Scientific Talks

Viola Priesemann

Research Group Leader, Max Planck
Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

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10:00am EDT | 4.00pm CEST

Presentation: Self-organization and learning in neural systems

Abstract: The advent of novel recording techniques enables unprecedented access to neural activity in vivo. In parallel, the development of novel compute architectures enables us to explore the self-organization and learning in brain-like neural networks. We use neuromorphic chips, to parallelize learning in spiking neural networks, and demonstrate how these networks tune their working point to task requirements. We then show how that working point changes across brain areas in the living brain. Thereby, we demonstrate a versatile tuning mechanism in silico, and show evidence for its role in shaping computation in vivo.

Biography: Viola Priesemann heads a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and teaches at the Georg-August University Göttingen. She studies spreading processes, self-organization and information processing in living and artificial networks. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, she has been studying the spread of SARS-CoV-2, quantified the effectiveness of interventions, and developed containment strategies. Viola Priesemann had studied physics in Darmstadt and Lisbon, then moved to the Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris), Caltech (USA), the MPI for Brain Research in Frankfurt, and finally to Göttingen, where she has been leading an independent research group since 2016. She is co-author of several position papers (e.g. of the National Academy Leopoldina), Fellow of the Schiemann-Kolleg and member of the Cluster of Excellence “Multiscale Bioimaging” at the Campus Göttingen.

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