CINPLA News

A major challenge in computational neuroscience is to specify the often large number of parameters that define neuron and neural network models. Many of these parameters have an inherent variability, and some are even actively regulated and change with time.

Researcher Jens Kremkow, of the Neuroscience Research Center of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, shall be hosting a seminar at the Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo on Monday 3rd September at 3:30pm.

CINPLA's Milad Hobbi Mobarhan will defend his thesis "Computational tools for modeling, data storage, and education in Neuroscience" for the degree of PhD on Tuesday 4th September 2018

In connection with the DigiBrain Project CINPLA members, Svenn-Arne Dragly, Mikkel Lepperød, Torkel Hafting and Marianne Fyhn have been awarded a grant of 50.000NOK from the Centre for Digital Life Norway to help develop their new Data Management software; Exdir and Expipe.

Visually evoked signals in the retina pass through the dorsal geniculate nucleus (dLGN) on the way to the visual cortex. This is however not a simple feedforward flow of information: there is a significant feedback from cortical cells back to both relay cells and interneurons in the dLGN. In this paper the authors use a firing rate model to investigate the functional role of this massive feedback.

The biggest running event in Norway is a relay with 15 legs (about 15km) in the scenic Oslo. This year it was a big duel between University of Oslo and OsloMet. Among the 40+ teams in this group CINPLA was number 1. It was a great summer day with more than 40 000 runners in action.

In this paper the authors propose a standardized storage solution for the wide range of data formats developed by different research groups and commercial companies.

3-year Postdoctoral fellow position now available at the Center for Integrative Neuroplasticity (CINPLA) at Department of Biosciences.

Application deadline: 18 April 2018

Hva kan fysikere bidra med i hjerneforskning? Ph.D student Milad H. Mobarhan gir elever fra den videregående skole et innblikk i dette i sitt glimrende foredrag under universitetets åpen dag. Se forelesningen her.

We're excited to find our paper on perineuronal nets and longterm memories picked by the editors in PNAS to be highlighted in this issue. They have written an excellent recap of our paper.

Society for Neuroscience journals (JNeurosci and eNeuro) published more than 1,150 research manuscripts in 2017. Among the top 10 articles saved to Mendeley is our paper on perineuronal nets in hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and visual cortex.

Postdoc Kristian Lensjø besøkte NRK for å snakke om studiet vårt om langtidsminner.

Erlend Lånke Solbu og Per Olav Alvestad har en podcast "Kuriøs" der de snakker om det siste fra naturvitenskapens verden - idag med Kristian Lensjø som gjest.

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/nrk-kurios/

Slik lagres langtidsminner (in Norwegian only).

The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) wrote a piece about our latest publication in PNAS. 

doi: 10.1073/pnas.1713530115

Neurons’ sugar coating is essential for long-term memories

How the brain is able to store memories over long periods of time has been a persistent mystery to neuroscientists. In a new study, researchers from the Centre for Integrative Neuroplasticity (CINPLA) at the University of Oslo show that long-lived extracellular matrix molecules called perineuronal nets are essential for distant memories.

The new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that removal of the nets disrupts distant but not recent memories. 

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/12/21/1713530115

Congratulations to Mina Martine Frey for successfully defending her Master's thesis on October 31, 2017.

PhD student Solveig Næss and coauthors provide novel information on the nature of EEG signals with forward modelling.

This paper presents a model fitting approach, where the model parameters (ion-channel conductances) are fitted in a stepwise manner and aims to reproduce  membrane potential dynamics in the soma and along the dendrites. The method could prove useful for fitting to data from voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging techniques.

CINPLA's Kristian Lensjø will defend his thesis "Extracellular matrix molecules in brain plasticity and memory processing" for the degree of PhD.

Minnesletting (erasing memories) - do you have some memories you wish you could erase?

NRK reports on the use of optogenetics is manipulating the brain and visit the Hafting-Fyhn lab to get insight. 

Original article here (Norwegian only).

Application deadline: extended to 21 August, 2017

3-year Postdoctoral fellow position now available at the Center for Integrative Neuroplasticity (CINPLA) at Department of Biosciences.

Application deadline: extended to 21 August, 2017

3-year PhD Research fellow position now available at the Center for Integrative Neuroplasticity (CINPLA) at Department of Biosciences.

Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are proposed as a key regulator of plasticity in the adult brain.

In this paper we show that the expression of PNNs differ between visual cortex, hippocampus and the medial entorhinal cortex (mEC).