Samora Okujeni: Structural modularity promotes critical mesoscale dynamics in neuronal networks in vitro
| When |
Mar 05, 2024
from 05:15 PM to 05:45 PM |
|---|---|
| Where | Bernstein Center, Lecture Hall, ground floor, Hansastr. 9a |
| Contact Name | Fiona Siegfried |
| Contact Phone | 0761 203 9549 |
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Abstract
Critical recruitment dynamics in neuronal networks are considered optimal for information processing in the brain and appear disrupted in several neuropathological disorders. Yet, it remains heavily debated how neuronal networks would self-organize criticality by detailed fine-tuning of connectivity, inhibition and excitability. Recent theoretical studies proposed that system criticality might emerge from a mixture of regionally subcritical and supercritical dynamics. We demonstrate that in self-organizing biological neuronal networks, modularity tunes critical recruitment dynamics at the mesoscale level of interacting clusters of neurons. This reconciles reports of supercritical recruitment dynamics in local groups of neurons with findings on criticality in neuronal networks sampled at mesoscopic spatial scales. Our findings indicate a functionally relevant link between the mesoscale architecture of neuronal networks, modularity and criticality.
About the speaker and his research