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Neuroschool 2006

Neuroschool 2007

FIAS- Neuroscience

PENS
Scientific and cultural program

  Scientific directors:

  • Wolfgang Maas
  • Christoph von der Malsburg
  • Gordon Pipa
  • Wolf Singer
  • Jochen Triesch
  • Misha V. Tsodyks

Arrival: first weekend

  • Arrival of students and local faculty on Saturday.
  • On Sunday we start the school with a canoe race on the Main, to get to know each other. On Sunday evening we will have a welcome party.

Pre-school:  first 3 working days

The preschool will take place at FIAS  and the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research (MPIH) in Frankfurt.

  • The aim of the pre-school is to establish a common knowledge base among all participants and ensure a common language.
  • The first three days of the pre-school have two parallel tracks (track 1: theory for experimentalists, track 2: experimental background for theorists), where every student will be trained in the area they are least familiar with to fill in gaps in the students knowledge:.
    • Theorists will be trained in basic concepts of neuroscience. The courses will be conducted by Prof. Ralf Galuske (TU Darmstadt), Sergio Neuenschwander (MPIH), Danko Nikolic (MPIH), Kerstin Schmidt (MPIH) and Prof. Wolf Singer (FIAS, Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research).
    • Experimental neuroscientists will be trained in basic concepts of network theory and complex systems. The courses will be conducted by Christoph von der Malsburg (FIAS), Gordon Pipa (FIAS, MPIH), Jochen Triesch (FIAS), Cornelius Weber (FIAS), and Junmei Zhu (FIAS)

School:

  • 1st week (last day)

    • Neuronal anatomy - Basics in modelling of neurons - Neurophysiology

    This first day of the summer school will provide an introduction to some of  the main concepts of neuronal systems and information processing. We will start the lecture series by giving an overview of the main concepts related to information processing in mammalian cortices, from single cells to processing supported by synergetic activity in large neuronal networks.

  • 2nd week

    • Data analysis and modeling of neurons and small networks

    The second week is devoted to the characterization and analysis of neural recordings, as well as the description and modeling of neurons, synapses and small networks. Methods for the statistical analysis of spike trains will be presented. Neuron models at different levels of abstraction (spiking vs. non-spiking, compartmental vs. point neuron) will be introduced, and their dynamic properties will be described. Models of synaptic plasticity mechanisms will be presented. The dynamics and learning abilities of small neuron networks will be discussed.

  • 3nd week

    • Modeling Higher level cognitive functions, outlook to other complex systems

    The third week introduces two approaches for modeling higher cognitive functions: more abstract models of large neural systems e.g. reward systems, and functional perspectives on brain function, e.g. from information theory, probabilistic inference, network theory, etc. In addition, issues related to embodiment will be discussed.

 

    Lecturers and tutors include:

    • Dana Ballard, UT Austin, USA
    • Emery Brown, Harvard/MIT, Cambridge, USA
    • Yang Dan, UC Berkeley, USA
    • Sophie Deneve, CNRS, France
    • Rodney Douglas, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
    • Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain
    • Wulfram Gerstner, EPFL, Switzerland
    • Ann Graybiel, MIT, USA
    • Mary Hayhoe, UT Austin, USA
    • Jurgen Kurths, University of Potsdam, Germany
    • Jorg Lucke, FIAS, Germany
    • Wolfgang Maass, Technische Universitat, Graz, Austria
    • Christoph von der Malsburg, FIAS, Germany; USC, Los Angeles, USA
    • Sergio Neuenschwander, MPIH, Germany
    • Danko Nikolic, MPIH, Germany
    • Gordon Pipa (confirmed), FIAS and MPIH, Germany
    • Austra Saudargiene, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
    • Kerstin Schmidt, MPIH, Germany
    • Wolf Singer, MPIH, Germay
    • Olaf Sporns, Indiana University, USA
    • Jochen Triesch, UC San Diego, USA and FIAS, Germany
    • Peter Uhlhaas, MPIH, Germany
    • Raul Vicente, FIAS and MPIH, Germany
    • Cornelius Weber FIAS, Germany
    • Michael Wibral, MPIH, Germany
    • Kai Willadsen, FIAS, Germany
    • Junmei Zhu, FIAS, Germany

 

Weekend program (tentative)

August, 3th

  • Canoe race on the river Main and welcome party in the evening

August, 10th

  • Guided tour through Frankfurt

August, 17th

  • Hessenpark trip

August, 24th

  • Farewell party - with typical food from the Frankfurt area

 

Lectures program (pdf)
 

Last update: August, 17 2008 16:00