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SUMMARY:Probing the basis of neuronal branching - Dr. Hermann Cuntz\, Inst
 itute of Clinical Neuroanatomy\, Goethe-University
DTSTART:20110715T100000Z
DTEND:20110715T110000Z
UID:TALK32030@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Microsoft Research Cambridge Talks Admins
DESCRIPTION:Understanding the principles governing axonal and dendritic br
 anching is essential for unravelling the functionality of single neurons a
 nd the way in which they connect. Nevertheless\, no formalism has yet been
  described which can capture the general features of neuronal branching. H
 ere we propose such a formalism\, which is derived from the expression of 
 dendritic arborizations as locally optimized graphs. Inspired by Ramón y 
 Cajal's laws of conservation of cytoplasm and conduction time in neural ci
 rcuitry\, we show that this graphical representation can be used to optimi
 ze these variables. This approach allows us to generate synthetic branchin
 g geometries which replicate morphological features of any tested neuron. 
 We demonstrate that the structure of a neuronal tree is captured by its sp
 atial extent and by a single parameter\, a balancing factor weighing the c
 osts of conservation of cytoplasm and conduction time. This balancing fact
 or allows a neuron to adjust its preferred electrotonic compartmentalizati
 on. A general set of tools can be derived from these simulations for analy
 zing\, manipulating and generating dendritic structure\, including a tool 
 to generate artificial members of any particular cell group and an approac
 h for model-based supervised automatic morphological reconstruction from f
 luorescent image stacks. These approaches provide new insights into the co
 nstraints governing dendritic architectures. They also provide a novel fra
 mework for modelling and analyzing neuronal branching structures and for c
 onstructing realistic artificial neural networks.
LOCATION:Small lecture theatre\, Microsoft Research Ltd\, 7 J J Thomson Av
 enue (Off Madingley Road)\, Cambridge
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