Connectionists: PhD position @ Blue Brain Project - Plasticity in the neocortex

[emuller]

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PhD position in the Blue Brain Project - Department of In Silico Neuroscience
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Project title: Principles of biophysical structural plasticity in the neocortex

Supervisors: Prof. Henry Markram, Dr. Eilif Muller

Keywords: simulation, neocortex, plasticity, network reorganization,
assemblies, coding, dendrites, calcium, NMDA

Project description:

During our lifetimes, our brains undergo continuous changes as a
consequence of our experiences. Synaptic plasticity—the biological
process by which brain activity leads to long-term changes in synaptic
connections—is thought to be central to learning and memory. However,
little is known about how this process shapes the specialization of
biological neural networks, such as the neocortex. The objective of the
present work will be to devise, implement and study data-driven
biophysical models of synaptic and structural plasticity for the
formation of functional neocortical networks. This project will
leverage the Blue Brain Project data-driven reconstruction of a
neocortical microcircuit [1], and augment it with data-driven
biophysical calcium-based models of synaptic and structural
plasticity.  The specific objective of this PhD project will be to
implement and constrain models of structural plasticity, and study the
formation of assemblies, and emergent structure-function relationships
in the presence of structured input. The prospective student will join
an ongoing collaboration including international experts in biophysical
modeling of plasticity and dendrites, topological analysis of network
structure, and optimization of neural simulations for large
supercomputers. A significant allocation of computing time on a large
HPC system will be at the disposal of this project. 

[1] Markram, H., Muller, E., Ramaswamy, S., Reimann, M. et al.
Reconstruction and Simulation of Neocortical Microcircuitry. Cell
163:2, 456-495 (2015).

Key external collaborators: Dr. Michael Graupner (CNRS, Université
Paris Descartes), Prof. Idan Segev (Hebrew University Jerusalem)

This project is offered in the context of the EPFL Doctoral School in
Neuroscience (EDNE). Please visit http://phd.epfl.ch/neuroscience-openings
for further details, and information on how to apply. 
Application Deadline: Nov 15th, 2016.

For further details on the project contact:
Dr. Eilif Muller <eilif.mueller at epfl.ch>


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Dr. Eilif Muller
Section Manager - In Silico Neuroscience - Experimentation

EPFL - Blue Brain Project
Biotech Campus
Chemin des Mines 9
1202 Geneva
Switzerland

Tel: +41 21 693 0698
Fax: +41 21 693 5350
www: http://bluebrain.epfl.ch/page-77926-en.html
www: http://neuralensemble.org/people/eilifmuller