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Announcing Okinawa/OIST Computational Neuroscience Course 2020

by Erik De Schutter

OKINAWA/OIST COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE 2020 Methods, Neurons, Networks and Behaviors June 29 to July 16, 2020 Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc The aim of the Okinawa/OIST 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 29th through July 16th, 2020 at an oceanfront seminar house of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. Applications are through the course web page (https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc) only; January 1 - February 2, 2020. Applicants will receive confirmation of acceptance in March. Like in preceding years, the 17th 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. 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. There is no tuition fee. The sponsor will provide lodging and meals during the course and provides partial travel support. 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: • Michael Berry II (Princeton University, USA) • Tiago Branco (Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, London, UK) • Zenas C Chao (University of Kyoto, Japan) • Erik De Schutter (OIST) • Kenji Doya (OIST) • Gaute Einevoll (Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway) • Tomoki Fukai (OIST) • Boris Gutkin (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France) • Bernd Kuhn (OIST) • Devika Narain (Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands) • Alex Pouget (University of Geneva, Switzerland) • Ivan Soltesz (Stanford University, USA) • Saori C. Tanaka (ATR, Japan) • Tatjana Tchumatchenko (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfur, Germany) • Marylka Yoe Uusisaari (OIST)

Dec. 23, 2019

NeuroBridges 2020 Summer School Announcement

by Ahmed El Hady

*/NeuroBridges 2020 Summer school , Cluny, France/* */( September 6th - September 17th, 2020)/* */ /* I would like to bring to your attention the NeuroBridges 2020 Summer School <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2020.html> <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2020.html> NeuroBridges <https://www.facebook.com/NeuroBridges/>is a one-of-a-kind series of scientific meetings in brain research, which brings together Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scientists, in order to promote international scientific cooperation in system and computational neuroscience. A major goal of this school is to serve as a bridge between experimental and theoretical neuroscientists, addressing system-level questions. This year the school will primarily focus on the neural basis and computational principles underlying decision making. *The forthcoming NeuroBridges 2020*will be a ten-day summer school. Students will attend lectures delivered by a group of leading neuroscientists, experimentalists as well as theoreticians, which will address the fundamental questions in the field of decision making. In addition to the lectures, the students will work in groups on small research projects. The school is intended for graduate students and postdocs, primarily (but not only) from the Middle East and the Mediterranean region either working in their home countries or abroad. We will consider applicants with some background in related fields in neuroscience or cognitive psychology. Through the online application system, you will be asked to provide personal details, academic background, a motivation letter that should include a paragraph about your quantitative skills and a CV. In addition, we request two recommendation letters. The school will take place between *September 6 and September 17, 2020* in Le Centre de Conferences Internationales de Cluny (CCIC) <http://www.ccic.eu/index.html>. Cluny is a small medieval town in Burgundy, France, located about 400km southeast of Paris (accessible by fast train, TGV). All costs of registration and accommodation will be covered by the organizers. A limited number of travel grants will also be available. *NeuroBridges* is co-organized by Ahmed El Hady <http://scholar.princeton.edu/ahmedelhady/home> (Princeton Neuroscience Institute, USA), Yonatan Loewenstein <http://elsc.huji.ac.il/loewenstein/home>(Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) and David Hansel <https://neurophys.biomedicale.parisdescartes.fr/members/david-hansel/> (CNRS, Paris, France). Review of applications will end in May 2020. *2020 Faculty:* Carlos Brody (Princeton) <https://pni.princeton.edu/faculty/carlos-brody> Ahmed El Hady (Princeton) <http://scholar.princeton.edu/ahmedelhady/home> David Hansel (CNRS) <https://neurophys.biomedicale.parisdescartes.fr/members/david-hansel/> Ifat Levy (Yale) <https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/ifat_levy> Yonatan Loewenstein (Hebrew U.) <https://elsc.huji.ac.il/faculty-staff/yonatan-loewenstein> Najib Majaj (NYU) <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Najib_Majaj> Mike Shadlen (Columbia U.) <https://neuroscience.columbia.edu/profile/michaelshadlen> Eyal Winter (Hebrew U.) <http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/%7Emseyal/> Yoram Yovell (Hadassah Hebrew U. Medical Center) <http://yovell.co.il/en/> The deadline for application is *April 1st, 2020 *and the following is the website including the link for the online application: http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2020.html <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2019.html> <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2019.html> For more information, please contact neurobridges2020(a)gmail.com <mailto:neurobridges2018@gmail.com>.

Dec. 23, 2019

Call for Papers: Workshop on Machine Learning and Computational Intelligence in multi-omics and medical image analysis, 5-7 June, Greece

by Tiago Azevedo

Dear all, Below find the call for papers for the workshop "Machine Learning and Computational Intelligence in multi-omics and medical image analysis (MALCI_MUOMI 2020)". It will be held during the 2020 AIAI conference, collocated with EANN 2020, the 21st International Conference on engineering Applications of Neural Networks. This will be held 5-7 June 2020, Porto Carras Grand Resort, Halkidiki Greece. **Important Dates** Paper Submission Deadline: 29th of February 2020 Notification of Acceptance/Rejection: 22nd of March 2020 Camera Ready Submission/Registration: 2nd of April 2020 Early / Author registration by: 2nd of April 2020 Conference Dates: 5-7 June, 2020 **Link for submissions** http://www.aiai2020.eu/malci_muomi2020/#submission **Aim and scope** There is an increasing need for the application of Machine Learning (ML) and Computational Intelligence (CI) techniques, which can effectively perform image processing operations (such as segmentation, co-registration, classification, and dimensionality reduction), in the fields of neuroimaging and oncological imaging. Although the manual approach often remains the golden standard in some tasks (e.g., segmentation), ML can be exploited to automate and facilitate the work of researchers and clinicians. Frequently used techniques include Support Vector Machines (SVMs) for classification problems, graph-based methods, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). More recently, deep ANNs have shown to be very successful in computer vision tasks owing to the ability to automatically extract hierarchical descriptive features from input images. It has also been used in the oncological and neuroimaging domains for automatic disease diagnosis, tissue segmentation, and even synthetic image generation. The main issue, however, remains the relative sample paucity of the typical imaging datasets that leads to a poor generalisation of the employed deep ANNs, considering the high number of required parameters. Consequently, parameter-efficient design paradigms, specifically tailored to medical applications, ought to be devised, also by exploiting CI-based techniques (e.g., neuroevolution). In this context, these advanced ML techniques can be suitably exploited to combine heterogeneous sources of information, allowing for multi-omics data integration. Such a kind of analyses may represent a significant step towards personalised medicine. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: · ML techniques for segmentation, co-registration, classification, or dimensionality reduction of medical images · Deep neural networks for medical image super-resolution, de-noising and synthesis · Deep Learning for neuroimaging and oncological imaging analysis · Integration of multi-omics data · Brain network analysis · Application of graph theory to MRI and functional MRI (fMRI) data · Application of ML methods for neurodegenerative disease studies · Computational modelling and analysis of neuroimaging · Methods of analysis for structural or functional connectivity · Development of new neuroimaging tools · Radiomic analyses for tumour phenotypes · Radiogenomics for intra- and inter-tumoural heterogeneity evaluation · Generative adversarial models for data augmentation and image super-resolution · CI methods for optimizing medical image analysis tasks **Workshop Organizing Committee** Tiago Azevedo – Department of Computer Science and Technology , University of Cambridge, Cambridge, (UK) Giovanna Maria Dimitri – Department of Computer Science and Technology , University of Cambridge, Cambridge (UK), Department of Medicine, University of Siena (Italy) Prof Pietro Liò – Department of Computer Science and Technology , University of Cambridge, Cambridge, (UK) Dr Leonardo Rundo – Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (UK ) Simeon Spasov – Department of Computer Science and Technology , University of Cambridge, Cambridge (UK) Dr Andrea Tangherloni – Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, (UK) Jin Zhu – Department of Computer Science and Technology , University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Dec. 22, 2019

Carnegie Mellon - University of Pittsburgh Joint Summer Undergraduate Program in Computational Neuroscience

by Tai Sing Lee

Please encourage computationally-oriented undergraduates to apply to the Summer 2020 undergraduate program in computational neuroscience (uPNC) in Pittsburgh! Undergraduates interested in receiving research training in computational neuroscience are encouraged to apply to an NIH-sponsored summer program at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) in Pittsburgh, PA. The CNBC is a joint interdisciplinary program of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Starting in late May or early June each year, a select group of talented undergraduates will embark on a 10-week residential program that provides intensive, mentored research experiences in computational and theoretical neuroscience. Admitted students will receive a stipend and university dormitory housing. The core of the program is the opportunity to carry out an individual mentored research project working closely with a faculty mentor. Other aspects of the scientific program include faculty research talks, student presentations and discussion of articles from the scientific literature, presentations on career options and scientific ethics, and a concluding symposium in which students present their research. This program is intended for students who wish to pursue a Ph.D. after graduation. Any undergraduate may apply, but we are especially interested in attracting students with strong quantitative backgrounds. Many of our trainees are from colleges and universities that do not have extensive research programs, but all must be United States citizens or permanent residents, must be enrolled at a 4-year accredited institution, and must be in their sophomore or junior year at the time of application. CNBC is dedicated to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all students and we encourage applications from women, under-represented minorities, and individuals with disabilities. Additional information and the application can be found here <http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/training/undergraduate/summer-undergraduate-researc…>. A showcase of past years’ undergraduate research and program schedules is available: summer uPNC 2019 <http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/training/undergraduate/summer-undergraduate-researc…>, summer uPNC 2018 <http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/training/undergraduate/summer-undergraduate-researc…>, summer uPNC 2017 <http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/training/undergraduate/summer-undergraduate-researc…> mentored research is also available. Please contact Dr. Linda Moya (lhmoya(a)cmu.edu <mailto:lhmoya@cmu.edu>) for further questions.

Dec. 21, 2019

PhD fellowship in joint processing of audio and EEG signals

by Kaare Mikkelsen

Applications are invited for a PhD fellowship within Deep learning for joint processing of audio and EEG signals. The aim of the project is to develop algorithms for enhancing hearing aid performance through integration with ear-EEG. The project will investigate deep neural networks for joint processing of brain and audio signals. Read more at: https://eng.au.dk/fileadmin/DJF/ENG/Billeder/ECE/CenterforEarEEG/PhDPositio… <https://eng.au.dk/forskning/forskningsprogrammer-og-centre/center-for-ear-e…> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaare Mikkelsen, PhD Phys. Department of Engineering Aarhus University --------------------------------------------------------------------

Dec. 20, 2019

AREADNE 2020 1st Call for Abstracts

by John Pezaris

AREADNE 2020 Research in Encoding and Decoding of Neural Ensembles Nomikos Conference Centre, Santorini, Greece 16-20 June 2020 http://areadne.org info(a)areadne.org Dear Colleague, We are pleased to announce solicitation of abstracts for poster presentation at AREADNE 2020, 16-20 June 2020, our eighth meeting to be held at the Nomikos Conference Centre in Santorini, Greece. Continuing with the same highly successful format, AREADNE 2020 will bring scientific leaders from around the world to present their theoretical and experimental work on the functioning of neuronal ensembles. The meeting will provide an informal yet spectacular setting in which attendees can discuss their recent ideas and discoveries, with a relaxed pace that emphasizes interaction. Please see the Call for Abstracts for additional details, including links for templates, at http://areadne.org/call-for-abstracts Submissions of abstracts for poster presentations are due by 24 Jan 2020; notifications will be provided by 21 Feb 2020. We strongly encourage potential attendees to submit an abstract as presenters have registration priority. For information about the conference, please refer to the main web page http://areadne.org or send email to us at info(a)areadne.org . We hope to see you at AREADNE 2020, Nicholas Hatsopoulos & John Pezaris AREADNE 2020 Co-Chairs --- John S. Pezaris, Ph.D. AREADNE 2020 Co-Chair Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital 55 Fruit Street Boston, MA 02114, USA john(a)areadne.org

Dec. 19, 2019

PhD position in mouse/monkey electrophysiology at Ernst Strungmann Institute (Frankfurt, Germany)

by Scholvinck, Marieke

We are hiring! We are looking for an enthusiastic Ph.D. candidate to join our team in the Zero-Noise Lab at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience in Frankfurt, Germany. The position The Zero-Noise Lab investigates how neuronal activity unfolds during natural behaviour rather than in the restricted conditions of most laboratory experiments, and how this compares between mouse and monkey. To this end, we implant electrodes to record neuronal activity in multiple visual brain areas as our animals move through a realistic virtual reality environment in search of virtual rewards. More information about the lab can be found at https://www.esi-frankfurt.de/research/havenith-scholvinck-lab/. The lab is jointly headed by Marieke Schölvinck and Martha Nari Havenith. Postdocs and Ph.D. students focus on either mice or monkeys, but intensely work together to ensure that we constantly learn from each other's experiments. This means that as a Ph.D. student you will work together closely with a postdoc to set up and run the experiments. Ideally, we would like you to start in spring 2020, but later would also work. We are most urgently looking for a Ph.D. student for the monkey experiments. The appointment is for three years initially, with the possibility of extension by another two years; the salary is in accordance with the regulations for academic personnel. You If you (are about to) hold an M.Sc. or equivalent, and are excited to work in an interdisciplinary lab with multiple model species, we would love to hear from you! Additional skills that are not a must, but would be very valuable: - programming skills (Matlab and/or Python) - experience with training animals - experience with electrophysiology How to apply If you're interested, please send an email to Marieke (marieke.scholvinck(a)esi-frankfurt.de<mailto:marieke.scholvinck@esi-frankfurt.de>) and Martha (marthanari.havenith(a)gmail.com<mailto:marthanarihavenith@gmail.com>) before February 15, 2020. In your email, please explain your background and why you want to join us in Frankfurt. The application remains open until the position is filled. We look forward to hearing from you! Martha and Marieke

Dec. 19, 2019

4th Meeting of the French BCI Society in Autrans, May 11-13 2020

by Blaise Yvert

Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce that the 4th CORTICO days will take place in Autrans (near Grenoble, in France) from May 11-13, 2020. This year, they will be dedicated to: *" Invasive and non invasive brain-computer interfaces - A handshake over the cliff "* The conference website in now online, HERE <https://corticodays.sciencesconf.org/>. You are already invited to register and submit abstracts, knowing that the space of the conference center is limited. Looking forward welcoming you in Autrans, Blaise Yvert, for the conference organizing committee -- Blaise Yvert, PhD. Inserm Research Director Team Neurotechnology and Network Dynamics BrainTech Laboratory U1205 Inserm and Univ Grenoble Alpes UFR Chimie Biologie Bâtiment Biologie B 3e étage 2280 rue de la piscine 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères France Tel (admin). +33 4 56 52 03 73 Tel (direct). +33 4 56 52 03 74 Tel (lab). +33 4 56 52 03 81 Tel (mobile). +33 6 32 88 75 90 https://sites.google.com/view/blaise-yvert/accueil http://www.braincom-project.eu/

Dec. 17, 2019

Joint faculty position at NYU: Data Science and Neural Science

by Eero P Simoncelli

Dear Colleagues, The Center for Neural Science (CNS) and the Center for Data Science (CDS) at New York University invite applications for an open rank joint faculty position, anticipated to begin September 2020. Appointments may be made at either junior or senior level. We seek exceptional candidates that can carry out research programs aimed at quantitative analysis and modeling of neural data, and developing related data science tools and methods, leveraging existing strengths of CNS and CDS. We are particularly interested in scholars with cross-disciplinary research interests that complement those of our existing faculty. The successful candidate will be a faculty member in both units, with teaching, service, and other professional duties split between them. Applications and supporting documents received by 31 December 2019 will receive full consideration. Further information about CNS and CDS, and the University: * http://www.cns.nyu.edu/ * https://cds.nyu.edu/ To apply: * https://apply.interfolio.com/70431 Best, Eero Simoncelli New York University

Dec. 16, 2019

Fully funded PhD position at the IIT - neural coding - open now

by Stefano Panzeri

Fully funded PhD Position at IIT - Computational approaches to study the neural code for somatosensation. I am are seeking candidates for a fully funded PhD position at the Italian Institute of Technology’s in my lab ( https://www.iit.it/people/stefano-panzeri ). IIT collaborates with SISSA and finances the positions at the PhD course at SISSA from the EU Marie Curie Training Network Neutouch (www.neutouch.eu) Although formally to be enrolled at SISSA, the successful candidate will conduct research in my laboratory at the IIT headquarters in Genova, Italy. The PhD project can focus on any of the research topics about somatosensory neural information processing that are of interest to the candidate, to my lab and to the Training Network (www.neutouch.eu) including: developing mathematical analysis methods and neural network models for studying neural population coding of somatosensory signals, for studying the neural bases of sensory perception and decision making, and for designing somatosensory neuro-inspired artificial sensors. The ideal candidate should have a strong background in numerate sciences, and have a strong propensity for interdisciplinary research. No extensive previous experience in neuroscience is required. However, a keen interest in understanding the brain is essential. The position is open immediately and will close when a suitable candidate is found. Interested candidates are invited to contact me informally by email (stefano.panzeri(a)iit.it) as soon as possible, by attaching their CV and briefly explaining their interest in this position, to initiate discussions about potential PhD projects of interest. For recent representative publications from my lab, please see: van Vugt B, et al, (2018) *Science* 360, 537-542 Zaldivar, D., et al, (2018) *Current Biology* 28: 224-235 Runyan C. A., et al (2017) *Nature*: 548: 92-96 Pica G. et al, *NIPS* (2017) Panzeri, S, et al (2017) *Neuron* 93: 491-507 Safaai, H. et al (2015) *Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA* 112(41): 12834–12839 Fasoli, D. et al (2016) *PLoS Computational Biology*, 12(8): e1004992. Panzeri, S., et al (2015) *Trends in Cognitive Sciences* 19: 162-172 Einevoll, G., et al (2013) *Nature Reviews Neuroscience*, 14, 770-785 Yours truly, Stefano Panzeri stefano.panzeri(a)iit.it

Dec. 16, 2019