- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

new Open Access Perspective
by Daniel Gardner 17 Feb '22

17 Feb '22

What do brains compute, and how do they do it? Has evolution conserved a small canonical set of computations performed by neural circuitry? In a just-published invited Perspective for the Journal of Computational Neuroscience, I present arguments for (and against) these fundamental questions. The title, Where are the cores in this thing? …and what are they computing? (with apologies to Larry Abbott) is of course an homage to Larry's 'Where are the switches on this thing?' It's Open Access and freely downloadable (tell your students and friends) at: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10827-021-00809-1.pdf The very first sentence is: "Evolution conserves neural components and connectivity—does this extend to computations and circuitry?" I go on to note that independent of specific microcircuit connectivity, some key neuronal and network properties, conserved across all nervous systems, may be essential for computation. Candidates include irregular firing, stochastic plastic synapses, alternate A/D PSPs/spikes, nonlinear f-I, cellular longevity, dynamic but stable networks with both fixed and adaptive features, and local processing linked by distant connectivity for coherence and modulation. Collegially, I invite discussion. I also urge neuroscientists to add these questions to those that guide their own research, and I offer community efforts to widen the scope. ...Daniel Gardner, Ph.D. dan(a)med.cornell.edu dg458(a)columbia.edu Head, Laboratory of Neuroinformatics Professor Physiology & Biophysics/Neurology/Neuroscience Weill Medical College of Cornell University lab: (212) 746-6373 cell: (917) 902-0654

1 0

NEST Conference 2022 - registration is open
by Hans Ekkehard Plesser 17 Feb '22

17 Feb '22

Dear Colleagues, The NEST Initiative is excited to invite everyone interested in Neural Simulation Technology and the NEST Simulator to the NEST Conference 2022. The NEST Conference provides an opportunity for the NEST Community to meet, exchange success stories, swap advice, learn about current developments in and around NEST spiking network simulation and its application. We particularly encourage young scientists to participate in the conference! This year's conference will again take place as a virtual event on Thursday/Friday 23/24 June 2022. Register now! For more information please visit the conference website https://nest-simulator.org/conference We are looking forward to seeing you all in June! Hans Ekkehard Plesser and colleagues -- Prof. Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Head, Department of Data Science Faculty of Science and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no<mailto:hans.ekkehard.plesser@nmbu.no> Home http://arken.nmbu.no/~plesser

1 0

Postdoctoral Researcher in Medical Interactive Technologies
by Mastaneh Torkamani 17 Feb '22

17 Feb '22

The University of Eastern Finland is inviting applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher position in Medical Interactive Technologies on the Joensuu Campus. The position will be filled for a 2-year term from 1.3.2022 (or as agreed). Please find more information below and submit your application no later than 25.2.2022. We are looking for a highly motivated and self-driven Postdoctoral Researcher to work full-time on an interdisciplinary research project funded by the Academy of Finland: "Next generation sensory monitoring for improving microsurgical skills and performance" led by Associate Professor Roman Bednarik (https://www.uef.fi/en/web/int) As our new Postdoctoral Researcher in Medical Interactive Technologies, you will be working in the School of Computing at the Faculty of Science and Forestry, Joensuu. The project is in collaboration with Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery and Microsurgery Training Center, https://www.microsurgerycenter.com/. The research will focus on deep understanding of sensorimotor perception and action in image-guided surgeries. A large part of the research evolves around the visual and tactile perception that underlies surgeon’s high-level skills, i.e. eye-hand coordination, action planning, and decision making. Situated in bimanual surgical tasks, our research combines human factors, human-robot interaction, computational modeling, machine learning, and computer vision for intelligent skill monitoring and interaction with robotic assistance in surgical procedures. For more information, please see the job advert at https://rekry.saima.fi/certiahome/open_job_view.html?did=5600&jc=16&id=0000… Please submit your application by using our electronic application form no later than 25.2.2022 (by 24.00 hours Finnish time). For further information on the position, please contact associate Professor Roman Bednarik, e-mail roman.bednarik(a)uef.fi, tel. +358 29 4453621 For further information on the application procedure, please contact HR-secretary Noora Hämäläinen, e-mail noora.hamalainen(a)uef.fi, tel. +358 29 4458 302 Best regards, Mastaneh Torkamani Azar, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Researcher Interactive Technologies Research Group School of Computing University of Eastern Finland Email: mastaneh.torkamani(a)uef.fi https://sites.uef.fi/int/

1 0

Postdoc position at UTSA
by Fidel Santamaria 16 Feb '22

16 Feb '22

As part of a collaboration with the AFRL, the laboratory of Dr Santamaria at UTSA is looking for a talented postdoc to computationally study how fast thermal gradients impact synaptic mechanisms in dendritic spines. This will be part of a collaborative project between UTSA, AFRL, and other universities where experiments and simulations will combine to understand fundamental plasticity processes in neuronal synapses. The results will have important practical implications in neuroscience and biomedical engineering. The selected person will work on developing deterministic and stochastic models of how biochemical signals, involved in synaptic plasticity, are affected by thermal gradients. Interested individuals should send a CV and cover letter to Dr. Santamaria (fidel.santamaria(a)utsa.edu) The position is for one year, with the possibility of renewal. This position is only open to American citizens. Applicants must have experience with Python or Matlab and a background in physics or engineering is preferred. _______________________________________________________________________________ Fidel Santamaria, PhD Professor Department of Neuroscience, Development, and Regenerative Biology University of Texas at San Antonio www.utsa.edu/SantamariaLab<http://www.utsa.edu/SantamariaLab> Office: BSB 1.03.30 Tel +1(210) 458 6910

1 0

Special issue of SIAP on the life sciences
by Kresimir josic 14 Feb '22

14 Feb '22

SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics (SIAP) invites contributions for a special section on the life sciences to highlight the use and development of mathematical models and analysis tools to address life sciences issues that are of true biological, medical, or industrial relevance. Papers submitted to this special section will be peer-reviewed, subject to the review criteria of SIAP. Papers will initially be handled by guest editors. The window for submissions runs from February 15 to June 30, 2022. For information about this issue please see: https://bit.ly/3LsPxcw <https://bit.ly/3LsPxcw>

1 0

Third session of the Brains Through Time Reading Club
by manuel molano 14 Feb '22

14 Feb '22

Dear all, I would like to bring to your attention the third session of the Brains Through Time Reading Club<https://sites.google.com/view/bbtreadingclub/home>! It will be on February 23rd (4pm CEST / 10 EST) and will include the participation of Leonard Maler<https://www.uottawa.ca/brain/people/maler-leonard>, Idoia Quintana-Urzainqui<https://twitter.com/idoiaeu>, Luis Puelles<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nIoLKVAAAAAJ&hl=en> and Paul Cisek<https://cisek.org/pavel/>. We will discuss the main ideas of the third chapter of the book: The origin of jaws and paired fins. You can register HERE<https://www.crowdcast.io/e/brains-through-time-3>. And in case you missed the previous sessions, you can watch them HERE<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDWFS3MBL9OhmpmL6mFmxsg/featured>.

1 0

Computational Neuroscience Summer school in South Africa, DEADLINE TOMORROW
by Tim Vogels 14 Feb '22

14 Feb '22

Dear all, This is a reminder that the application DEADLINE for the next IMBIZO is TOMORROW. If you, or anyone you know who would benefit from this opportunity please consider applying: IBRO-SIMONS COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE IMBIZO #isiCNI2022 12 August - 4 September 2022, Noordhoek Beach, Cape Town, South Africa http://imbizo.africa/ <http://imbizo.africa/> Application deadline: 15th February 2022 The #isiCNI2022 is a southern hemisphere summer school aiming to promote computational neuroscience in Africa. It will bring together international and local students under the tutelage of the world's leading experts in the field. Like its international sister courses, this four-week summer school aims to teach central ideas, methods, and practices of modern computational neuroscience through a combination of lectures and hands-on project work. Mornings will be devoted to lectures on topics across the breadth of computational neuroscience, including experimental underpinnings and machine learning analogues. The rest of the day will be spent working on research projects under the close supervision of expert tutors and faculty. Individual research projects will focus on the modelling of neurons, neural systems, behaviour, the analysis of state-of-the-art neural data, and the development of theories to explain experimental observations. New this year is a week focused on neuroscience-inspired machine learning! Who should apply? This course is aimed at Masters and early-PhD level students though Honours or advanced undergraduates may also apply. Postdoctoral students who can motivate why the course would benefit them are also encouraged to apply, Students should have sufficient quantitative skills, (e.g. a background in mathematics, physics, computer science, statistics, engineering or related field). Some knowledge of neural biology will be useful but not essential. Experimental neuroscience students are encouraged to apply, but should ensure that they have a reasonable level of quantitative proficiency (i.e. at least second-year level mathematics or statistics and have done at least one course in computer programming). Please distribute this information as widely as you can. Essential details * Fee (which covers tuition, lodging, and meals): 1100 EUR Thanks to our generous sponsors, significant financial assistance is available to reduce and waiver fees for students, particularly for African applicants. We also hope to provide some travel bursaries for international students. If you are in need of financial assistance to attend the Imbizo, please state so clearly in the relevant section of your application. The Imbizo is planned to be hosted in person, with everyone following our COVID policy <https://imbizo.africa/covid-policy/>. If it is unsafe to hold the summer school, we will follow up with further information at the appropriate time. * Application deadline: 15th February 2022 * Notification of results: late April 2022 Information and application https://imbizo.africa/ <https://imbizo.africa/> Questions? isicn.imbizo(a)gmail.com <mailto:isicn.imbizo@gmail.com> What is an Imbizo? \ɪmˈbiːzɒ\ | Xhosa - Zulu A gathering of the people to share knowledge. FACULTY Demba Ba - Harvard University Adrienne Fairhall - University of Washington Peter Latham - University College London Daphne Bavelier - University of Geneva Timothy Lillicrap - DeepMind Jonathan Pillow - Princeton University Joseph Raimondo - University of Cape Town Mackenzie Mathis - EPFL Lausanne Athanassia Papoutsi - IMBB-FORTH Evan Schaffer - Columbia University Henning Sprekeler - Technical University of Berlin Thomas Tagoe - University of Ghana Tim Vogels - Institute of Science and Technology Austria Blake Richards - McGill University Alex Pouget - University of Geneva TUTORS Mohamed Abdelhack - Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics Annik Carson - McGill University Spiros Chavlis - IMBB-FORTH Christopher Currin - Institute of Science and Technology Austria Sanjukta Krishnaopal - University College London Marjorie Xie - Columbia University ORGANISERS Demba Ba (Harvard University) Christopher Currin (Institute of Science and Technology Austria) Peter Latham (Gatsby Unit for Computational Neuroscience) Joseph Raimondo (University of Cape Town) Emma Vaughan (Imbizo Logistics) Tim Vogels (Institute of Science and Technology Austria) Sponsors The isiCNI is made possible by the generous support from the Simons Foundation <https://www.simonsfoundation.org/> and the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO) <https://ibro.org/>, as well as the Wellcome Trust <https://wellcome.org/>, Deep Mind <https://deepmind.com/> and Wits University <https://www.wits.ac.za/> Organizational Affiliates University of Cape Town, University College London, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, TReND in Africa <http://trendinafrica.org/>, Neuroscience Institute <http://www.neuroscience.uct.ac.za/>, Gatsby Foundation <http://www.gatsby.org.uk/>, IBRO African Center for Advanced Training in Neurosciences at UCT

1 0

[Jobs] Available Position: Professor in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the University of Plymouth, UK
by Amir Aly 12 Feb '22

12 Feb '22

Dear All, *Apologies for cross-posting* *The School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics (SECaM)*, at the University of Plymouth has a unique opportunity for an outstanding academic and their team to join the School and strengthen our research, leadership, and collaboration in *Artificial Intelligence*. This is an opportunity to establish senior academic direction and growth in this core area of Artificial Intelligence and to build on multi-disciplinary collaboration, supporting the School’s strategic objectives to create a critical mass of expertise in the area of Artificial Intelligence aligning directly with Industry 4.0 and future national and international research opportunities and skills development needs. You will work together with colleagues to create a vision for our existing Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS), which builds on the world-leading and international excellence performance in the field of computer science, social and cognitive robotics, neural computation, and others. You will join a community of over 100 staff and 2000 students who work alongside one another in world-leading facilities. This synergistic mix of academic disciplines has research strength aligned with challenges of the fourth Industrial Revolution, clean growth, digitalization, autonomy, and health technology, helping to develop pioneering, innovative solutions to real-world problems that have a genuinely positive impact upon society. The deadline is 25th February. For more information and to apply, please visit: https://hrservices.plymouth.ac.uk/tlive_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.o… <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhrservice…> Regards ---------------- *Dr. Amir Aly* Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Center for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS) School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics Room B332, Portland Square, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA University of Plymouth, UK

1 0

Running your new lab: tips and tricks - Panel discussion - 10th March 2022, 12h GMT / 13h CET
by Sidarus, Nura 11 Feb '22

11 Feb '22

Running your new lab: tips and tricks 10th March 2022 12h GMT / 13h CET Online To commemorate International Women's Day, we are delighted to host this practical panel discussion to provide support and inspiration for starting and running a lab. Save the date and do not miss the opportunity to share experiences with leading women scientists in cognitive sciences across Europe. Details and registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/running-your-new-lab-tips-and-tricks-tickets… Our panel: * Prof Nivedita Mani, Professor of Psychology of Language, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany * Dr Jessie Ricketts, Reader in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK * Prof Agnieszka Wykowska, Professor in Social Cognition in Human-Robot Interaction, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genova, Italy Organised and facilitated by Nura Sidarus (Royal Holloway University of London) & co-facilitated by María Jesús Maraver (Universidade de Lisboa). Supported by Women in Cognitive Science - Europe (WiCS-E) & Royal Holloway University of London. __________________________________________________________ Dr Nura Sidarus (she/her) Lecturer | Department of Psychology Royal Holloway University of London | Egham | Surrey | TW20 0EX Office: Wolfson 248 | Tel: +44 (0) 1784 44 3717 Affiliate Member | Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL nura.sidarus(a)rhul.ac.uk<mailto:%20nura.sidarus@rhul.ac.uk> | www.nurasidarus.com<http://www.nurasidarus.com/> __________________________________________________________ This email, its contents and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. In certain circumstances, it may also be subject to legal privilege. Any unauthorised use, disclosure, or copying is not permitted. If you have received this email in error, please notify us and immediately and permanently delete it. Any views or opinions expressed in personal emails are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Royal Holloway, University of London. It is your responsibility to ensure that this email and any attachments are virus free.

1 0

crowd-sourcing COSYNE post-review score sheet
by PERRINET Laurent 11 Feb '22

11 Feb '22

Dear community COSYNE is a great conference which plays a pivotal role in our field. Raw numbers we were given are * 881 submitted abstracts * 215 independent reviewers * 2639 reviews If you have submitted an abstract (or several) you have recently received your scores. I am not affiliated to COSYNE - yet I would like to contribute in some way and would like to ask one minute of your time to report the raw scores from your reviewers: https://forms.gle/p7eG1p6dJAkr4Cyg7 (Do one form per abstract.) For this crowd-sourcing effort to have a most positive impact, I will share the results and summarize in a few lines them in one week time (11/02). The more numerous your feedbacks, the higher the precision of results! Thanks in advance for your action, Laurent PS: if any similar initiative already exists, I'll be more than willing to receive feedback -- Laurent Perrinet - INT (UMR 7289) AMU/CNRS https://laurentperrinet.github.io/

2 2