KOSEN 한인과학기술자네트워크

Biological neural networks can perform computations that have proved very difficult to emulate in conventional digital computers. Researchers have been confronted with several important issues in trying to understand how biological nervous systems achieve their remarkable computational abilities: (a) How can we characterize and understand spatiotemporal activity patterns of neural network? (b) How do spatially distributed time-varying activities of populations of neurons represent things? (c) How are networks adjusted to learn these representations? To really gain insights into these fundamental issues, it is essential (1) to achieve significant understanding on generic self-organizing behaviors of complex systems in general, (2) to develop and study grossly idealized biological neural networks whose features are well defined for quantitative analyses and modeling, (3) to decipher neural code hidden in the spiking activities of the simplified network. The Center for Neuro-dynamics is formed in 1998 to shed a new light in neuroscience with this new venue of thoughts with support from the National Creative Research Initiatives (NCRI) of the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology . The main research goal of this center is to realize various self-organized patterns occurring in living neural networks and investigate them from the view point of nonlinear dynamics and nonequilibrium pattern formation. The physiological and computational functions of living neural networks will be investigated in relation to the collective pattern dynamics of the system. Various research topics are currently being carried out in laboratory experiments, numerical simulations, and also in theory. The studies on living neural networks are also being supported by more fundamental researches on various topics of nonequilibrium pattern formation and complex systems. The current research group includes three professors, three research professors, and nine graduate students with various backgrounds. Current research topics include: [1] dynamics of line-defects in complex periodic media; [2] spatial period-doubling phenomena and resonant mode interaction in driven ferrofluid systems; [3] computational studies on coupled map lattice (CML); [4] single- or two-channel time series analyses on suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in brain slice and culture preparations; [5] neuro-signal recording using multi-electrode array (MEA) plates; [6] guided and patterned biological neural network and neuro-chip development; [7] spatio-temporal activity patterns of cultured rat cardiac cell populations; and [8] Ca++ wave imaging in glial cell culture using laser-scanning microscope.