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Faculty Position in Mathematical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh
by Chengcheng Huang 03 Oct '21

03 Oct '21

*The Department of Mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh* invites applications for *a tenure-track faculty position at the Assistant Professor level in the area of Mathematical Biology (including computational neuroscience)* to begin in the fall term of 2022, pending budgetary approval. We seek outstanding candidates with expertise in developing and applying mathematical methods to address biological questions, who will complement and enhance our existing strength in this area. We are dedicated to the mutual success of our faculty and students in our research and education enterprise. The University of Pittsburgh is an active center for interdisciplinary research in the life sciences, offering exciting opportunities for collaborations across departments as well as with our highly ranked medical school and nearby Carnegie Mellon University. The University is currently ranked third in the nation in total NIH funding. Successful candidates will have a Ph.D. in Mathematics or another quantitative field and should demonstrate substantial research accomplishment and dedication to teaching. Review of applications will begin on *November 15, 2021*, and will continue until the position is filled. Applicants can apply online at: *https://www.join.pitt.edu/* <https://www.join.pitt.edu/> (under Faculty Positions, Keyword search for Mathematical Biology or Mathematics). Candidates should submit (a) a cover letter, (b) a CV, (c) a statement of research accomplishments and future plans, (d) a brief description of teaching experience and interests, and (e) a brief description of how your research, teaching or service demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Applicants should also have (f) at least three letters of reference emailed to math(a)pitt.edu by November 15, 2021. Any questions about the application process can be directed to Dana Freund at daf125(a)pitt.edu. The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences is committed to building and fostering a culturally diverse environment, so the ability to work effectively with a wide range of individuals and constituencies in support of a diverse community is essential. The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and values equality of opportunity, human dignity, and diversity. EOE, including disability/vets.

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COSYNE 2022: Call for workshop proposals
by Tomas Hromadka 01 Oct '21

01 Oct '21

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2022 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING 17 - 20 March 2022 Lisbon, Portugal WORKSHOPS 21 - 22 March 2022 Cascais, Portugal www.cosyne.org ==================================================== ---------------------------------------------------- MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT ---------------------------------------------------- The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is single-track. A set of invited talks is selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. All abstract submissions will be reviewed double blind. The deadline for Abstract submission will be 20 November 2021. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural basis of behavior, sensory and motor systems, circuitry, learning, neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, neuromodulation, and computation with spiking networks. We would like to foster increased participation from experimental groups as well as computational ones. Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to apply. IMPORTANT DATES Abstract submission opens: 15 October 2021 Workshop pre-proposal deadline: 15 October 2021 Travel grant submission opens: 01 November 2021 Workshop proposal deadline: 12 November 2021 Abstract submission deadline: 20 November 2021 When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting. Abstracts will be selected based on the clarity with which they convey the substance, significance, and originality of the work to be presented. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chairs: Anne-Marie Oswald (U Pittsburgh) and Srdjan Ostojic (Ecole Normale Superieure Paris) Program Chairs: Laura Busse (LMU Munich) and Tim Vogels (IST Austria) Workshop Chairs: Anna Schapiro (U Penn) and Blake Richards (McGill) Tutorial Chair: Kanaka Rajan (Mount Sinai) DEIA Committee: Bianca Jones Martin (Columbia), Gabrielle Gutierrez (Columbia), and Stefano Recanatesi (U Washington) Undergraduate Travel Chairs: Angela Langdon (Princeton) and Bob Wilson (U Arizona) Fundraising Chair: Michael Long (NYU) Social Media Chair: Grace Lindsay (Columbia) Poster Design: Maja Bialon PROGRAM COMMITTEE Laura Busse (U Munich) Tim Vogels (IST Austria) Athena Akrami (UCL) Omri Barak (Technion) Brice Bathellier (Paris) Bing Brunton (U Washington) Yoram Burak (Hebrew University) SueYeon Chung (Columbia) Christine Constantinople (NYU) Victor de Lafuente (UNAM Mexico) Jan Drugowitsch (Harvard) Alexander Ecker (Göttingen) Tatiana Engel (Cold Spring Harbor) Annegret Falkner (Princeton) Kevin Franks (Duke) Jens Kremkow (Berlin) Andrew Leifer (Princeton) Sukbin Lim (Shanghai) Scott Linderman (Stanford) Emilie Mace (MPI Neurobiology) Mackenzie Mathis (EPFL Lausanne) Ida Momennejad (Microsoft) Jill O'Reilly (Oxford) Il Memming Park (Stony Brook) Adrien Peyrache (McGill Montréal) Yiota Porazi (FORCE) Nathalie Rochefort (Edinburgh) Christina Savin (NYU) Daniela Vallentin (MPI Ornithology) Brad Wyble (Penn State) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephanie Palmer (U Chicago) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) CONTACT meeting [at] cosyne.org ----------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------------- A series of workshops will be held after the main Cosyne meeting. The goal is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of important research questions and challenges. Controversial issues, open problems, comparisons of competing approaches, and alternative viewpoints are encouraged. The overarching goal of all workshops should be the integration of empirical and theoretical approaches, in an environment that fosters collegial discussion and debate. - There will be 6-10 workshops/day, running in parallel. - Each workshop is expected to draw between 20 and 100 people. - The workshops will be split into morning (9.30am-12.30pm) and afternoon (3.30pm-6.30pm) sessions. - Workshops will be held at the Hotel Cascais Miragem. - Workshop speakers do *not* receive free registration, travel expenses, or accommodation for either the main meeting or the workshop sessions. Organizers should let invited speakers know that they are expected to pay for workshop registration fees Workshop organizer responsibilities include coordinating workshop participation and content, scheduling all speakers, submitting a final schedule for the workshop program, and moderating the discussion. Organizers can, but need not, be speakers. One complimentary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with two organizers, the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split evenly between them. Any required multimedia resources beyond a projector, screen, and microphones will be the responsibility of the workshop organizers to coordinate with Cosyne and Hotel staff. EVALUATION CRITERIA As stated above, the goal of Cosyne workshops is to provide an interactive, informal forum for discussions. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: sensory processing; motor planning and control; functional neural circuits; motivation, reward and decision making; learning and memory; adaptation and plasticity; neural coding; neural circuitry and network models; and methods in computational or systems neuroscience. Workshop proposals will be evaluated by the Cosyne Workshop Chairs, and a subset of the proposals will be selected. The proposals will be evaluated according to the following six metrics (which will be weighted equally): 1. Relevance to the Cosyne community 2. Integration of experimental and theoretical issues 3. Current interest in the topic in the scientific community 4. Potential for new research directions and interactions to emerge 5. Distinctive scope/approach compared to other workshops (including previous years’) 6. Diversity and equity in the proposed speakers PRE-PROPOSALS - Deadline 15 October 2021 In an effort to coordinate submissions, workshop organizers are *strongly encouraged* to submit a pre-proposal by *15 October 2021* Submission instructions for workshop (pre)-proposals are available at Cosyne.org -> Workshops. Pre-proposals may be shared among submitters to reduce topical overlap or facilitate merging of workshops. Pre-proposals are not mandatory, but workshops with a pre-proposal will have priority. In order to foster discussion within Workshops and reduce overlap between workshops, organizers should inform invited speakers that a speaker can take part in no more than two Workshops. The pre-proposals should include: - Name(s) and email address(es) of the organizers (no more than 2 organizers per session, please). A primary contact should be designated. - A title. - A brief description of 1) what the workshop will address and accomplish, 2) why the topic is of interest, 3) who is the targeted group of participants. - Names of potential invitees, with indication of confirmed speakers. Preference will be given to workshops with confirmed speakers. - Proposed workshop length (1 or 2 days). Most workshops will be limited to a single day. If you think your workshop needs two days, please explain why. - A brief resume of the workshop organizer(s) along with a short list of workshop-relevant publications (about half a page total). Experience has shown that the best discussions during a workshop are those that arise spontaneously. A good way to foster these is to have short talks and long question periods (e.g. 30+15 minutes), and have plenty of breaks. We recommend keeping the number of talks small (i.e., fewer than 10 talks per day). FULL PROPOSALS - Deadline 12 November 2021 The full proposals should include the list of confirmed speakers in addition to all of the components required for a pre-proposal. WORKSHOP COSTS Detailed registration costs, etc, will be available at www.cosyne.org. Please note: Cosyne does *not* provide travel funding for workshop speakers. Organizers should let invited speakers know that they are expected to pay for workshop registration fees. Participants are encouraged to register early, in order to qualify for discounted registration rates. One complimentary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with two organizers, the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split evenly between them. COSYNE 2022 WORKSHOP CHAIRS Anna Schapiro (U Penn) and Blake Richards (McGill) COSYNE WORKSHOPS CONTACT workshops [at] cosyne.org COSYNE MAILING LISTS Please consider adding yourself to Cosyne mailing lists (groups) to receive email updates with various Cosyne-related information and join in helpful discussions. See Cosyne.org -> Mailing lists for details.

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Announcing the 3rd Brain-Computer Interface Un-Conference (3rd BCI-UC)
by Philipp Raggam 01 Oct '21

01 Oct '21

Dear Colleagues, We cordially invite you to the *3rd Brain-Computer Interface Un-Conference* (BCI-UC) on*January 27th, 2022, from 03:00 pm to 09:00 pm (CET)* [1]! The BCI-UC is an online un-conference that provides rapid dissemination of novel research results in the BCI community. Participants can *submit abstracts* to apply for *20 minutes presentation* slots. Abstracts are not reviewed by a program committee. Rather, all registered participants can vote on which of the submitted abstracts they would like to see presented at the un-conference. Because the BCI-UC does not publish conference proceedings, submitted abstracts can report novel as well as already published work. *Registration and attendance are free of charge*. Presentations of the 1st and 2nd BCI-UC can be re-watched at [2] and [3]. The 3rd BCI-UC will feature *keynotes* by *Cynthia Chestek* (University of Michigan) [4] and *Thorsten Zander* (TU Brandenburg) [5]. *Registration and abstract submission open on November 1st, 2021* [1]. Abstract submissions are text-only. The length and format of the submissions are up to the authors - use whatever format you consider best for attracting up-votes!*Submission closes on December 3rd, 2021 at 11:59 pm*. *Voting on submitted abstracts begins on December 6th, 2021, and closes on December 12th, 2021 at 11:59 pm*. We will invite the authors of the top-voted abstracts to present at the un-conference. *All presentations will be streamed via Crowdcast* [6] and can be accessed free of charge. Join us in supporting this novel community-driven dissemination of research results! The BCI-UC committee: Moritz Grosse-Wentrup Anja Meunier Philipp Raggam Jiachen Xu Links: [1] https://bciunconference.univie.ac.at/3rd-bci-uc/ [2] https://bciunconference.univie.ac.at/past-events/1st-bci-uc/ [3] https://bciunconference.univie.ac.at/past-events/2nd-bci-uc/ [4] https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=36sxAZEAAAAJ&hl=de [5] https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=0E49HxYAAAAJ [6] https://www.crowdcast.io/ -- DI Philipp Raggam, BSc Research Group Neuroinformatics Faculty of Computer Science University of Vienna Hörlgasse 6, A-1090 Wien, Austria

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New Job Posting | Scientific Software Engineer (Max Planck)
by Tanya Brown 30 Sep '21

30 Sep '21

The *Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics* in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, investigates the attentional, cognitive, and affective mechanisms of aesthetic perception and evaluation. The *Department of Neuroscience *invites applications for a *Scientific Software Engineer (m/f/x)* As part of an external funded project in collaboration with Dan Marcus, Wash. U; Sean Hill, CAMH; and members of the Cogitate Consortium, we are searching for a Scientific Data Engineer to contribute to the development of generic, cross-domain metadata management framework to foster the reuse of open datasets as well as reproducibility of cognitive neuroscience datasets i.e., metadata describing the experimental context of studies employing fMRI, MEEG, and ECoG. The successful candidate will also heavily contribute to the development of data infrastructure including storage, streaming and analysis tools for reproducible science based on the BIDS standard. Efforts will be devoted to develop tools for an efficient organization and exploration of raw and processed datasets. The position is ideal for networking in the open science community as it includes interaction with the open (neuro)science community; and is a unique opportunity for someone keen to contribute to the development of open-science and large-scale collaborations and aiming to contribute to community efforts and dissemination. *Your tasks in interdisciplinary research projects focus on:* · Review of existing approaches and tools, Requirement specification, Conceptual design, blueprint of implementation, Proof-of-concept application to Cognitive Neuroscience · Presentation and publication of the results · Exchange and networking within national (NFDI, MPDL) and international (RDA, EOSC) initiatives · Developing, testing and implementing scientific software i.e., standardized neuroscience data acquisition, reproducible analysis pipelines and data storage for open science building on the BIDS standard · Providing training and support for students and postdocs at varied levels of competence in modern, high quality, open science/source coding practices · Providing support and training for data management · Being the lab’s interface with the Institute’s core IT team *Your Profile:* · Completed university degree in natural sciences, engineering or a similar field (e.g., Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Physics, Informatics, Neuroscience) · Solid programming skills preferably in Python and/or C++ · Experience with Python libraries (e.g., NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, and pandas) is beneficial · Experience with software development (e.g., version control with Git) and data organization (e.g., data bases with SQL and MySQL) is preferable · Knowledge of relevant metadata standards and semantic techniques are beneficial (including W3C, schema.org, RDF, JSON-LD, etc) · Interest in interdisciplinary projects and cognitive and systems neuroscience · Familiarity or experience with scientific research methods · High degree of self-organization and independent work · Team spirit, reliability, and sense of responsibility · Complete spoken and written fluency in English; knowledge of German is a plus · Preference will be given to candidates with prior experience in any of these domains: BIDS standards, Open science tools, neuroimaging techniques and data analysis (especially fMRI and MEG/EEG) and/or XNAT We offer an exciting interdisciplinary field of engagement in an international scientific environment. The Institute is located in an attractive location with excellent infrastructure in Frankfurt’s Westend neighbourhood. You can expect a modern equipped workplace with flexible working hours (some remote working is possible) and the Opportunity to participate in (international) conferences and project meetings. Further development of your personal strengths, e.g. through direct interactions with the group of Dan Marcus and Sean Hill, as well as researchers forming part of the Cogitate Consortium (e.g., Christof Koch, Gabriel Kreiman, Ole Jensen, Sylvain Baillet among many others) is possible. The position *will begin earliest on December 1, 2021* and is initially limited to two years, with the possibility of an extension pending funding approval. Salary is paid in accordance with the collective agreement for the public sector (TVöD Bund), according to your qualifications and experience. The Max Planck Society strives for gender equality and diversity. We are also committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in our workforce. Therefore, applicants of all backgrounds are welcome. Your application should include: your detailed CV (including details of your educational background and skills); a cover letter that explains why this position interests you and how your skills and abilities are suitable; copies of relevant degrees and/or certificates. Please send these materials all together in a single PDF file, *before November 1, 2021*, by e-mail to job(a)ae.mpg.de using the code *“TWCF Engineer”* in the subject. Please feel free to contact job(a)ae.mpg.de or Tanya Brown < tanya.brown(a)ae.mpg.de <tanya.brown(a)ae.mpg.de?subject=TWCF%20Engineer>> if you have any questions about the position.

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PhD position in Numerical and Computational Analysis for Mathematical Neuroscience
by Avitabile, D. 27 Sep '21

27 Sep '21

Below you can find the details of a PhD position at Radboud University (The Netherlands) on Numerical and Computational Analysis for Mathematical Neuroscience, under the supervision of Prof. Gabriel Lord. The deadline for applications is the 29th of October 2021. https://www.ru.nl/english/working-at/vacature/details-vacature/?recid=11705… Daniele Avitabile Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam www.danieleavitabile.com

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Online Workshop: 30/09 - 01/10/2021 "Towards multipurpose neural network models II: Model testing and model fitting"
by Zélie Tournoud 27 Sep '21

27 Sep '21

Dear colleagues, The European Institute for Theroretical Neurosience (EITN) is happy to invite you all to its next online workshop taking place online this week from Wednesday to Friday. It is open to everyone upon registration. You will find all the information at the end of this email. Kind regards, Zélie, for the EITN team *_____* **** * * *Workshop on "Towards multipurpose neural network models II: Model testing and model fitting"* /Organized by Anton Arkhipov (Allen Institute, Seattle), Gaute Einevoll (NMBU/University of Oslo)/ *_Dates:_*Wednesday 29 September – Friday October 1st *_Time:_*5PM – 9.15PM (CET) <https://www.eitn.org/images/events/TMNNM-II-MTaMF_Flyer.pdf> Online workshop. Free to attend, but registration is mandatory. *REGISTER HERE.* <https://cnrs.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_saMXfg31Roe4tqHbWtTdFg> *https://cnrs.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_saMXfg31Roe4tqHbWtTdFg* *_Abstract:_* Starting with the work of Hodgkin, Huxley, Cole, Rall, Katz, Eccles and others in the 1950s and 1960s, we have a reasonably good understanding of the biophysical principles by which single neurons operate. For neural circuits the understanding is much more limited. Most network studies have considered stylized models with a few populations of identical neurons and focused on explaining a particular experimental phenomenon. However, real neural networks consist of a variety of neuron types and have structured synaptic connections. Furthermore, real networks typically perform multiple functions and can be characterized by a variety of readouts from various measurement modalities, including spiking activity, local field potentials, and others. How can we move towards multipurpose models that incorporate the true biological complexity of neural circuits and faithfully reproduce multiple observables in many different situations? The first workshop on the topic was arranged in August 2020 (see https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/events-training/allen-i… <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Falleninst…> for program and videos of talks). In this second (also virtual) workshop in the series we will focus on two key aspects of the overall endeavor: model testing and model fitting. Multipurpose network models mimicking real neural circuits will contain numerous model parameters that must be optimized. Efficient methods for fitting of model parameters to experimental data are thus needed. Further, the candidate models must be systematically tested against a variety of experimental data, requiring development of commonly accepted benchmarks and test suites. In the workshop these methodological challenges will be addressed from a variety of angles. *_Confirmed speakers:_*__ Anton Arkhipov (Allen Institute) Marcus Covert (Stanford) Sharon Crook (Arizona State U.) James DiCarlo (MIT) Gaute Einevoll (NMBU/U. Oslo) Julijana Gjorgjeva (Max Planck Institute and TUM) Peder Jedlicka (U. Giessen) Szabolcs Kali (Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary) Arvind Kumar (KTH Stockholm) Jacob Macke (U. Tübingen) Stefan Mihalas (Allen Institute) Aaron Milstein (Rutgers U.) Kanaka Rajan (Mount Sinai) Atle Rimehaug (U. Oslo) Frances Skinner (Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, and U. Toronto) Carsen Stringer (Janelia) Kristin Tøndel (NMBU) * * *Wednesday, September 29, 2021* *Time (PDT)* *Time (CEST)* *Speaker* *Affiliation* *Title* 8:00 am – 8:15 am 5:00 pm – 5:15 pm Gaute Einevoll NMBU/U. Oslo Introduction 8:15 am – 8:55 am 5:15 pm – 5:55 pm Jacob Macke U. Tübingen *Keynote* Simulation-based inference: Bridging the gap between mechanistic models and machine learning. 8:55 am – 9:25 am 5:55 pm – 6:25 pm Aaron Milstein Rutgers U. Nested parallel simulation and multi-objective optimization of neuronal cell and circuit models 9:25 am – 9:40 am 6:25 pm – 6:40 pm Break 9:40 am – 10:10 am 6:40 pm – 7:10 pm Atle Rimehaug U. Oslo Enhancing model constraints by utilizing current source densities 10:10 am – 10:40 am 7:10 pm – 7:40 pm Kristin Tøndel NMBU Facilitating optimization using metamodelling 10:40 am – 10:50 am 7:40 pm – 7:50 pm Break 10:50 am – 11:20 am 7:50 pm – 8:20 pm Frances Skinner Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, and University of Toronto Clarity in model development and goals leads to model linkages and biological insights 11:20 am – 12:10 pm 8:20 pm – 9:10 pm _Panel debate – All participants of the day._ *Thursday, September 30, 2021* *Time (PDT)* *Time (CEST)* *Speaker* *Affiliation* *Title* 8:00 am – 8:15 am 5:00 pm – 5:15 pm Anton Arkhipov Allen Institute Introduction 8:15 am – 8:55 am 5:15 pm – 5:55 pm James DiCarlo MIT *Keynote* Reverse Engineering Visual Intelligence 8:55 am – 9:25 am 5:55 pm – 6:25 pm Sharon Crook Arizona State U. Testing the Data-driven Model 9:25 am – 9:40 am 6:25 pm – 6:40 pm Break 9:40 am – 10:10 am 6:40 pm – 7:10 pm Szabolcs Kali Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary Systematic construction and evaluation of models of rodent hippocampal neurons 10:10 am – 10:40 am 7:10 pm – 7:40 pm Peter Jedlicka U. Giessen Building consistent and robust models of hippocampal granule cells and CA1 pyramidal cells 10:40 am – 10:50 am 7:40 pm – 7:50 pm Break 10:50 am – 11:20 am 7:50 pm – 8:20 pm Stefan Mihalas Allen Institute Computing with a mess: How nonstationary, heterogeneous and noisy components help the brain’s computational power 11:20 am – 12:10 pm 8:20 pm – 9:10 pm _Panel debate – All participants of the day._ *Friday, October 1, 2021* *Time (PDT)* *Time (CEST)* *Speaker* *Affiliation* *Title* 8:00 am – 8:40 am 5:00 pm – 5:40 pm Markus Covert Stanford *Special lecture* Simultaneous cross-evaluation of heterogeneous E. coli datasets via mechanistic simulation 8:40 am – 9:20 am 5:40 pm – 6:20 pm Kanaka Rajan Mount Sinai *Keynote* Data-constrained neural network models of adaptive learning in the brain 9:20 am – 9:40 am 6:20 pm – 6:40 pm Break 9:40 am – 10:10 am 6:40 pm – 7:10 pm Julijana Gjorgjeva Max Planck Institute and TUM Biologically plausible learning in developing networks 10:10 am – 10:40 am 7:10 pm – 7:40 pm Carsen Stringer Janelia Rastermap: Extracting structure from high-dimensional neural data 10:40 am – 10:50 am 7:40 pm – 7:50 pm Break 10:50 am – 11:20 am 7:50 pm – 8:20 pm Arvind Kumar KTH Stockholm Structure and activity dynamics relationship in biological neuronal networks: Measurements and models 11:20 am – 12:10 pm 8:20 pm – 9:10 pm _Panel debate – All participants of the day._

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Brain Mechanisms: Linking Cognitive Phenomena to Neuron Activity
by Andrew Coward 23 Sep '21

23 Sep '21

Dear colleagues, I would like to bring to your attention a book that has just been published. The book, Brain Mechanisms: Linking Cognitive Phenomena to Neuron Activity, describes how to understand higher cognition in terms of anatomical, physiological and chemical processes in the brain using techniques based on how we understand the operation of complex electronic systems. A brain has absolutely no resemblance to an electronic system. Nevertheless, how we go about understanding complex electronic systems has some important lessons for how to go about understanding the brain. Brains have huge numbers of neurons, and understanding obviously cannot be based on simultaneously imagining the ongoing activity of all these neurons. Some way must be found to organize all this information in a way humans can handle. A complex computing system can have hundreds of billions of components like transistors. Engineers could not design such systems by simultaneously imagining the activity of all the components that could be involved. Rather, the design information is organized in such a way that all design tasks are within the mental bandwidth of a human designer. The techniques to achieve this involve hierarchies of description, carefully managed use of approximation, and the ubiquitous use of just two types of information process: instructions and data read/writes. Natural selection pressures have resulted in brain architectures to which analogous techniques for organizing information can be applied. The pressures have resulted in the ubiquitous presence of two types of information processes in the brain, condition definition/detections and behavioural recommendation definition/integrations. These information processes are completely different from those in computing systems, but they allow creation of analogous hierarchies of description. Such hierarchies of description make it possible to achieve an intuitively satisfying understanding of human memory, consciousness and self-awareness in terms of the activity of the billions of neurons. A blog touches on some of these ideas. The book is available at Amazon.comDownload a sample chapterVideo of recent lecture at Florida State University Andrew CowardAustralian National UniversityCanberrahttps://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/coward-a

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PhD's and Postdoc positions at UVa
by Mario Negrello 22 Sep '21

22 Sep '21

Posting on behalf of Jorge Mejias: Dear all, I hope things are going well for all of you. I’m writing you because I’m looking for candidates with a strong quantitative background for a PhD position and a postdoc position at my lab, both for working on computational models of large-scale brain networks. If you know of anybody in your surroundings who might be interested, would you mind sharing this information with them? I think it’s especially important for the postdoctoral position, as the deadline is approaching (Sept 30) and we still don’t have a lot of candidates. The PhD position is focused on studying multisensory integration under noisy or uncertain conditions. The researcher will design and study computational models of large-scale brain networks of the mouse for this purpose, constraining the models with anatomical data and comparing the predictions with electrophysiological recordings from local colleagues at the Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience group at the UvA. The models will later inform other colleagues, also involved in the project, to build neuro-inspired algorithms for sensor fusion in self-driving vehicles and drones. More information and application procedure (with deadline October 15) can be found here: https://www.uva.nl/en/content/vacancies/2021/09/21-734-phd-position-in-comp… <https://www.uva.nl/en/content/vacancies/2021/09/21-734-phd-position-in-comp…> The postdoc position aims to uncover the mechanisms behind compulsive behavior. The researcher will build computational models of large-scale brain networks of mouse and human, using anatomical and electrophysiological data to constrain and test the models. This is a collaboration with Ingo Willuhn at the NIN, who will provide mouse electrophysiological and human clinical data to test the models for healthy and OCD subjects. The final goal is to use the model to investigate translational biomarkers for compulsive disorders. More information and application procedure (deadline September 30) can be found in this link: https://www.uva.nl/shared-content/uva/en/vacancies/2021/09/21699-postdoctor… <https://www.uva.nl/shared-content/uva/en/vacancies/2021/09/21699-postdoctor…> Thanks a lot for the help with spreading this around! Best, Jorge

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Call for Teaching Assistants for the Cape Town Imbizo, August 11th to September 4th 2022. Apply by October 11
by Tim Vogels 22 Sep '21

22 Sep '21

Dear Colleagues, We are looking for teaching assistants for the IBRO-Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo (#isiCNI), a computational neuroscience summer school held in Cape Town, South Africa. We are looking for post-doctoral or advanced PhD researchers to join our team as Teaching Assistants (TAs) for the #isiCNI2022 in August 2022. Please send your application to to isicn.imbizo(a)gmail.com <mailto:isicn.imbizo@gmail.com>. Include 1) CV and a 2) cover letter with a short motivational statement for why you would be a good fit, and what your favourite topics would be for teaching tutorials and supervising student projects. Additionally, 3) please provide the email address of one reference. We will start assessing applications on 11 October 2021. About the Imbizo: The school hosts 31 students for an amazing 25 days of lectures, tutorials, projects and parties. All this takes place on Noordhoek beach, between the mountain and the ocean. It's a spectacular location. The dates for the isiCNI2022 are August 11th to September 4th 2022. The Imbizo is a special experience, with students being totally immersed in academic, social, touristic and cultural activities, and has resulted in student and TA groups from previous schools becoming very close, personally and scientifically. This is fantastic, as a major goal of the isiCNI project is to help young African researchers grow their academic peer and friend group. About being a TA: Each TA runs one afternoon tutorial in the first week of the school, which they design themselves. Each TA will teach a different topic, which the TA's choose among themselves, to provide students with a broad exposure to problems and methods in computational neuroscience. Each TA is also assigned 5 students to supervise for project work during the last 2 weeks of the school. TAs will be asked to help processing student applications. TAs are integral in helping run the school. In addition to academic support, they foster good social interactions and academic discussions among students, and they help 'shy' students meet faculty. They also act as 'social glue’, helping to notice and support students who may be feeling ill, not fitting in socially, or generally having difficulties. To fulfil these roles, TAs need to be at all school meals and activities. What we provide: We cover a direct as possible, economy class ticket to Cape Town, as well as all board and lodging during the school. In addition, TAs will receive a cash budget for 'hosting purposes' during the school (e.g. for buying some beverages/ice-creams for students, train tickets, etc.). We also provide you with life-long memories of one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'm interested, how do I apply: If you think you would like to join us for this amazing experience, please send us a brief CV (2 or 3 pages is fine) to isicn.imbizo(a)gmail.com <mailto:isicn.imbizo@gmail.com>. Please include (as a cover letter or in your email) a short motivational statement for why you would be a good fit, and what your favourite topics would be for teaching tutorials and supervising student projects. We will start assessing applications on 11 October 2021. A call for student application will follow soon. We hope to hear from you soon! Let us know if you have any questions. Thanks and regards Demba Ba, Peter E. Latham, Joseph Raimondo, Emma Vaughan, and Tim Vogels IBRO-Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo Committee 2022 #isicni2022 Twitter: @isicni

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"Brains Through Time" reading club
by Paul Cisek 20 Sep '21

20 Sep '21

Dear all, I would like to bring to your attention the Brains Through Time Reading Club I am co-organizing with people from the Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante. As the name implies, the idea is to review the book Brains Through Time<https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/978019512568…>, by Georg Striedter<https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=3006> and Glenn Northcutt<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Northcutt>. It is a masterful synthesis of much what is known about brain evolution, and I believe it offers great insights to anyone interested in a broad understanding of how the brain produces behavior. We will dedicate a ~90 minute session to each of the 7 chapters. The first session will be on the 6th of October (6pm CEST / 12 EST) and will include the participation of Georg Striedter<https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=3006> (one of the authors), Luis Puelles<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nIoLKVAAAAAJ&hl=en> and Paul Cisek<https://cisek.org/pavel/>. If you are interested, please visit our web site<https://sites.google.com/view/bbtreadingclub/home> for more information and to register! Paul Cisek, PhD Département de neurosciences Université de Montréal Physical: 2960 chemin de la tour, local 4117 Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 CANADA Mailing: CP 6128 Succursale centre-ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3J7 CANADA e-mail: paul.cisek(a)gmail.com<mailto:paul.cisek@gmail.com> Web: www.cisek.org/pavel<http://www.cisek.org/pavel>

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