I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Neuronal Dyanmics Lab at Boston University. My advisors are John White and Nancy Kopell.
My research focuses on understanding the dynamics of small networks of neurons. Two behaviors I focus on are network oscillations such as Theta and Gamma oscillations and pathological behaviors such as epilepsy. These network behaviors, we hope can be understood through the dynamics of the individual neurons, the topology of their connections and types of synapses.
Currently I have two projects:
Understanding synchronization in small networks of neurons. I start by measuring the dynamics of individual cells by measuring their spike time response curves. Then I construct two cell networks with two biological neurons using a dynamic patch clamp, or by generating a hybrid network with one biological and one simulated neuron. By measuring how these two cell networks synchronize, we can test our ability to predict the network behavior based on the dynamics of the individual neurons.
My doctoral dissertation focused on epileptiform behaviors in a hippocampal slice model of epilepsy. From this work we observed two behaviors that were associated with different regions of the hippocampus: Bursting, short electrical activity originating in the CA3 and longer electrographic seizures originating in the CA1. I am currently working on computational simulations of these network behaviors and developing mathematical descriptions of these behaviors. Through this mathematical analysis, we can describe how and why networks will burst or seize. This work can be seen on my Small World Networks page.