Terrence Sejnowski

The long-range goal of Dr. Sejnowski's laboratory is to uncover linking principles from brain to behavior using computational models. This goal is being pursued with a combination of theoretical and experimental approaches at several levels of investigation ranging from the biophysical level to the systems level. Hippocampal and cortical slice preparations are being used to explore the properties of single neurons and synapses, including the precision of spike firing and the influence of neuromodulators. Biophysical models of electrical and chemical signal processing within neurons are used as an adjunct to physiological experiments. New techniques have been developed for modeling cell signaling using Monte Carlo methods (MCell). The central issues being addressed are how dendrites integrate synaptic signals in neurons, how networks of neurons generate dynamical patterns of activity, how sensory information is represented in the cerebral cortex, how memory representations are formed and consolidated during sleep, and how visuo-motor transformations are adaptively organized. His laboratory has developed new methods for analyzing the sources for electrical and magnetic signals recorded from the scalp and hemodynamic signals from functional brain imaging by blind separation using independent components analysis (ICA).

Mainen, Z. F. and Sejnowski, T. J., Reliability of spike timing in neocortical neurons, Science 268, 1503-1506 (1995).

Steriade, M., McCormick, D. A., Sejnowski, T. J., Thalamocortical oscillations in the sleeping and aroused brain, Science 262, 679-685 (1993).

Bell, A. J. and Sejnowski, T. J., An information-maximization approach to blind separation and blind deconvolution, Neural Computation 7, 1129-1159 (1995).

Coggan, J. S., Bartol, T. M., Esquenazi, E., Stiles, J. R., Lamont, S., Martone, M. E., Berg, D. K., Ellisman, M. H., and Sejnowski, T. J., Evidence for ectopic neurotransmission at a neuronal synapse, Science, 39, 446-451 (2005).

Tiesinga, P., Fellous, J.M., Sejnowski, T. J. Regulation of spike timing in visual cortical circuits. Nature Review of Neuroscience, 9: 97-109 (2008).

Meltzoff, A.N.; Kuhl, P.K.; Movellan, J.; Sejnowski, T. J.; Foundations for a New Science of Learning, Science, 325: 284-288 (2009).

Behrens, M. M.; Sejnowski, T. J.; Does Schizophrenia Arise from Oxidative Dysregulation of Parvalbumin-Interneurons in the Developing Cortex?, Neuropharmacology, 57: 193-200 (2009).