In Silico Brain Sciences

Research
My research aims to unravel cellular and circuit mechanisms by which the cerebral cortex transforms sensory signals into perception, and ultimately into behavior. To achieve this ambitious goal, my lab develops anatomically and functionally realistic models of the thalamocortical, cortical and subcortical circuits in the rodent brain that process tactile information from the facial whiskers. Based on these models, we perform multi-scale simulations to mimic empirically observed signal flows during whisker-based behaviors. With these simulations, we disentangle in silico – and then test via manipulations in vivo – how the interplay between cellular and circuit mechanisms implements tactile sensation, perception, and behavior. For this purpose, my lab pursues projects in Neuroanatomy, Neurophysiology and Systems Neuroscience. In each of these fields of research, we combine experiments in the living animal with computational modelling. By utilizing this multidisciplinary approach, my group currently focuses on the question of how cortical dendrites actively combine sensory with internally generated nonsensory information streams to facilitate robust perception.