Seth Grant (Molecular Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh UK)
Abstract:Most computational models of brain function and behaviour have been based on electrophysiological and neuroanatomical frameworks with the cell or synapse as the smallest unit. Molecular systems based on the gene, RNA and protein provide a new universe of regulation and function that underpins all the electrophysiological and structural features of neurons. The molecular and computational complexity within one synapse or one neuron far outweighs most circuit models of brain computation. There is a pressing need to bring multiscalar computational and mathematical modeling to the brain that embraces the genome to behaviour. The presentation will describe the organisation and function of molecular machines that control information processing in synapses and how their function is essential for cognition as well as insights into their origins and evolution.