University of Edinburgh Computational Systems Neuroscience Group
(starting second from left) Judith, Bilal, Jim, Chris, Konstantin, Roger.
Older pics:
2008,
2006,
2005.
The Computational Systems Neuroscience Group is headed by
Dr. James A. Bednar. Local members
can get more information at our
Wiki.
We work on cortical modeling and related research, on modeling
software development, or both:
- Chris Ball, 2004-; UE MSc 2005
- Chris has been involved in projects using LISSOM and
Topographica in various roles since 2005, and is now doing
his PhD on color map formation in V1.
- Philipp Rudiger, 2011-; UE MSc 2011
- Philipp is pursuing his PhD on the role of feedback and
attention on processing in V1. For his Master's project,
he developed stimulation software for two-photon imaging
to build receptive fields for ferret V1 neurons, in
collaboration with
Stephen
Van Hooser at Brandeis.
- Dobromir Stefanov, 2011 -
- As part of Dobromir's undergraduate project at the University of
Edinburgh, he is preparing Topographica's next major release.
- Jean-Luc Stevens, 2011-; UE MSc 2011
- Jean-Luc is pursuing his PhD on spatiotemporal processing
and prediction in V1, extending his Master's project on
temporally calibrating the GCAL developmental model of
orientation maps in V1.
- Bilal Khan, 2009 - 2011; UE BSc 2010
- Bilal has been working on audio file support for Topographica
and on auditory system modelling, first as part of his
undergraduate project and now as part of his MSc by Research
project at the University of Edinburgh.
- Stuart Wilson, May 2007-; UE MSc 2007; Sheffield PhD 2011
- After his UE MSc project on modeling the
development of rodent whisker barrel cortex maps for angular
deflection, Stuart did a joint PhD in the same area between UE
and the Adaptive
Behaviour Research Group at the University of Sheffield,
England, and is now an EPSRC fellow working on related topics.
PhD Alumni:
- Jan Antolik, 2006-; UE PhD 2010
- Jan completed his University of Edinburgh PhD thesis in Autumn
2010, focusing on the development of maps for complex cells and
how these cells contribute to surround modulation in V1. He is now
a postdoc with
Yves Fregnac at the Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, France.
- Judah De Paula, 2004-2007; UT PhD 2007
- PhD project at the University of Texas: modeling the
development of color maps in LISSOM, co-supervised by
Risto Miikkulainen.
From January 2003 to May 2005, Judah was also a staff programmer on the
Topographica project. He then moved to a staff programmer position at
Enthought Scientific Computing
Solutions.
-
Judith Law, 2005-2010 ; UE PhD 2009
- PhD project: Understanding homeostasis, cortical microcircuitry,
and species differences in visual cortical maps. She then moved
to a postdoc position on the COLAMN project with Mark van Rossum
at the University of Edinburgh.
- Christopher Palmer, September 2005-November 2009; UE PhD 2009
- PhD project: Understanding how the primary visual
cortex maps spatial and frequency preferences
topographically and across the laminae of V1.
- Marina Papoutsi, November 2004-May 2009; UE PhD 2009
- PhD project: understanding the topographic
organization of Broca's area in the context of language
processing, using fMRI equipment at the laboratory of
Barry Horwitz at the US National Institutes of Health. She
is currently a postdoc at the University of Cambridge
Centre for Speech, Language, and the Brain.
- Yiu Fai Sit,
May 2005-August 2009; UT PhD 2009
- PhD project at the University of Texas: modelling the optical
imaging response to small stimuli and interactions between them,
supervised by Risto Miikkulainen and Eyal Seidemann.
From May 2005 to Jan 2006 he was also a full-time staff programmer on
the Topographica project.
-
Chen (Roger) Zhao, September 2006-November 2011
- Roger did his PhD on aftereffects in processing human
faces, combining modeling of the ventral visual stream with
psychophysical tests on humans.
MSc and Undergraduate Alumni:
- James Adwick, May 2008-May 2009; UE BSc 2009
- Honours project: Implementing a Blender-based virtual reality
interface to LISSOM models in Topographica, to provide finer
control over input stimuli.
- Andy Cameron, May 2008-May 2009; UE BSc 2009
- Honours project: Linking Topographica and Matlab, to make
Matlab models available within Topographica and to allow Matlab
users to work with Topographica models.
- Julien Ciroux, January 2005-September 2006; UE MSc 2006
- Master's project: modeling the McCollough effect in LISSOM.
From September 2005 to May 2006 he was also a full-time staff
programmer on the Topographica project.
- Foivos Demertzis, September 2006-May 2007; UE BSc 2007
- Honours project: implementing the Sullivan & de Sa model of
homeostatic plasticity and the Goodhill & Willshaw elastic net
model of ocular dominance in Topographica.
- Marco Elver, May 2010-May 2011
- Marco is doing his fourth-year undergraduate project on
optimizing the memory and CPU usage of the Topographica
simulator.
- Kateryna Gerasymova, April 2008-September 2008; Humbolt MSc 2009
- Honours project (on exchange from Humboldt University
in Berlin): Integrating previously separate LISSOM models for
color, spatial frequency, and disparity into a single model
covering all known spatial feature preferences in V1.
- John Jacob, May 2009-September 2009; UE MSc 2009
- Master's project: Implementing a GPGPU (general-purpose graphics
processing unit) version of the Topographica simulator.
- Chris Jeffery, May 2008-May 2009; UE BSc 2009
- Honours project: Improving joint models of feature development
in V1, in conjunction with Kateryna Gerasymova.
- Konstantin Kudryavtsev, May 2009 - September 2011; UE BSc 2010
- Konstantin set up MPI support for Topographica,
first as part of his undergraduate project and then as as part of
his MSc project at the University of Edinburgh EPCC.
- Veldri Kurniawan, January 2006-September 2006; UE MSc 2006
- Master's project: homeostatic plasticity in LISSOM.
- Alan Lindsay, September 2005-Febrary 2006; UE BSc 2006
- Honours project: implementing the GUI model editor for Topographica.
- Louise Mathews, September 2005-Febrary 2006; UE BSc 2006
- Honours project: implementing the Obermayer et al. and Burger &
Lang orientation map models in Topographica.
- Chok (Lewis) Ming Ng, January 2006-September 2006; UE MSc 2006
- Master's project: implementing a somatosensory map model in
Topographica.
- Ruaidhri Primrose, September 2006-May 2007; UE BSc 2007
- Honours project: implementing the Sullivan & de Sa model of
complex cells in in Topographica.
- Tikesh Ramtohul, January 2006-September 2006; UE MSc 2006
- Master's project: modeling disparity maps in LISSOM.