ICLM Journal Club
This Week - 27 October 2017 (9:30 a.m., Gonda 2nd Floor Conference Room)
Speaker: Nicholas Matiasz
Title: ResearchMaps.org for integrating evidence
Abstract: ResearchMaps.org is a free web app that helps scientists to plan their next experiment. Users input empirical results and hypotheses from literature; the app visualizes this information in a graphical summary known as a “research map.” In this graph-based representation, each node identifies a biological phenomenon; each directed edge between nodes shows the kinds of relations that were either hypothesized by researchers or supported by empirical results. The empirical evidence for each edge is assigned a confidence score using a Bayesian technique for evidence synthesis. This score quantifies both the convergence and consistency of the evidence, helping the user to identify which next experiments may be most useful. Every empirical edge in a research map is linked to the literature that it references, so users can access additional details of the annotated literature. In ongoing work, we are working to automate two time-consuming tasks: (1) the extraction of empirical evidence from the literature, and (2) the derivation of hypotheses that may be untested yet logically consistent with what is known.
Papers: N. J. Matiasz, J. Wood, W. Wang, A. J. Silva, W. Hsu (2017). Computer-aided experiment planning toward causal discovery in neuroscience. In Frontiers in Neuroinformatics 11:12. http://mii.ucla.edu/repository/584.pdf
A. J. Silva and K. R. Müller (2015). The need for novel informatics tools for integrating and planning research in molecular and cellular cognition. In Learning & Memory 22:494–498. http://www.silvalab.com/silvapapers/SilvaMuller2015.pdf
A. Landreth and A. J. Silva (2013). The need for research maps to navigate published work and inform experiment planning. In Neuron 79:411–415. http://www.silvalab.com/silvapapers/S2Neuron2013.pdf
About Us
Introduction
The Integrative Center for Learning and Memory (ICLM) is a multidisciplinary center of UCLA labs devoted to understanding the neural basis of learning and memory and its disorders. This will require a unified approach across different levels of analysis, including;
1. Elucidating the molecular cellular and systems mechanisms that allow neurons and synapses to undergo the long-term changes that ultimately correspond to 'neural memories'.
2. Understanding how functional dynamics and computations emerge from complex circuits of neurons, and how plasticity governs these processes.
3. Describing the neural systems in which different forms of learning and memory take place, and how these systems interact to ultimately generate behavior and cognition.
History of ICLM
The Integrative Center for Learning and Memory formally LMP started in its current form in 1998, and has served as a platform for many interactions and collaborations within UCLA. A key event organized by the group is the weekly ICLM Journal Club. For more than 10 years, graduate students, postdocs, principal investigators, and invited speakers have presented on topics ranging from the molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, through computational models of learning, to behavior and cognition. Dean Buonomano oversees the ICLM journal club with help of student/post doctoral organizers. For other events organized by ICLM go to http://www.iclm.ucla.edu/Events.html.
Current Organizers:
Shonali Dhingra & Helen Motanis
Current Faculty Advisor:
Past Organizers:
i) Anna Matynia(Aug 2004 - Jun 2008) (Silva Lab)
ii) Robert Brown (Aug 2008 - Jun 2009) (Balleine Lab)
iii) Balaji Jayaprakash (Aug 2008 - Nov 2011) (Silva Lab)
iv) Justin Shobe & Thomas Rogerson (Dec 2011 - June 2013) (Silva Lab)
v) Walt Babiec (O'Dell Lab) (2013-2014)
vi) Walt Babiec (O'Dell Lab) & Helen Motanis (Buonomano Lab) (2014-2017)
Wiki Newbies
Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.
