ChE Seminar Series: Engineering Approaches to Understand Functional Connectivity in Neocortex

ChE Seminar Series Presents:

Dr. John A. White, Ph.D

Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University

Engineering Approaches to Understand Functional Connectivity in Neocortex

Abstract
The mammalian neocortex is a crowning achievement of evolution. It is astronomically complex, with around 100 billion computational elements, each of which is staggeringly intricate by itself, and on the order of 1016 synaptic connections. In this talk, I plan to examine three questions related to the neocortex. First, what are the consequences of component miniaturization for neural computation? Second, how can we model neural computation on such a scale in a way that makes tractable predictions? Third, what does distributed neural computation “look like?” The bulk of the talk will focus on testing strong predictions from the relatively simple stabilized supralinear network (SSN) model of how neocortical networks behave in resting wakefulness, and how that behavior changes when the network is activated by sensory input or intentional movement. Our data are collected from mouse somatosensory cortex, mainly under whole-cell patch clamp, but also using genetically encoded calcium indicators. Our results are mainly compatible with the SSN model.

Biography
John A. White is Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. He has joint appointments in the Program in Neuroscience and the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He is PI and Program Director for BU BME’s long-standing NIGMS training grant in Quantitative Biology and Physiology. Prof. White received his BS in BME from Louisiana Tech University (1984), and his PhD in BME from Johns Hopkins University (1990).

Professor White’s research group uses engineering and computational approaches to study computation in single neurons and astrocytes, as well as network interactions. He is a co-developer of RTXI, the most widely used programming environment for virtual-reality-inspired experiments in neurophysiology, and is known for describing the biophysical bases of neuronal oscillations and the factors that limit signal-to-noise in neurons and neuronal networks. His group has collaborated to develop new mouse lines, and new scanning approaches, for fluorescence imaging in neurons and astrocytes. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications, has given over 150 invited lectures, and has raised over $50M in external funding. White is a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering. In 2019, White was elected President of the Biomedical Engineering Society.

Please email Alyssa Ramsey at a.ramsey@northeastern.edu for the link to the seminar.