<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div widgetid="dwa_widget_label_27" id="dwa_widget_label_27"
class="idw-label pim-mailread-mailcontent"
data-dojo-type="dwa.widget.label"
data-dojo-attach-point="bodyContent" data-dojo-props="formatter:
socmail.common.BodyHtmlFormatter, constraints: {
inlineAttachments: this.model.inlineAttachments }, rawHtml: true">
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10.5pt">
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10.5pt">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><font size="2" face="Default Monospace,Courier
New,Courier,monospace">To whom it may concern:<br>
<br>
In collaboration with Frontiers in Computational
Neuroscience, we are organizing a Research Topic titled
"Cortico-striato-nigro-thalamo-cortical Modeling for
Understanding Motor Function and Neurodegenerative
Disease”, hosted by Pengsheng Zheng, James Kozloski,
Timothy Rumbell, George V. Rebec. As host editor, I
would like to encourage you to contribute to this topic.
Please find more information about Research Topics
below, including the publishing fees that apply. You can
also visit the homepage we have created on the Frontiers
website, which defines the focus of the topic, and where
all published articles will appear.<br>
<br>
<a target="_blank"
href="http://frontiersin.org/Computational_Neuroscience/researchtopics/Cortico-striato-nigro-thalamo-cortical_Modeling_for_Understanding_Motor_Function_and_Neurodegenerative_Disease/4744">http://frontiersin.org/Computational_Neuroscience/researchtopics/Cortico-striato-nigro-thalamo-cortical_Modeling_for_Understanding_Motor_Function_and_Neurodegenerative_Disease/4744</a><br>
</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font color="#3E3D40" size="2" face="Trebuchet MS">Movement
in the body is directly controlled by motor cortex, and
also determined by multiple subcortical structures, such
as thalamus and the basal ganglia (including striatum
and dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra). Many
lines of evidence have suggested the
cortico-striato-nigro-thalamo-cortical circuitry plays a
major role in motor learning and control. This circuitry
has also been investigated for its causal role in the
onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases.
Neurodegenerative diseases are often associated with
movement disorders and neuronal dysfunction in
degenerated brain structures, such as the striatum in
Huntington’s disease and dopaminergic neurons in the
substantia nigra pars compacta in Parkinson's disease.
Degeneration fundamentally changes the dynamics of local
neuronal circuits, and these changes then propagate
through the structural connectome of whole brain
circuitry, eventually altering global brain dynamics.
However, our current understanding of these system
dynamics in the cortico-striato-nigro-thalamo-cortical
circuitry remains rudimentary. Hence, theoretical
studies about critical system variables and
computational principles of this circuitry, constrained
by recordings throughout, will shed new light on causes
of motor dysfunction and neurodegenerative diseases.</font><br>
<br>
<font color="#3E3D40" size="2" face="Trebuchet MS">This
Research Topic of Frontiers in Computational
Neuroscience aims to bring together recent advances in
theoretical modeling of
cortico-striato-nigro-thalamo-cortical network and
experimental observations. Topics of interest include,
but are not limited to, local brain circuit modeling,
the functional role of neuronal plasticity in the local
and global circuit, global circuit interactions and
information exchange, new models validated by
experimental observations, and dynamic disease risk
analysis through perturbation studies.</font><font
size="3"> </font></div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">Best regards,</div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr">Pengsheng Zheng</div>
<div dir="ltr"><font face="Arial"><a
href="mailto:zhengp@us.ibm.com" target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:zhengp@us.ibm.com">zhengp@us.ibm.com</a></a></font><br>
<font size="2" face="Arial">T.J. Watson Research Center<br>
1101 Kitchawan Rd., 13-114A<br>
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598</font></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>