Current events

Date: May 3rd

Time: 09:30 am

Place : Gonda ****1st Floor Conference Room****

Title : "ICLM Journal Club Special Lecture"

Speaker: Yiota Poirazi

The goal of this presentation is to provide a set of predictions generated by biophysical and theoretical neuron models regarding the role of dendrites in information coding across three different brain regions: the hippocampus, the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. Towards this goal I will present modelling studies –along with supporting experimental evidence- that investigate how dendrites may be used to facilitate the coding of both spatial and temporal information at the single cell, the microcircuit and the neuronal network level. I will first discuss how the dendrites of individual CA1 pyramidal neurons may allow a single cell to discriminate between familiar versus novel memories and propagate this information to down stream cells [1]. I will then discuss how these dendritic nonlinearities may enable stimulus specificity in individual PFC pyramidal neurons during working memory [2] and underlie the emergence of sustained activity at the single cell and the microcircuit level [2,3]. Finally, I will present findings from our ongoing work in collaboration with Alcino Silva regarding the role of dendrites in shaping the formation of fear memory engrams in the amygdala.

1. Pissadaki, E.K., Sidiropoulou K., Reczko M., and Poirazi, P. “Encoding of spatio-temporal input characteristics by a single CA1 pyramidal neuron model” PLoS Comp. Biology, 2010 Dec;6(12): e1001038. 2. Sidiropoulou, K. and Poirazi, P. “Predictive features of persistent activity emergence in regular spiking and intrinsic bursting model neurons” (PLoS Comp. Biology, 2012 April; 8(4): e1002489) 3. Papoutsi, A., Sidiropoulou, K., and Poirazi, P. “PFC microcircuits as tunable and predictive modules of persistent activity.” (submitted)