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Registration open for the NSF-Simons NITMB MathBio Convergence Conference 11-14 August 2025 Chicago IL
by William L. Kath Feb. 19, 2025

Feb. 19, 2025

*The NSF-Simons NITMB MathBio Convergence Conference 11-14 August 2025 Chicago, IL Registration, Abstract Submission and Travel Award Applications now open!* More details at https://www.nitmb.org/nitmb-mathbio-convergence-conference We are calling for talks and posters discussing challenging problems in biology that are inspiring new mathematics, statistics, theory and computation, and mathematics that is generating important new insights into biology. If you are a mathematician working on biology or a biologist using mathematics, or just someone who would like to learn more about research at the interface between mathematics and biology, we encourage you to attend. * *Registration:* The number of attendees at the conference is finite. We are asking participants to pay a small fee ($100) to hold their place. * *Abstracts:* Register before 15 April if you would like to submit an abstract. * *Travel Awards:* We are proud to offer travel award to students and early career researchers. A brief application is required for consideration - deadline April 15. * Travel awards fund up to $650 for domestic travel and $800 for intercontinental travel, plus reimbursement for local hotel costs and for meals not provided by the conference (gsa.gov rates apply). Award recipients must lodge at The Drake Hotel (140 East Walton Place Chicago, IL 60611) to receive reimbursement. *Registration/submission steps:* 1. Register at https://www.nitmb.org/nitmb-mathbio-convergence-conference 2. Upon entering your information, you will be directed to a payment site. 3. After confirmation of payment (please note your confirmation number), you will be sent links with which to submit an abstract and/or apply for a travel award. If you have questions, please email nitmb(a)nitmb.org I_mportant Dates:_ Abstract Submission April 15, 2025 Travel Award Application April 15, 2025 Early Registration (to be considered for a presentation) ($100) February 15 - April 15, 2025 Notification of selection for an Oral Talk or a Poster Late May Regular Registration (no presentation) ($100) February 15 - July 14, 2025 Late Registration ($200) July 15 - August 4, 2025 Hotel Registration (at the Drake) Mid-April - July 15, 2025 *Confirmed plenary speakers:* *Alexander Auhlela, The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)* Dr. Aulehla uses dynamical systems to study how a vertebrate embryo forms the unique number of body segments that make up the vertebrae. *Carina Curto, Brown University* Dr. Curto combines mathematical tools from algebra, geometry, topology and dynamical systems to elucidate complex patterns of activity in networks of neurons. *Lorin Crawford, Microsoft Research and Brown University* Dr. Crawford uses machine learning and statistical tools to study the genotype-to-phenotype map for complex traits and diseases. *Michael Hawrylycz, The Allen Institute* Dr. Hawrylycz studies the cellular constitution and organization of the brain using single-cell transcriptomics and cutting-edge computational and statistical tools. *Anna-Liisa Laine, University of Helsinki* Dr. Laine studies complex problems in ecology across a spectrum of length and time scales. *Reidun Twarock, University of York* Dr. Twarock uses mathematics to study the symmetries of animal viruses and how they self-assemble inside host cells.

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First Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Neuroscience
by James Bower Feb. 19, 2025

Feb. 19, 2025

I thought some on this list might be interested in knowing about the first annual meeting for the newly formed Society for Philosophy and Neuroscience, to be held May 1-3, 2025 at Washington University in St. Lewis, Missouri, USA. https://www.philandneuro.com/?utm_campaign=e5e3edd6-f129-4005-9ca3-804ea034… HOME | SPAN philandneuro.com Just FYI, I will be part of a symposium considering: "What can we learn about current neuroscience practice from its history." I was considering giving a talk on what you can and can’t learn about the brain using AI, but decided instead to discuss: Correlation as a substitute for causality: how FMRI has reinforced correlation-based story telling in neuroscience and in the process the cerebellum has replaced 42 as the answer to everything. According to Goggle’s AI overview, the function of the cerebellum includes motor coordination, balance and posture, motor learning, attention, memory and emotional regulation. The AI bott missed: sleep, stress, thirst, hyperactivity, psychosis, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, urinary tract function, mutism, language acquisition, and much more. In 1996, I published an FMRI study in Science that is generally regarded as providing the first evidence that the 150 year assumption that the cerebellum was only a motor control device was incorrect. In fact, that study was designed to test whether the cerebellum was involved in motor control at all, based on predictions made by realistic computational models built from experimental evidence (i.e. non-Ptolemaic models). So what has happened since? This talk will consider how fMRI, employed as the ultimate correlation seeking technique, has distorted not only our understanding of the overall function of the cerebellum, but has also, in effect, undermined and distorted basic neuroscientific study of this remarkable structure. As such, epistemologically, the cerebellum may represent the ultimate example of what is wrong with neuroscience as well as how it can be fixed. Best to all in troubling times, Jim Dr. James M. Bower Ph.D. 541-499-7502 Simulating a 17th century landed gentry scientist. Also: Affiliate Professor of Biology Southern Oregon University Visiting Professor of Computational Neuroscience Biocomputation Research Group School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science University of Hertfordshire, UK Linked in <https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-m-bower-130163/> Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Bower>

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IRMA: Machine learning-based harmonization of 18F-FDG PET brain scans in multi-center studies
by Michael Biehl Feb. 19, 2025

Feb. 19, 2025

Our paper "IRMA: Machine learning-based harmonization of 18F-FDG PET brain scans in multi-center studies" by Sofie Lövdal et al. has been published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and is available online (open access): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00259-025-07114-4 In this work we apply interpretable machine learning systems for the analysis of 18-FDG PET brain scans from different medical centers. We show that the center origin of healthy control brain images acquired with different scanners/protocols can be identified with high confidence. Consequently, machine learning models trained with data from different scanners may be heavily impacted by this bias when applied to a clinically relevant problem, e.g. the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders. We propose IRMA (Iterated Relevance Matrix Analysis) as a recursive method to learn and disregard bias in PET feature vectors. Related code is freely available at https://github.com/SofieLovdal/IRMA-harmonization --------------------------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Michael Biehl Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence P.O. Box 407, 9700 AK Groningen, NL https://www.cs.rug.nl/~biehl m.biehl(a)rug.nl

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[Meeting] CRNS Talk Series - Live Talk by Dr. Yumi Iwashita - NASA JPL, USA
by Amir Aly Feb. 18, 2025

Feb. 18, 2025

Dear All * *Apologies for cross-posting** The* Center for Robotics and Neural Systems* (CRNS) and *UK-Ireland IEEE RAS Chapter* are pleased to announce the talk of *Dr. Yumi Iwashita* from *NASA JPL, USA* on Wednesday, *February 26th *from *3:30 PM* to *5:00 PM* (*London time*) over *Zoom*. *Thank you for forwarding the invitation to any of your colleagues who might be interested*. >> *Events*: The CRNS talk series will cover a wide range of topics including Social and Cognitive Robotics, Computational Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, Computational Linguistics, Cognitive Vision, AI and Machine Learning, and healthcare. More details are available here: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/robotics-neural-systems/whats-on <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.plymo…> >> *Link for the next event (**No Registration is Required**)*: Join Zoom Meeting *https://plymouth.zoom.us/j/95753314935?pwd=B9cuV9Dj6MWkhgrWEZrGsVz9brL21Q.1&from=addon <https://plymouth.zoom.us/j/95753314935?pwd=B9cuV9Dj6MWkhgrWEZrGsVz9brL21Q.1…>* >> *Title of the talk: **Exploring Moons: Preparing for Future Missions to Europa and the Moon* *Abstract*: Each planet has one or more moons, many of which hold immense potential for unlocking fundamental questions about the origins of life. Among the numerous moons in our solar system, Jupiter’s Europa, Earth’s Moon, and Saturn’s Enceladus are of particular scientific interest. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has undertaken several projects focused on these celestial bodies. In this talk, I will introduce two key projects related to Europa and the Moon. The first project, the Europa Lander Mission Concept, faces significant challenges, including a highly limited operational lifetime, constrained energy supply, intermittent communication with prolonged blackouts, and hazardous environmental conditions. Moreover, its extreme distance from Earth prevents reliance on real-time human control. To address these constraints, we developed an autonomous software prototype to test and validate planning and execution strategies for science-driven missions with minimal human intervention. Additionally, we demonstrated autonomous sampling techniques at Matanuska Glacier, Alaska. The second project, LuNaMaps, focuses on autonomous lunar landing. Successful planetary landings require precise localization with respect to the targeted site. However, landing on the Moon presents unique challenges, including insufficient global high-resolution data, the need to validate existing datasets, and extreme illumination conditions—especially at the poles. To address these issues, we have developed methodologies for generating high-quality Digital Elevation Maps (DEMs) and tools to evaluate their accuracy and reliability, supporting future lunar exploration missions. >> If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, Regards -------------------------------------------- *Dr. Amir Aly*, PhD, FHEA, SIEEE Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Programme Manager of Artificial Intelligence UK and Ireland IEEE RAS Chapter Vice Chair Director of the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS) School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics Room A307 Portland Square, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA University of Plymouth, UK

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[Newsletter RTAIM] 16th RTAIM Seminar + 5th Inter. Conf. Phil. Mind (15-21 May 2025)
by steven gouveia Feb. 18, 2025

Feb. 18, 2025

Dear All, We are happy to announce the Call for Abstracts for the 5th International Conference Philosophy of Mind: Natural and Artificial Intelligence, which will happen between the 15-21 May 2025 at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Porto. The conference will be divided into two formats: 15-16 May fully online, and 19, 20 and 21 May 2025 fully in-person in Porto. Keynotes speakers are: Michael Spezio (Scripps College, USA), Anna Strasser (LMU-Munich), Gabriel Mograbi (Federal Uni. Rio Janeiro), Sara Lumbreras (Uni. Pontificia Comillas, Madrid) and Sofia Miguens (University of Porto). The best submitted talk will receive the Philosophy of Mind Award 2025 (waived fee). More information can be found here: https://ifilosofia.up.pt/activities/5-international-conference-philosophy-m… [deadline: 15 March 2025]. Following the 15th rTAIM Online Seminar (by Silvia Dadà, Uni. Pisa, cf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FGyQaGbJw4) we are happy to announce the 16th rTAIM Online Seminar, with the participation of Caio Portella (Uni. São Paulo, Brazil) on the 19th February 2025, 15h00-16h30 Lisbon Time Zone, via Zoom with the title “Artificial Intelligence and Traditional Medicines: Bridging Ethics, Culture, and Innovation in Global Health". You can find the relevant Zoom information here: Link: https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/91602022360?pwd=l9Rn3i0NvdTt3pKU8dVe09W… ID: 916 0202 2360 Password: 797183 We are also happy to share new outputs of the RTAIM Project: 1. Gouveia, S.S. The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Preliminary Remarks. glob. Philosophy 35, 4 (2025) (cf. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10516-024-09737-y) [full paper can be provided via email upon request]. 2. Sincerely yours, RTAIM Team

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Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition 2025
by Lei Zhang Feb. 17, 2025

Feb. 17, 2025

(sorry for cross-posting) We are delighted to welcome applications for the second edition of the Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition (CSC) <https://www.compsoccog.com/>. The summer school is hosted at the University of Birmingham (UK), in collaboration with Leiden University (NL), and will take place from 2nd-5th September 2025. Apply by 18th April 2025 (see information below)! Attending the Birmingham-Leiden CSC Summer School will equip a diverse cohort of early career researchers (trainees through to junior faculty members) with the ability to understand, program, and interpret the output of a range of computational models of social cognition (e.g., reinforcement learning models, evidence accumulation models, Bayesian inference models) and their potential interaction with other modalities of measurements (e.g., fMRI, EEG, eye-tracking). Attendees will receive various types of training (keynote lectures, workshops, tutorials, etc) and work on a group project, both aimed at understanding modelling as well as the theoretical and practical inferences that can be drawn from computational models under social contexts. Keynote speakers: - Matthew Rushworth, University of Oxford (UK) - Diana Tamir, Princeton University, (USA) - David Amodio, University of Amsterdam, (NL) The full list of instructors is available at https://compsoccog.com/instructors-and-speakers. <https://compsoccog.com/instructors-and-speakers> For this year’s training program and organising committee, see https://www.compsoccog.com/about. To apply, please complete this form covering your motivation and experience <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcAccPZFTKLSfvKhwUwH3UQ-6FrpmiPbP…>, including a short CV. The deadline is 18th April 2025. Outcomes will be communicated in early May, with registration for successful applicants then open until mid-June. This year, the CSC Summer School received financial support from the William K. & Katherine W. Estes Fund in association with the Association of Psychological Science <https://www.psychologicalscience.org/members/awards-and-honors/estes-fund> We hope to see you this summer in Birmingham! Jo (2025 co-lead), Lei (2025 co-lead), & Anna, on behalf of the CSC 2025 organising committee --- *Dr. Lei Zhang (He/Him)* Associate Professor/Principal Investigator, Centre for Human Brain Health (CHBH) & Institute for Mental Health (IMH) Psychology, College of Life & Environmental Sciences University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK *e: l.zhang.13(a)bham.ac.uk <l.zhang.13(a)bham.ac.uk> * *w: lei-zhang.net <https://lei-zhang.net/>* *t: @lei_zhang_lz <https://twitter.com/lei_zhang_lz>*

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Multiple PhD positions in Cognitive Neuroscience at SISSA - application deadline 20 March 2025
by Eugenio Piasini Feb. 17, 2025

Feb. 17, 2025

Up to 6 PhD positions in Cognitive Neuroscience are available at SISSA, Trieste, starting October 2025. SISSA is an elite postgraduate research institution for Maths, Physics and Neuroscience, located in Trieste, Italy. SISSA operates in English, and its faculty and student community is diverse and strongly international. The Cognitive Neuroscience group (https://phdcns.sissa.it/) hosts 6 research labs that study the neuronal bases of time and magnitude processing, neuronal foundations of perceptual experience and learning in various sensory modalities, motivation and intelligence, language, and neural computation. Our research is highly interdisciplinary; our approaches include behavioral, psychophysics, and neurophysiological experiments with humans and animals, as well as computational, statistical and mathematical models. Students from a broad range of backgrounds (physics, maths, medicine, psychology, biology) are encouraged to apply. The selection procedure is now open. The application deadline for the spring admission round is 20 March 2025 at 1pm CET. Please apply here<https://pica.cineca.it/sissa/phd-cns-01-2025/>, and see the admission procedure page<https://phdcns.sissa.it/admission-procedure> for more information. Please contact the PhD Coordinator Mathew Diamond (diamond(a)sissa.it) and/or your prospective supervisor for more information and informal inquiries.

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📢 Reminder: FRCCS 2025 – Submit Your Work Before the Deadline!
by Hocine Cherifi Feb. 17, 2025

Feb. 17, 2025

*Dear Colleagues,* 🚨 *Don’t miss your chance to contribute to FRCCS 2025!* We invite you to *submit your research* and join us in *Bordeaux* for an exciting exchange on *complex systems.* 🔥 *Submission Deadlines* ✅ *Main Conference:* *February 21, 2025* ✅ *Workshops:* *March 20, 2025* 🔗 *Submit your work:* CMT Submission Portal <https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/FRCCS2025/> 🌍 *More info:* FRCCS 2025 Website <https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/> ------------------------------ 🌟 *Discover FRCCS 2025 Workshops* In addition to the main conference, FRCCS 2025 features *specialized workshops* exploring key challenges in *complexity science.* These workshops provide *a unique platform* to engage with experts, exchange insights, and foster collaborations. 📢 *Workshops at FRCCS 2025:* 🎨 *Beauty in Complexity* – *Benjamin Renoust* 🔗 *Complex Networks and Blockchain for the Future of Trusted Connectivity* – *Annamaria Ficara* 🤝 *Emergence of Cooperation Across Scales* – *Emma Zajdela* 🧬 *Understanding Complex Systems in Biology – Tissue Growth, Morphogenesis, and Signal Dynamics* – *Xinyi Liu* 🧠 *Cognitive Biases in ABMs and Agent-Resolved Data* – *Damien Challet* 📊 *Decoding Success in Business and Economics: A Complexity Science Perspective* – *Fabian Braesemann* 🌐 *2nd Workshop on Complex Network Sparsification & Beyond* – *Hamida Seba* *📢** Ready to Contribute?* Be part of FRCCS 2025 by submitting your work and engaging in our workshops. We look forward to your contributions and to welcoming you to *Bordeaux!* 💡 *Submit Now:* CMT Submission Portal <https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/FRCCS2025/>

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Fwd: [seminar.wwtns] NEW: More seminars of VVTNS 5th season are now online
by David Hansel Feb. 16, 2025

Feb. 16, 2025

[image: VVTNS.png] https://www.wwtns.online <https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.on…> - on twitter: wwtns@TheoreticalWide The following seminars are now available on the VVTNS website and YouTube channel ---------------------------------------------------------- Unraveling information processing through functional networks Hannah Choi Georgia Tech talk given on November 6, 2024 https://www.wwtns.online/past-seminars-2024-2025 ------------------------------------ The algebra of cognition Chris Eliasmith University of Waterloo talk given on November 20, 2024 https://www.wwtns.online/past-seminars-2024-2025 --------------------------------------- Back to the Continuous Attractor Memming Park Champalimaud Foundation talk given on November 27, 2024 https://www.wwtns.online/past-seminars-2024-2025 --------------------------------------- Properties of memory networks with excitatory-inhibitory assemblies Claire Meissner-Bernard Friedrich Miescher Institute for biomedical research, Basel talk given on December 18, 2024 https://www.wwtns.online/past-seminars-2024-2025 ---------------------------- Dense Associative Memory and its potential role in brain computation Dmitry Krotov IBM Research, Cambridge, USA talk given on January 8, 2025 https://www.wwtns.online/past-seminars-2024-2025 ----------------------------- New methods for tracking and control of dynamic animal behavior during learning Jonathan Pillow Princeton University talk given on January 15, 2025 https://www.wwtns.online/past-seminars-2024-2025 ----------------------------- *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.* ᐧ

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World wide VVTNS series (fifth season): Wednesday, February 19, 2025, at 11:00 am EST| Jens-Bastian Eppler , Centre de Recerca Matemàtica Barcelona
by David Hansel Feb. 16, 2025

Feb. 16, 2025

[image: VVTNS.png] https://www.wwtns.online <https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.on…> - on twitter: wwtns@TheoreticalWide You are cordially invited to the lecture given by Jens-Bastian Eppler Centre de Recerca Matemàtica Barcelona <https://www.researchgate.net/institution/Goethe-Universitaet_Frankfurt_am_M…> on the topic of Representational drift reflects ongoing balancing of stochastic changes by Hebbian learning The lecture will be held on zoom on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, at *11:00 am EST * To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page *Abstract: * Even in stable environments, sensory responses undergo continuous reformatting, a phenomenon known as representational drift. Using chronic calcium imaging in mouse auditory cortex, we show that during this representational drift signal correlations predict future noise correlations, suggesting that stimulus-driven co-activation strengthens effective connectivity via Hebbian-like plasticity. Linear network models reveal that these temporal dependencies between signal and noise correlations emerge only when Hebbian learning balances stochastic synaptic changes, preventing functional degradation. Our findings highlight how ongoing input-driven plasticity stabilizes neural representations amidst inherent synaptic variability. *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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