Neuronal types

This lecture asks how developing brains generate many distinct neuronal types. It examines the contribution of a stem cell's spatial origin and its changing developmental state. Work in simpler nervous systems provides molecular examples that can inform the study of human cortical development.

Deep learning models have shown significant efficacy in predicting neural activity, offering promising avenues for understanding complex neural dynamics. However, disentangling key explanatory factors---crucial for achieving generalizable and interpretable neural activity predictions---remains underexplored. Such disentanglement is essential for downstream simulations and for elucidating inter-individual variability in neural responses. To address this gap, we introduce the Query-based Neural Activity Prediction (qNAP) model, a novel framework that leverages an attention mechanism to explicitl

…advantage do these myriad cell types provide? Deciphering their roles first requires organizing cells in the appropriate manner. Typically, cells are organized into a hierarchical clustering of cells into cell types. This approach is based on a rich history of cell typing based on morphology and other accessible correlates. However, the very large-scale datasets enabled by advances in DNA sequencing potentially may reveal a

The structure and function of biological neural networks are the result of biological “construction rules”, physical limits, stochasticity, developmental noise, and learning. The nature of these building rules and the resulting architectures are fundamental to our understanding of neuro-developmental plans and the structure and function of neural circuits. The detailed reconstruction of connectomes makes it possible to study their design; Recent reconstruction of connectomes during different developmental stages in C. elegans allows for characterization of their development. We present a class

…rods and cones, but spare other cell types within the retina. Thus, many techniques for restoring visual function following blindness are based on the premise that other cells within the retina remain viable and capable of performing their various roles in visual processing. There are more than 80 different neuronal types in the human retina and these form the components of