[image: VVTNS.png] https://www.wwtns.online <https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.onl...> - on twitter: wwtns@TheoreticalWide You are cordially invited to the VVTNS Sixth Season Closing Lecture Idan Segev The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences The Hebrew University of Jerusalem on the topic of From Cajal’s Spines to Digital Neurons: Connectomics View on Dendritic Computations The lecture will be held on Zoom on June 24, 2026 at *11:00 am ET *
To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page
*Abstract: *Dendritic spines are among the smallest structures in the brain, yet they hold some of the deepest clues to how neurons compute and store memories. In this lecture, I will revisit the classical question of spine biophysics in the new age of connectomics, where nanometer-resolution electron microscopy allows us to reconstruct whole neurons with thousands of synapses and spines. I will show how spine density, spine-neck resistance, and the irregular geometry of individual spines can shape local synaptic signals, generate fast voltage dynamics, influence excitatory/inhibitory gating, and affect communication between neighboring spines. I will then discuss how automated reconstruction pipelines and biophysical modeling now make it possible to build digital neurons at spine and synapse resolution, and how AI-based approaches, such as our new AI-based TwinProp algorithm, allow us to ask - and get answer - to a fundamental question: what can a neuron compute? I will end by claiming that we now enter a new age of connectomics that provides an essential constraint on understanding how synapses, neurons, and circuits perform their computational functions. *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 ᐧ
