Oscillatory and stochastic dynamics in thalamo-cortical networks
The laboratory of Alain Destexhe is specialized in computational
neuroscience and theoretical neuroscience. The research themes are
the modeling of the integrative properties of neurons and networks of
cerebral cortex during "active" states (such as wakefulness), the
role of noise on information processing of single neurons or networks
of neurons, macroscopic aspects such as local field potentials and
the collective dynamics at large scales, as well as the rhythmic
properties of thalamic and cortical networks during sleep and
epilepsy. The laboratory also participates to dynamic-clamp experiments (in collaboration with Bal's lab at UNIC), where
computational models directly interact with living neurons. The
laboratory also participates to the conception of methods to analyze
experimental data in vivo (intracellular, optical imaging), or to record in high-resolution (AEC metthod), in
collaboration with several laboratories across Europe and
North-America. This research is supported by grants from
different institutions, such as the ANR (Agence Nationale de la
Recherche), the EC (European
Commission), the MRC (Medical
Research Council of Canada), the NIH (National Institutes of Health, USA), and the HFSP (Human Frontier Science Program).
Team members
The team is presently composed of one CNRS Research Director (Alain Destexhe), one Permanent Researcher at CNRS (Michelle Rudolph-Lilith), two post-doctoral researchers (Claude Bédard and Jose Gomez), one PhD student (Sami ElBoustani) and one Master student (Alexandre Guerrini). The team is very active in the field of computational neuroscience: Alain Destexhe is Editor in Chief of the Journal of Computational Neuroscience; him and Michelle Rudolph are in the organizing committees of serveral international conferences and summer schools in the field.
Techniques used
Computational modeling and numerical simulations of neurons and neural networks, Theoretical calculus, Dynamic-clamp experiments, Conductance analysis from intracellular recordings, Morphological reconstruction with optical microscopy (Neurolucida)
For more details
For further information, see the laboratory's web site http://cns.iaf.cnrs-gif.fr, or click on the icons below:
Selected Publications
Jakob Wolfart, Damien Debay, G Le Masson, Alain Destexhe and Thierry Bal, Synaptic background activity controls spike transfer from thalamus to cortex, Nat Neurosci 8: 1760-7, (2005) [pdf] [abstract]
Thierry Bal, Damien Debay and Alain Destexhe, Cortical feedback controls the frequency and synchrony of oscillations in the visual thalamus, J Neurosci 20: 7478-88, (2000) [pdf] [abstract]
Alain Destexhe and D Contreras, Neuronal computations with stochastic network states, Science 314: 85-90, (2006) [pdf] [abstract]
Alain Destexhe, SW Hughes, Michelle Rudolph and V Crunelli, Are corticothalamic 'up' states fragments of wakefulness, Trends Neurosci 30: 334-42, (2007) [pdf] [abstract]
Alain Destexhe and E Marder, Plasticity in single neuron and circuit computations, Nature 431: 789-95, (2004) [pdf] [abstract]
