Connectionists: REMINDER: World wide VVTNS series (6th season): Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 11:00 am ET - Markus Diesman | Jülich Research Center

[David Hansel]

[image: VVTNS.png]
https://www.wwtns.online
<https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.online>
-
on twitter: wwtns at TheoreticalWide

You are cordially invited to  the lecture
Markus Diesman
Jülich Research Center

 on the topic of
*Building on cortical models*

The lecture will be held on zoom on December 10, 2025, at *11:00 am ET *

> To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page
>

>
*Abstract: *Over the past decade our community has made substantial
progress in the construction of anatomically detailed network models of the
cortical tissue. Thanks to advances in computer hardware and simulation
technology, researchers can now routinely work with these models at the
natural density of neurons and synapses. Moreover, the availability of
cloud services means that such investigations can be carried out without
having to install either the model or the simulation software. A recent
workshop analyzed the impact of a specific model of the cortical
microcircuit, published ten years ago . The model has been reused in
multiple contexts: for reproduction studies, validation of mean-field
approaches, exploration of methods of model sharing, and as a building
block for larger models. Although the model was less successful in
inspiring further neuroscientific studies than the authors of the original
work had hoped, it became a de facto benchmark for neuromorphic computing
systems. It sparked a constructive race for ever shorter simulation times
and lower energy consumption. The quantitative comparison of different
platforms reveals qualitative differences between conventional and
neuromorphic hardware and limits of speed-up. The structure of the model is
based on light microscopy because these were the data available at the
time. Guided by simulation results and physiological evidence, the original
publication hypothesized a preference of excitatory neurons for inhibitory
targets. Modern electron microscopy data of cortical volumes combined with
AI based reconstruction techniques is capable of resolving individual
synaptic connections. This advances  the concept of digital twins of the
cortical network to a new level of precision, and has already enabled us to
confirm the assumption of target type specificity underlying earlier
models. Maybe with the progress sketched here, our community is at a
transition point where it becomes easier to cooperatively and incrementally
work on models with a larger explanatory scope.

*About VVTNS : Launched as the World Wide  Theoretical Neuroscience Seminar
(WWTNS) in November 2020 and renamed in homage to Carl van Vreeswijk in
Memoriam (April 20, 2022), Speakers have the occasion to talk about
theoretical aspects of their work which cannot be discussed in a setting
where the majority of the audience consists of experimentalists. The
seminars, **held on Wednesdays at 11 am ET,**  are 45-50 min long followed
by a discussion. The talks are recorded with authorization of the speaker
and are available to everybody on our YouTube channel.*


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