Save the date! "Physics of complex systems: Fast forward" seminars - 21 February

[Quantitative Life Sciences]

Dear All,

On Wednesday, 21 February, the Session "Physics of complex systems: Fast 
forward" of the Spring College on the Physics of Complex Systems 
<https://indico.ictp.it/event/10459/overview> will feature two seminars:

_*14:00 - 15:00 **- Modelling computations in brain circuits with 
low-rank neural networks *- Francesca MASTROGIUSEPPE __(Champalimaud 
Research, Portugal)_

Abstract:
Our brain consists of billions of neurons, arranged in a multitude of 
areas and densely interconnected through trillions of synapses. How do 
interactions within this large complex network support the computations 
that are required by our everyday behaviour? Current experimental 
technologies enable the investigation of this question in animal models 
on a large scale. However, due to the heterogeneity and complexity of 
the resulting data, building mechanistic models of computations in 
neural circuits that are together interpretable, flexible, and 
data-grounded remains challenging.

In this presentation, I will introduce a new class of mathematical 
models, named low-rank neural networks, aiming to address these 
challenges. These models are rooted in the idea of integrating concepts 
and tools from dimensionality reduction, a statistical approach that has 
demonstrated promise in the analysis of experimental data, into neural 
network models. The key strength of low-rank networks is that they can 
be easily analysed mathematically, by using tools from statistical 
physics and random matrix theory. I will show how this formalism can be 
used to address standing theoretical questions in neuroscience and 
artificial neural networks. I will also briefly discuss how those models 
can be used to extract insight from large-scale experimental data, with 
a focus on neural data collected from multiple cortical areas in the 
brain of non-human primates.


*15:30 - 16:30* *- Self-organization of bacterial ecosystems from micro 
to macro* -  Alberto DINELLI (Université Paris Cité, Laboratoire Matière 
et Systèmes Complexes-MSC, France)

AbstractTBA

_Venue: Kastler Lecture Hall, Adriatico Guest House, Riva Massimiliano e 
Carlotta, Grignano I - 34151 Trieste (Italy)_


Best regards,
Erica

-- 
Erica Sarnataro
Group Secretary
Quantitative Life Sciences
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Trieste,  Italy
Tel. +39-040-2240623
www.ictp.it/research/qls.aspx
e-mail:qls at ictp.it