Τη Δευτέρα 11 Ιανουαρίου 2016 και ώρα 12:00 στην Αίθουσα Συνεδριάσεων της Σχολής ΗΜΜΥ (κτίριο Επιστημών), θα δοθεί ομιλία από την Δρα Παναγιώτα Ποϊράζη (Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete), με θέμα "Information coding with dendrites: lessons from computational models"
Abstract - The goal of this presentation is to provide a set of predictions generated by biophysical and/or abstract mathematical models regarding the role of dendrites in information coding across different brain regions: the hippocampus, the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. Towards this goal I will present modelling studies –along with supporting experimental evidence- that investigate how dendrites may be used to facilitate the coding of both spatial and temporal information at the single cell, the microcircuit and the neuronal network level. I will first discuss how the dendrites of individual CA1 pyramidal neurons may allow a single cell to act as a 2-stage neural network classifier [1], thus massively increasing the storage capacity of the neural tissue [2]. This complex arithmetic allows a single neuron to discriminate between familiar versus novel memories and propagate this information to downstream cells [3]. I will then discuss how these dendritic nonlinearities may enable stimulus specificity in individual PFC pyramidal neurons during working memory [4]. Finally, I will present findings from our ongoing work regarding the role of dendrites in shaping the formation of fear memory engrams in the amygdala [5].
1. Poirazi, P. Brannon, T. & Mel, B.W. “Pyramidal Neuron as 2-Layer Neural Network.” Neuron, vol 37, pg. 989-999, March 2003.
2. Poirazi, P. and Mel, B.W. “Impact of Active Dendritic Processing and Structural Plasticity on Learning and Memory.” Neuron, vol 29, pg. 779-796, March 2001.
3. Pissadaki, E.K., Sidiropoulou K., Reczko M., and Poirazi, P. “Encoding of spatio-temporal input characteristics by a single CA1 pyramidal neuron model” PLoS Comp. Biology, 2010 Dec;6(12): e1001038.
4. Sidiropoulou, K. and Poirazi, P. “Predictive features of persistent activity emergence in regular spiking and intrinsic bursting model neurons” PLoS Comp. Biology, 2012 April; 8(4): e1002489
5. Kastellakis G., Silva, A.J. and Poirazi. P. “Liking memories across time via synapse clustering in nonlinear dendrites” (submitted)
Σύντομο Βιογραφικό
Panayiota Poirazi is a Director of Research and the Head of the Computational Biology Lab at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. She received her Bachelor in Mathematics with honors from the University of Cyprus in 1996. She received her Master and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering (Computational Neuroscience) also with honors in 1998 and 2000, respectively, from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. From 2001-2004 she worked as a postdoctoral/Marie Curie fellow first in the Biomedical Science Research Center ‘Alexander Fleming’ in Athens, Greece (2001-2002) and then in the IMBB-FORTH (2002-2004), where she has been a Principal Investigator since 2004. She has made seminal contributions in the neuroscience field, regarding primarily the role of dendrites in learning and memory. She has received several awards for academic excellence, including the EMBO Young Investigator award in 2005, two Marie Curie fellowships (2002 and 2008), a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) in 2012 and the “Manolis Christofides” Young Cypriot Investigator award in 2014. She is a member of AcademiaNet: a European portal for outstanding women scientists since 2013 while in 2014 she represented the ERC at the World Economic Forum, Annual Meeting of the New Champions as one of the top 40 Young Scientists of the world.
