Bridging the Information Gap in Neuroscience

by Mark Ellisman (University of California, San Diege)

Monday 18 Dec 2000, 16:30 → 17:30 Europe/Zurich

500/1-001 - Main Auditorium (CERN)

Developments in modern computer-aided microscopies and advances in high performance computational infrastructure offer great promise for delivery of new information about the structural and functional dynamics of the nervous system. Neuroscientists are involved in research covering a wide range of scales, from modeling molecular events and subcellular organelles to mapping of brain systems. They are also interested in the ways in which single neurons and small networks of neurons process and store information. It is now possible to create detailed models of single neurons and to use these as the starting point for modeling the complex properties of neurons and neuronal networks. Breakthroughs in optical imaging methods and image processing have provided spectacular new opportunities for deriving information about the 3-D relationships between biological structures. Structure-function work is rapidly moving into the realm of 4-D imaging. The speaker will describe the development of novel techniques for 3 dimensional visualization of neuronal structures and modeling of their dynamic properties. He will place special emphasis on examples that involve the application of parallel processing and distributed computing. He will also highlight progress in the field of remote access to highly specialized and expensive instruments, like high voltage electron microscopes. Telemicroscopy, as it is called, promises to make the technologies described in this presentation widely available to scientists, even at smaller colleges and universities.

Organiser(s): James Gillies / ETT Division

Note: Tea & coffee will be served at 16.00 hrs.