Physics of Brains

18 and 19 November 2020
Virtual meeting via Zoom

Co-sponsored by:

Workshop Overview

There is increasing and intense interest in the physical science, and mathematical modelling of aspects of brain and mind that animate most multicellular species. Electrophysiology of neurons and nerves, on the one hand, and modelling and application of neural nets, on the other, are examples of long-standing research programmes at or motivated by the molecular level of structure. Similarly the field of psychophysics has developed sophisticated non-invasive methods for investigation of perception, memory and learning in humans. Yet there is also huge scope for the application of methodologies both experimental and theoretical, from branches of science not currently associated strongly with neuroscience. Advanced imaging, electromagnetic methods, adaptive optics are experimental examples, statistical mechanics and stochastic non-linear systems are promising theoretical tools. The application of novel methods from the physical sciences to brains was identified strategically by the EPSRC Life Science Interface, and has remained a strategic imperative, included in the Roadmap for Physics of Life produced by PoLNet under the key theme of ‘information flow in biological systems’. Yet this workshop represents the first PoLNET workshop to focus on neuroscience. The workshop is also the first of a series of interdisciplinary workshops, supported by the Rosetrees Trust and embedded within PoLNET, which focus on key clinical challenges (see Physics of Medicine). The overall question is, what current challenges in brain science could be met by bringing new physical science methods, experimental and theoretical, to bear, together with biomedical, psychological and biological science.

Who should attend?

We invite participation by academic, industrial and clinical research scientists in the UK who are interested in the central goal of generating new collaborative research interactions at the physical/life sciences interface focused on brain research. There is particular encouragement for the participation of the health care professionals.

Provisional Programme

Day 1	Wednesday 18 November
13.00	Meeting Welcome from Tom McLeish (University of York)
13.10	Bill Bialek (Princeton) 'Statistical physics for networks of real neurons: Progress and problems'
Session one	Perception chaired by Tom McLeish (University of York) Questions: What non-invasive methodologies can reveal the stages of processing in perception? What challenges face the modelling of perception at different levels?
14.00	Kenneth Harris (UCL) 'N neurons → ∞'
14.20	Karl Friston (UCL) 'Deep inference'
14.40	Daniel Baker (York) 'Algorithms underlying neural signal combination'
15.00	Panel Discussion
Session Two	Neuroimaging, measurement and other techniques chaired by Antony Morland (University of York) Questions: What are new techniques of imaging telling us about cortical architecture and function? How do indirect spatio-temporal methods complement imaging? How can imaging contribute to a multi-scale model of neurological structure and function?
15.30	Amanda Ellison (Durham) 'If the Physics of Life is a powerful beat, what does the rhythm of the brain tell us?'
15.50	David Halliday (York) 'Neuromorphic computing systems - spiking neural networks, astrocyte-neuron networks'
16.10	Hannah Smithson (Oxford) 'Looking into the Brain: high resolution imaging of the living human eye'
16.30	Pareshkev Nachev (UCL) 'Mapping complex causal fields in the focally injured human brain'
16.50	Alard Roebroeck (Maastricht) 'Multiscale investigation of human cortical architecture with light sheet microscopy and MRI'
17.10	Panel Discussion
17.40	Meeting close
17.45	Virtual meeting social meet and greet - via Wonder (link provided within meeting)

Day 2	Thursday 19 November
13.00	Day Two welcome from Stephen Smye (University of Leeds)
Session Three	Neural nets and brains chaired by Stephen Smye (University of Leeds) Questions: To what extent can we say that neural nets model brains faithfully? What tools from nonlinear dynamics of complex systems and statistical mechanics illuminate neural nets?
13.05	Fred Wolf (MPI Göttingen) 'Neural circuit dynamics'
13.25	Thierry Mora (ENS Paris) 'Statistical mechanics of emergent properties in a neural population code'
13.45	Viola Priesemann (MPI Göttingen) 'Phase transitions and information flow in neural systems'
14.05	Francesca Mastrogiuseppe (UCL) ' Evolution of neural activity in circuits bridging sensory and abstract knowledge'
14.25	Panel discussion
Session Four	Neural computations in visual and spatial cognition chaired by Mark Leake (University of York)
14.50	Remi Monasson (ENS Paris) 'From pattern completion to pattern separation during hippocampal memory encoding'
15.10	Alessandro Treves (SISSA Trieste) 'Grid cells embrace disorder, and turn into an ultrametric glass'
15.30	Alex Wade (York) 'Altered visual processing in Drosophila and humans associated with genetic neurological disease'
15.50	Panel discussion
16.20	Open and emerging questions roundtables hosted via Wonder (link provided within meeting)
17.00	Meeting social (via Wonder)

Workshop publication

Physics of Brains- https://www.cell.com/iscience/pdf/S2589-0042(21)00845-2.pdf

Workshop recording

We are delighted to be able to share the content of this workshop with you via our YouTube channel.