December 2014 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

NEURAL COMPUTATION - January 1, 2015

by Terry Sejnowski

Editorial Neural Computation was founded with the goal of providing a home for the best research in computational approaches to understanding brain function. With this issue Neural Computation is now all electronic (color illustrations are free) and also has a broader scope. The goal of the BRAIN Initiative, announced by President Obama on April 2, 2013, is to accelerate progress in understanding basic principles of brain function by developing innovative neurotechnologies. The BRAIN 2025 report on the BRAIN Initiative highlighted Theory, Modeling, Computation and Statistics (TMCS) as essential to this goal (http://www.braininitiative.nih.gov/2025/index.htm) The neurotechniques developed by the BRAIN Initiative will scale up the acquisition of data by three orders of magnitude in the next decade. Every area of neuroscience, from molecular to systems, can benefit from advanced computational techniques to analyze, model, and interpret these data, serving as the foundation for conceptual advances in brain theories. Neural Computation is uniquely positioned at the crossroads between Neuroscience and TMCS and welcomes the submission of original papers from all areas of TMCS, including: * Advanced experimental design * Analysis of chemical sensor data * Connectomic reconstructions * Analysis of multielectrode and optical recordings * Genetic data for cell identity * Analysis of behavioral data * Multiscale models * Analysis of molecular mechanisms * Neuroinformatics * Analysis of brain imaging data * Neuromorphic engineering * Principles of neural coding, computation, circuit dynamics, and plasticity * Theories of brain function An expanded editorial board will guide Neural Computation in this broader arena: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/page/editorial/neco As the US BRAIN Initiative and the European Human Brain Project continue to expand, and as other countries launch new brain programs, Neural Computation will be central in integrating these international efforts. Terry Sejnowski ----- Neural Computation - Volume 27, Number 1 - January 1, 2015 Available online for download now: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/neco/27/1 ----- Article Spike Train SIMilarity Space (SSIMS): A Framework for Single Neuron and Ensemble Data Analysis Carlos E. Vargas-Irwin, David M. Brandman, Jonas B. Zimmermann, John P. Donoghue, Michael J. Black Note Optimizing the Representation of Orientation Preference Maps in Visual Cortex Nicholas J. Hughes, Geoffrey J. Goodhill Letters Topological Sparse Learning of Dynamic Form Patterns T. Guthier, V. Willert, J. Eggert Dynamics of Gamma Bursts in Local Field Potentials Priscilla E. Greenwood, Mark D. McDonnell, Lawrence M. Ward Spatiotemporal Conditional Inference and Hypothesis Tests for Neural Ensemble Spiking Precision Matthew T. Harrison, Asohan Amarasingham, Wilson Truccolo Toward a Multisubject Analysis of Neural Connectivity C. J. Oates, L. Costa, T. E. Nichols Using Multilayer Perceptron Computation to Discover Ideal Insect Olfactory Receptor Combinations in the Mosquito and Fruit Fly for an Efficient Electronic Nose Luqman R. Bachtiar, Charles P. Unsworth, Richard D. Newcomb Graph Degree Sequence Solely Determines the Expected Hopfield Network Pattern Stability Daniel Berend, Shlomi Dolev, Ariel Hanemann Efficient Training of Convolutional Deep Belief Networks in the Frequency Domain for Application to High-Resolution 2D and 3D Images Tom Brosch, Roger Tam Conditional Density Estimation with Dimensionality Reduction via Squared-Loss Conditional Entropy Minimization Voot Tangkaratt, Ning Xie, Masashi Sugiyama ------------ ON-LINE -- http://www.mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2015 - VOLUME 27 - 12 ISSUES Student/Retired $75 Individual $134 Institution $1,075 MIT Press Journals, One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1209 Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-cs(a)mit.edu ------------

Dec. 30, 2014

Call for Papers: IEEE IJCNN'2015 Special Session on: "Emerging Methodologies for Big Data Integration"

by Dr Amir Hussain

CALL FOR PAPERS IEEE IJCNN 2015 Special Session on *"*Emerging Methodologies for Big Data Integration*"* July 12 - 17, 2015, Killarney, Ireland ( http://www.ijcnn.org/ ) ********************************************************** IMPORTANT DATES Paper submission: January 15th, 2015 Paper Decision notification: March 15th, 2015 Camera-ready submission: April 15th, 2015 Conference Dates: July 12 - 17th, 2015 *********************************************************** Over the years, huge quantities of data have been generated by large-scale scientific experiments (biomedical, “omic”, imaging, astronomical, etc.), big industrial companies and on the web. One of the main characteristics of such Big Data is that they are multi-view, i.e. there are multiple sources (in the “omics” sciences, experiments related to mRNA, miRNA etc.), relate the same patterns (in this case patients) or multi-domain (in biomedical applications for examples, “omics, imaging and clinical data). As a consequence, new methodologies based on neural networks, machine and statistical learning, computation Intelligence and others, have been proposed to integrate these kinds of big data and to elicit relevant information to infer novel models and correlations. The aim of the special session is to solicit new approaches to real world scientific and industrial big data integration, as well as applications of above mentioned Big Data methodologies. *Topics** Papers must present original work or review the state-of-the-art in the following non-exhaustive list of topics: Multi-view learning Multi-view clustering data fusion data integration multi-view data applications multi domain data applications THE DEADLINE FOR THE PAPER SUBMISSION TO THE SPECIAL SESSION IS THE SAME OF IJCNN 2015, January 15th 2015. All the submissions will be peer-reviewed with the same criteria used for other contributed papers. Perspective authors will submit their papers through the IJCNN2015 conference submission system at http://www.ijcnn.org/ Please make sure to select the Special Session "Emerging Methodologies for Big Data Integration " from the "S. SPECIAL SESSION TOPICS" name in the "Main Research topic" dropdown list; Templates and instructions for authors will be provided on the IJCNN webpage http://www.ijcnn.org/ All papers submitted to the special sessions will be subject to the same peer-review procedure as regular papers, accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Further information about IJCNN 2015 can be fond at http://www.ijcnn.org/ and about the special session at http://neuronelab.unisa.it/emerging-methodologies-for-big-data-integration/ *********************************************************** **Organizers** - Amir Hussain Professor of Computing Science and founding Director of the Cognitive Signal-Image Processing and Control Systems Research (COSIPRA) Laboratory, University of Stirling, UK (E-mail: ahu(a)cs.stir.ac.uk http://cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu) - Giovanni Montana Professor and Chair in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Biomedical Engineering Department, King’s College, London, UK - Francesco Carlo Morabito Professor and Chair of the Neurolab, Dipartimento DICEAM, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Italy - Roberto TAGLIAFERRI Professor and Chair of the Neuronelab, Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Salerno, Italy **Technical Program Committee (being continuously updated)** Elia Mario Biganzoli, Università di Milano, Italy Erik Cambria, NTU, Singapore Ciro Donalek, Caltech, CA, USA Anna Esposito, Seconda Università di Napoli, Italy Marcos Faundez-Zanuy, Escola Universitaria Politecnica de Mataro (Tecnocampus), Spain Alexander Gelbukh, National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico Dario Greco, FIOH, Finland Newton Howard, MIT Media Lab, USA Pietro Liò, University of Cambridge, UK Bin Luo, Anhui University, China Mufti Mahmud, Antwerp University, Belgium Riccardo Rizzo, CNR, Italy Jingpeng Li, University of Stirling, UK Domenico Ursino, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Italy Alfredo Vellido, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Spain Pierangelo Veltri, Università "Magna Graecia" di Catanzaro, Italy Jonathan Wu, University of Windsor, Canada Yunqing Xia, Tsinghua University, China Kang Li, Queen's University, Belfast, UK Dongbing Gu, Essex University, UK Vincent C. Müller, Anatolia College/ACT, Greece & Oxford University, UK Dongbin Zhao, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China *********************************************************** -- The University of Stirling has been ranked in the top 12 of UK universities for graduate employment*. 94% of our 2012 graduates were in work and/or further study within six months of graduation. *The Telegraph The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

Dec. 28, 2014

Teaching Computational Neuroscience

by Érdi Péter

A multiple book review: http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.5909 Péter Érdi http://people.kzoo.edu/~perdi/

Dec. 28, 2014

UC Santa Barbara Postdoc fellowship announcement

by John Hajda

SAGE JUNIOR FELLOW PROGRAM, SAGE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF MIND, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA Job number JPF00417 Four postdoctoral positions will be available beginning on September 1, 2015. This is a three-year fellowship, and the competition is open to all qualified candidates regardless of institutional affiliation. The SAGE Center Junior Fellowship Program, established in 2011, fosters interdisciplinary research in the study of brain-mind interaction at the postdoctoral level. We are seeking a group of highly collaborative, interacting fellows who are willing to take different approaches to shared conceptual challenges. Qualified applicants should be able and will be encouraged to utilize the UCSB Brain Imaging Center (http://www.bic.ucsb.edu/) The Center supports the new PRISMA (3T) Siemens magnet as well as MRI compatible high density electroencephalography hardware. Center funding will be available for imaging studies. In addition to developing research programs in close collaboration with individual faculty, Junior Fellows will enjoy special privileges, including access to visiting SAGE Scholars and attendance at regular group meetings to collaborate and share information about the role of psychology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, political science, anthropology, biology, physics, engineering, the arts, philosophy and other disciplines on the study of brain, mind and behavior. To be eligible for the Junior Fellows program, a candidate must have been awarded a doctoral degree or foreign equivalent within the past five years. Proposed research topics must be related to brain-mind interaction. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged. We will strive to create a team based on common interests of the top applicants. To apply, please submit: 1. A complete CV, published article and three letters of recommendation 2. A statement of your research interests and a description of how those interests complement the goals of the SAGE Center. For primary consideration, apply by February 1, 2015, although we will accept applications until the positions are filled. Please submit your application at https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/apply/JPF00417. Inquiries about your application may be directed to juniorfellows(a)sagecenter.ucsb.edu; include your last name in the subject line of all correspondence. Michael S. Gazzaniga, Ph.D. Director, SAGE Center for the Study of Mind University of California, Santa Barbara http://www.sagecenter.ucsb.edu/ http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/~gazzanig/ The department is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service. The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by law including protected Veterans and individuals with disabilities. -- John Hajda, Ph.D. Associate Director Sage Center for the Study of the Mind Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660 Phone 805-893-4460 Fax 805-893-3228 hajda(a)sagecenter.ucsb.edu http://www.sagecenter.ucsb.edu/

Dec. 23, 2014

New Brain Computation Paper

by MICHAEL FORREST

A new paper that some may find interesting: Forrest MD (2014) The sodium-potassium pump is an information processing element in brain computation. Frontiers in Physiology. 5:472. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2014.00472 FREELY available at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphys.2014.00472/full

Dec. 23, 2014

[Call for applications] *Graduate Programs in Computational Neuroscience* in Berlin; MSc and PhD; 7 PhD scholarships; deadline March 15, 2015

by Robert Martin

[Apologies for cross-posting] *Doctoral* and *Master Program* "Computational Neuroscience" at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin in Berlin, Germany Application deadline: *March 15, 2015* Begin of courses: October 2015 Internet: www.computational-neuroscience-berlin.de _Doctoral Program_ The Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin and the TU Berlin invite applications for *7 fellowships* of the Research Training Group "Sensory Computation in Neural Systems" (GRK 1589/2, https://www.eecs.tu-berlin.de/grk_15891/menue/sensory_computation_in_neural…) The *scientific program* of the research training group combines techniques and concepts from machine learning, computational neuroscience, and systems neurobiology in order to specifically address sensory computation. Doctoral candidates will work on interdisciplinary projects investigating the mechanisms of neural computation, address the processes underlying perception on different scales and different levels of abstraction, and develop new theories of computation hand in hand with well-controlled experiments in order to put functional hypotheses to the test. The training group offers structured supervision complemented by a teaching and training program. Each student will be supervised by two investigators with complementary expertise and will be associated with the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (https://www.bccn-berlin.de/) a leading research center dedicated to the theoretical study of neural processing. Candidates are expected to hold a Masters degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject (e.g., neuroscience, cognitive science, computer science, physics, mathematics, etc.) and have the required advanced mathematical background. Candidates selected in the first application step will be invited for lab visits and an interview, expected to take place in June 2015. The *fellowships of 1468 €/month* - with additional children allowances if applicable---will be granted for up to three years. _Master's Program_ The tuition-free Master program in Computational Neuroscience offers *15 places* per year, has a duration of 2 years and is fully taught in English. The *curriculum* is subdivided into ten modules, whose content includes theoretical neuroscience, programming, machine learning, cognitive neuroscience, acquisition, modelling, and computational analysis of neural data, with a strong focus on a complementary theoretical and experimental training. Three lab rotations and a Master's thesis are accomplished in the second year. The aim of the program is to provide the students with an interdisciplinary education and an early contact to the neurocomputational research environment. *Requirements* BSc or equivalent degree in a relevant subject (typically in the natural sciences, in an engineering discipline, in cognitive science, or in mathematics), certificate of English proficiency, proof of sufficient mathematical knowledge (at least 24 ECTS credit points). ~~~ _For more information_ ... ... come and visit us on our *information day* on January 14, 2015, at 3 PM (sharp) at the BCCN Berlin: https://www.bccn-berlin.de/Calendar/Events/event/?contentId=3667 ... or browse: www.computational-neuroscience-berlin.de ... or e-mail: graduateprograms(a)bccn-berlin.de . Best regards, Robert Martin -- Robert Martin, PhD Teaching Coordinator Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin Philippstr. 13 House 6; 10115 Berlin; Germany Phone/Fax +49 (0)30 2093 6773/6771 http://www.computational-neuroscience-berlin.de GRK 1589/1, Sensory Computation in Neural Systems Technische Universitaet Berlin Sekretariat MAR 5-6; Marchstr. 23; 10587 Berlin Phone/Fax +49 (0)30 314 72006/73121 http://www.eecs.tu-berlin.de/grk_15891/

Dec. 19, 2014

Advanced Scientific Programming in Python Summer School

by Emanuele Olivetti

Advanced Scientific Programming in Python ========================================= a Summer School by the G-Node, the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich and the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences Scientists spend more and more time writing, maintaining, and debugging software. While techniques for doing this efficiently have evolved, only few scientists have been trained to use them. As a result, instead of doing their research, they spend far too much time writing deficient code and reinventing the wheel. In this course we will present a selection of advanced programming techniques, incorporating theoretical lectures and practical exercises tailored to the needs of a programming scientist. New skills will be tested in a real programming project: we will team up to develop an entertaining scientific computer game. We use the Python programming language for the entire course. Python works as a simple programming language for beginners, but more importantly, it also works great in scientific simulations and data analysis. We show how clean language design, ease of extensibility, and the great wealth of open source libraries for scientific computing and data visualization are driving Python to become a standard tool for the programming scientist. This school is targeted at Master or PhD students and Post-docs from all areas of science. Competence in Python or in another language such as Java, C/C++, MATLAB, or Mathematica is absolutely required. Basic knowledge of Python is assumed. Participants without any prior experience with Python should work through the proposed introductory materials before the course. Date and Location ================= August 31—September 5, 2015. Munich, Germany. Preliminary Program =================== Day 0 (Mon Aug 31) — Best Programming Practices • Best Practices for Scientific Computing • Version control with git and how to contribute to Open Source with github • Object-oriented programming & design patterns Day 1 (Tue Sept 1) — Software Carpentry • Test-driven development, unit testing & quality assurance • Debugging, profiling and benchmarking techniques • Advanced Python: generators, decorators, and context managers Day 2 (Wed Sept 2) — Scientific Tools for Python • Advanced NumPy • The Quest for Speed (intro): Interfacing to C with Cython • Contributing to Open Source Software/Programming in teams Day 3 (Thu Sept 3) — The Quest for Speed • Writing parallel applications in Python • Python 3: why should I care • Programming project Day 4 (Fri Sept 4) — Efficient Memory Management • When parallelization does not help: the starving CPUs problem • Programming project Day 5 (Sat Sept 5) — Practical Software Development • Programming project • The Pelita Tournament Every evening we will have the tutors' consultation hour: Tutors will answer your questions and give suggestions for your own projects. Applications ============ You can apply on-line athttps://python.g-node.org Applications must be submitted before 23:59 UTC, March 31, 2015. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by May 1, 2015. No fee is charged but participants should take care of travel, living, and accommodation expenses. Candidates will be selected on the basis of their profile. Places are limited: acceptance rate is usually around 20%. Prerequisites: You are supposed to know the basics of Python to participate in the lectures Preliminary Faculty =================== • Francesc Alted, freelance developer, author of PyTables, Spain • Pietro Berkes, Enthought Inc., UK • Kathryn D. Huff, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California - Berkeley, USA • Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek, Krasnow Institute, George Mason University, USA • Eilif Muller, Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland • Rike-Benjamin Schuppner, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany • Nelle Varoquaux, Centre for Computational Biology Mines ParisTech, Institut Curie, U900 INSERM, Paris, France • Stéfan van der Walt, Applied Mathematics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa • Niko Wilbert, TNG Technology Consulting GmbH, Germany • Tiziano Zito, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany Organized by Tiziano Zito (head) and Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek for the German Neuroinformatics Node of the INCF Germany, Christopher Roppelt for the German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders (DSGZ) and the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN) of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Germany, Christoph Hartmann for the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Neural Circuits, Frankfurt Germany, and Jakob Jordan for the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) and Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6), Jülich Research Centre and JARA. Additional funding provided by the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) Munich. Website:https://python.g-node.org Contact:python-info@g-node.org

Dec. 19, 2014

Mathematical post-doc position on the relation of information and causation (Prof. Giulio Tononi)

by albantakis

A postdoctoral position is available at the center for sleep and consciousness science in the laboratory of Dr. Giulio Tononi (University of Wisconsin, Madison), to study the relation of information and causation within the framework of the integrated information theory of consciousness (Balduzzi & Tononi, 2008; Tononi, 2012). Immediate funding is available for a range of projects related to foundational questions regarding the ontological status of information, and its relation to causation, emergence, adaptation, evolution, and consciousness (see detailed scope of work below). The successful candidate will work in the information integration theory group at the center for sleep and consciousness science, which is dedicated to a broad range of research problems focused on two neurobiological problems -- the mechanisms and functions of sleep and the neural substrates of consciousness. Candidates are expected to have strong training in an analytically rigorous discipline such as theoretical biology/neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, or engineering. We explicitly encourage mathematicians to apply. Experience in information theory, complex systems, and an interest in the philosophy of information/causation are a plus. Programming experience is required (knowledge of MATLAB, Python, and/or C++ is of advantage). Appointments are renewable from year to year for up to 3 years, starting as soon as possible or until the positions are filled. Post-doc salaries correspond to the National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award (NRSA) stipend schedule for postdoc trainees, based on number of years of postdoctoral experience. Candidates should send a CV, brief statement of previous research and future research interests, and email addresses and phone numbers of three references to: Giulio Tononi, gtononi(a)wisc.edu. Oizumi M, Albantakis L, Tononi G (2014) From the Phenomenology to the Mechanisms of Consciousness: Integrated Information Theory 3.0. /PLoS Comput Biol/ 10:e1003588 Hoel, E. P., Albantakis, L., & Tononi, G. (2013). Quantifying causal emergence shows that macro can beat micro. /PNAS/, /110/(49), 19790--19795. Tononi G (2012) Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness: An Updated Account. /Arch Ital Biol/ 150:56--90. The scope of work will range from: -theoretical development and computational implementation of the notion of intrinsic causal information -causal analysis, including the systematic use of perturbations, counterfactuals, and irreducibility -analysis of complex systems in terms their causal/informational structure -meaning (understanding and control) from the intrinsic perspective of the system -actual causation (causal explanation) -examining similarities and differences between existing notions of information and causation (Shannon information, algorithmic information,...) -defining emergence in terms of the spatio-temporal grain size at which a system of elements achieves a maximum of causal power -evolutionary/adaptive aspects of information/causation including simulations based on small adaptive neural networks (animats), which evolve and adapt to an environment that requires sensitivity to context for survival -- Larissa Albantakis, PhD Department of Psychiatry University of Wisconsin 6001 Research Park Blvd Madison, WI 53719

Dec. 17, 2014

Announcement of Conference Net-works 2015

by jtorres

Dear Colleagues This is the first announcement for participation in the 7th International conference on Complex Networks and their Interdisciplinary Applications, Net-works 2015, which will be held in Granada (Spain) from September 16th to September 18th 2015 (Please follow the link below for further information) http://ergodic.ugr.es/networks2015/ As in previous editions, this conference is devoted to present and exchange the latest results concerning the theory and application of complex networks in different aspects of nature, society and technology. In the last years, there was an increasing interest of the computational neuroscience community in the study of the features of the complex networks underlying the structure of actual neural systems, and how these features influence their emergent behavior. For this reason, the organizing committee of Net-works 2015 encourages computational neuroscientists interested in this research topic to attend and participate in this conference. The program of Net-Works 2015 includes a set of invited plenary talks from very well- known experts in the field of complex networks, a number to be determined of talks selected from the received abstracts and one or two poster sessions. Tentative list of key-note speakers: -Ginestra Bianconi School of Mathematics. Queen Mary University of London, UK -Stefano Boccaletti Institute for Complex Systems, CNR, Italy -Shlomo Havlin Bar-Ilan University, Israel -JÃ¼rgen KurthsPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany -Miguel A. MuÃ±oz Institute Carlos I for Theoretical and Computational Physics, U. Granada, Spain Important dates for abstract submission and registration follows: Abstract submission: May 22th 2015 Contribution acceptance: June 15th 2015 Early registration (with a reduction of the registration fee): before September 15th, 2015. Abstracts (with a maximum of 250 words) must be submitted to the e-mail address below: abstracts(a)eurocongres.es It is a pleasure for me to kindly invite you to participate in Net-Works 2015. We look forward to seeing you in Granada! Joaquin J. Torres General Chair Net-Works 2015 International Conference Please visit the conference web page for further information: http://ergodic.ugr.es/networks2015/

Dec. 17, 2014

Announcing Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course 2015

by Erik De Schutter

OKINAWA COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE 2015 Methods, Neurons, Networks and Behaviors June 8 - June 25, 2015 Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc The aim of the Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course is to provide opportunities for young researchers with theoretical backgrounds to learn the latest advances in neuroscience, and for those with experimental backgrounds to have hands-on experience in computational modeling. We invite graduate students and postgraduate researchers to participate in the course, held from June 8th through June 25th, 2015 at an oceanfront seminar house of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. Applications will open on January 5th and are through the course web page (https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc) only; they will close February 8th, 2015. Applicants will receive confirmation of acceptance in March. The course has a strong hands-on component based on student proposed modeling or data analysis projects, which are further refined with the help of a dedicated tutor. Applicants are required to propose their project at the time of application. Like in preceding years, OCNC will be a comprehensive three-week course covering single neurons, networks, and behaviors with ample time for student projects. The first week will focus exclusively on methods with hands-on tutorials during the afternoons, while the second and third weeks will have lectures by international experts. We invite those who are interested in integrating experimental and computational approaches at each level, as well as in bridging different levels of complexity. There is no tuition fee. The sponsor will provide lodging and meals during the course and may support travel for those without funding. We hope that this course will be a good opportunity for theoretical and experimental neuroscientists to meet each other and to explore the attractive nature and culture of Okinawa, the southernmost island prefecture of Japan. Invited faculty: • Gordon Arbuthnott (OIST) • Axel Borst (MPI, Münich, Germany) • Erik De Schutter (OIST) • Kenji Doya (OIST) • Eugene Izihikevich (Brain Corporation, USA) • Bernd Kuhn (OIST) • Peter Latham (Gatsby Unit, UCL, UK) • Miguel Nicolelis (Duke University, USA) • Steve Prescott (University of Toronto, Canada) • John Rinzel (New York University, USA) • Jackie Schiller (Technion, Israel) • Greg Stephens (OIST) • Jeff Wickens (OIST) • Taro Toyoizumi (RIKEN BSI, Japan) • Xiao-Jing Wang (New York University, USA) • Wako Yoshida (ATR, Japan)

Dec. 17, 2014