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My research lies at the interface between life sciences, engineering and applied mathematics and attempts to understand aspects of the electrical and chemical basis of neural computation. Two fields are of specific interest: (i) the biophysics of neuronal signalling spanning from the single neuron level to neuronal assemblies and (ii) the development of theoretical and experimental techniques in order to monitor and study neuronal communication. Specific projects are:

Electric coupling between neurons: In this project we study the initiation/impact of local electric field interactions on neuronal activity. Although the existence of local field potentials has been well-documented in the past for various regions in the brain (for an excellent introduction I suggest Rhythms of the Brain), there is still much uncertainty regarding their origin and functional significance. More precisely, what is the effect of the extracellular voltage time-/space-fluctuations on the transmembrane potential of neurons and the probability to initiate an action potential? The answer to this question involves simulating a neuron or a neuronal population within an electrically inhomogeneous environment and identifying changes/characteristics in such systems. This project is done in collaboration with Christof Koch (Caltech), Mauricio Barahona (Imperial College London) and Gyuri Buzsaki (Rutgers) and involves theoretical simulations (mainly) but also experimental recordings in living animals.

Development of miniaturized sensing methodologies for chemical and biological applications: The focus is on developing/enhancing electrochemical sensing methodologies for the fast and accurate monitoring of concentration dynamics of monoamine neurotransmitters that constitute an important part of the chemical basis of neural computation. Relevant target molecules are dopamine, serotonin, noreadrenaline, etc. In order to enhance the quantity and quality of information, (i) phenomena occurring in the vicinity of the sensor such as electron transfer and mass transport are simulated and quantified using mean-field approximations, (ii) time-series analysis tools and "smart" experimental protocols are developed, and (iii) experiments with model biological solutions are performed. This project is conducted in collaboration with Danny O'Hare, Kim Parker and Bhavik Patel (Imperial College London).

Of interest are also aspects of chemical and biological reaction mechanisms such as gating and parallel catalyzing mechanisms in proteins as well as analog bio-, physi- and chemo-mimetic electric circuit elements and topologies (mainly nonlinear) for object-oriented hardware-development.