I am a PhD student studying activity-dependent plasticity in the nervous system.

Based at the University of Leeds, I am part of the Biosystems Research Group within the School of Computing My PhD is supervised by Netta Cohen and Marc de Kamps

Computational Neuroscience

The brain is both fascinating and complex, which makes any effort to understand its workings both challenging and rewarding. For many years, scientists have used mathematical models in an effort help describe this highly dynamic, non-linear system. Now with powerful computers available, these models can be translated into computer simulations. Research which entails investigating neural systems through computer simulation is part of computational neuroscience.

Activity-Dependent Plasticity

In the nervous system, the specific spatio-temporal pattern of neural activity can have an affect on local topology and on the emergence of functionally specific structures. There are many plasticity mechanisms that are known to be activity dependent. For example, neural growth, pruning, synaptogenesis, synaptic plasticity, modifications of membrane properties and neurotransmitter expression. Many of these processes will have direct effects on network structure and/or function.

My PhD focuses on synaptic plasticity, which has been hypothesised as one of the mechanisms involved in learning, development and recovery from injury. Specifically, I am interested in spike-time dependent plasticity where the change in synapse strength is a function of the time between pre and post synaptic spikes.

I study the relationship between activity, plasticity and structure in biological neural networks. Currently my work is focused on understanding how structures can emerge in simplified and abstract models. In the second half of my PhD, I hope to apply this understanding to a specific biological problem.

Background

My academic career began in 2004 when I began a undergraduate degree in cognitive science, a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the brain, I took courses in psychology, philosophy and computer science. My background in mathematics and biology and growing interest in neuroscience drove me towards specializing in computational modeling. In 2006 I won a Nuffield Undergraduate Research Bursary, which allowed me to spend a twelve week internship working on a biophysical model of C. elegans motoneuron function. Keen to complement this experience of low level modelling, I undertook a cognitive modelling project in the last year of my degree, researching the effect of object occlusion on a model of the visual system. In 2007 I graduated with first class honours and received the Ford Prize for best performance of a mature student within the School of Computing. Before commencing PhD study, I spent eight weeks increasing my knowledge of experimental neuroscience working alongside electrophysiologists in the Deuchars' Lab within the Institute of Membrane and Systems Biology, part of the University of Leeds. I commenced my PhD in September 2007.

CV

I copy of my current CV can be found here

Contact Details

Postal Address:

School of Computing
Room 7.27 E.C. Stoner Building
University of Leeds
LS2 9JT, Leeds. UK

tel: +44 (0) 113 24 34699

email: