For current open internship projects, see this page. Since we do mostly modelling, computer simulations and advanced data analysis (that means, bluntly said, computer programming and mathematics), some affinity and experience with math and programming would really help. If you’re motivated and willing to learn, you don’t have to be an expert of course, but especially for short internships it is better to be able to focus on the science than on learning how to program.
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2020
SmartNets
Think of the the murmuration of starlings, the schooling of fish, or even hypes on social media or the spreading of powerouts: the behaviour of a network is critically determined by its structure. The relation between network structure and information processing capacity is essential, but still not well understood. In this Marie Skłodowska Curie Innovative Training Network “SmartNets”, 7 PIs from 5 universities work together with 6 partner organisations to understand this relation between network structure and information processing.
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2017 - current
Network computation
Linda Wouters modelled which structural network changes underly the sensory map reorganisation after whisker deprivation. Chao Huang and me are developing an end-to-end model of the rodent somatosensory system to allow the integration of and cross-validation between structural and functional aspects of sensory phenomena. We keep on updating the model with the latest insights.
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2017 - current
Information processing in single (barrel cortex) neurons
Excitatory and inhibitory neurons in (barrel) cortex process information very differently. The roles of both neuron types in information processing is investigated using a combination of in-vitro experiments and modelling.
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2012 - current
Methods and techniques
A new method for measuring single-neuron information transfer in vitro, and a new method for analysing calcium imaging data, based on regression.
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2015 - 2018
Burst coding
Bursting is a firing mode of neurons in which they respond to and input with a group of high frequency action potentials, followed by a period of relative silence. Many different systems show burst-firing. Why do some systems rely on bursts for their information transmission?
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2012 - current
Matching encoding and decoding with spiking neurons
In this project, a collaboration between Sophie Denève, Boris Gutkin and myself, we show that networks with spiking neurons with heterogeneous encoding and decoding properties can do optimal online stimulus representation.
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2007 - 2013
Inhibition in CA3 of hippocampus
In the CA3 of hippocampus, various forms of inhibition exist, including feedback, feed-forward, dendritic and perisomatic inhibition. We investigated the effects of these different forms of inhibition.