Controlling balanced cortical dynamics on slow and fast timescales

Tim is working to understand and reproduce how the brain processes sensory information, by investigating the rules by which its neuronal architecture is constructed and maintained. He is exploring the tight interaction between neuronal activity and the network structure that sustains this activity and the manifold rules that govern these interactions, differing by cell type. Due to the complexity of such high-dimensional systems, Tim simulates these interactions in abstract, simplified computer models. He aims to test out ideas of what such rules could be, and to make experimentally testable predictions about them. This in turn will help to further flesh out a more exact model of the brain, and hopefully spawn further questions and ideas to try out.