Synchronous Rhythms in the Brain

The brain is the main source of biological rhythms. These rhythms range from sleep-wake cycles and the life-supporting respiration rhythm to hormonal rhythms that control reproduction and from gaits in animal locomotion to the highly sophisticated rhythms displayed in piano playing and belly dancing. Synchronization plays a key role in the networks of neurons that generate these rhythms. This mini-symposium is aimed at bringing the leading experts in a variety of research fields related to synchronization together to exchange ideas on synchronization from a wide range of viewpoints. These include experimentalists, mathematicians, and theoreticians. We are inviting researchers from each of the following areas: hormonal rhythms generated by synchronized endocrine neurons, the origin of respiratory rhythms, synchrony and epileptic seizure-like activities, general theory of synchrony in neural networks and dynamical systems, mathematics and simulation of physiologically realistic neural networks, measurement and interpretation of neural synchronization in non- human animals, and measurement and interpretation of neural synchrony in humans.

The meeting will last 3 days, with four or five 45-minute talks per day, and plenty of time for discussion and interaction. The local participants (organizers and their students) will not speak but their work will be presented at a poster session during the meeting). The plan is for the meeting to take place on June 18-20, 2007.

Topics covered by invited speakers:

• Hormonal rhythms generated by synchronized endocrine neurons
• The origin of respiratory rhythm
• Synchrony and epileptic seizure-like activities
• Mathematics and simulation of physiologically realistic neural networks
• Synchrony in neural networks and dynamical systems
• Measurement and interpretation of neural synchronization in animals
• Measurement and interpretation of neural synchrony

This workshop is part of the activities of the CRG in Mathematical Modeling and Computation in Biology.

Organizers: Rachel Kuske (UBC Applied Math), Yue Xian Li (UBC Math Biology), Lawrence Ward (UBC Psychology).