broader in its applicability than a single neurological disease process. At the same time, we expect that other researchers from these centers will participate in the activities of the Forum, and will form new collaborative links with CTNF members.

UCI has a number of research groups who use computational modeling tools to answer questions in ion channel function, synaptic plasticity, sensory processing and neurological disease mechanisms. Several of these research groups presented their findings in May 2003, when UCI hosted the annual Joint Symposium on Neural Computation at the UCI Beckman Center (for details, see http://www.its.caltech.edu/~jsnc/program.html). With the creation of the CTNF, these research groups will have greatly increased opportunities to learn about each others’ activities, interact, develop collaborations and seek funding jointly.

Thursday October 2, 2003	Laurence F. Abbott, Ph.D. Professor of Biology, Modeling Neurons and Neural Networks Brandeis University, Waltham, MA Co-sponsored by the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology	Adaptation and Plasticity on Multiple Time Scales
Thursday October 9, 2003 2.00 pm: IMBS Conference Room, SocSciPlaza Bldg A, Rm 2112	George Sperling, Ph.D. UCI Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Sciences University of California, Irvine, CA Co-sponsored by the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences	How the Brain Computes Visual Motion
Wednesday December 3, 2003 12.00 noon: SocSciPlaza Bldg B, Rm 3218	Jack Xin, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematics and ICES (Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences), University of Texas, Austin Co-sponsored by Cognitive Sciences and IRU in Hearing and Speech	Nonlinear Waves in the Ear and Sound Signal Processing (Click for Abstract)
Friday December 12, 2003	Jean-Marc Fellous, Ph.D Postdoctoral Fellow, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory The Salk Institute for Biological Studies San Diego, CA Co-sponsored by the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology	Spike Patterns: One Step Beyond Spike Rates and Spike Timing
Friday January 16, 2004	Mathew V. Jones, Ph.D Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison Co-sponsored by the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology	Interneurons, Inhibition and Noise in Dentate Gyrus
Friday January 23, 2004	Maxim V. Bazhenov, Ph.D Staff Scientist, the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory The Salk Institute for Biological Studies San Diego, CA Co-sponsored by the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology	Coincidence Detection and Oscillatory Synchronization in the Decoding of Olfactory Information
Friday February 6, 2004	Bartlett W. Mel, Ph.D Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Psychology University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA Co-sponsored by the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology	Modeling Pyramidal Neurons: from McCulloch-Pitts to Multi-layer Networks
Friday February 27, 2004 Please note that the seminar is at 12.00 noon	Xiao-Jing Wang, Ph.D Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Physics Volen Center for Complex Systems and Department of Physics Brandeis University, Waltham, MA Co-sponsored by the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology	Probabilistic Neural Dynamics of Time Integration and Decision-Making in Cortical Networks
Friday March 19, 2004	Roger D Traub, Ph.D. Professor of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neurology SUNY Health Science Center, Brooklyn, NY Co-sponsored by the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology	Electrical Coupling Between Axons and its Role in Driving Population Oscillations in the Brain
Friday April 2, 2004 10.00 am: Sprague Hall, Room 105 (opposite Gillespie)	Terrence J. Sejnowski, Ph.D. Professor and Head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory The Salk Institute for Biological Studies San Diego, CA Co-sponsored by the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology	Communication in the Brain

All lectures are held on Fridays, 4:00 PM in the First Floor Conference Room, Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility, unless otherwise noted. 
Contact Viji Santhakumar at vsanthak@uci.edu for more details.

Updated: March 23, 2004