Saturday, January 11, 2014

[Comp-neuro] New book on dendritic computation and morphology

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the publication of a book on dendritic morphology and computation: 
"The Computing Dendrite - From Structure to Function"

Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience
http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/book/978-1-4614-8093-8

Editors: 
Hermann Cuntz
Michiel W.H. Remme
Benjamin Torben-Nielsen

Book description:
Neuronal dendritic trees are complex structures that endow the cell with powerful computing capabilities and allow for high neural interconnectivity. Studying the function of dendritic structures has a long tradition in theoretical neuroscience, starting with the pioneering work by Wilfrid Rall in the 1950s. Recent advances in experimental techniques allow us to study dendrites with a new perspective and in greater detail. The goal of this volume is to provide a résumé of the state-of-the-art in experimental, computational, and mathematical investigations into the functions of dendrites in a variety of neural systems.

The first section of the book considers the morphological properties of dendrites and summarizes the approaches to measure dendrite morphology quantitatively and to generate synthetic dendrite morphologies in computer models. This morphological characterization ranges from the study of fractal principles for describing dendrite topologies, to the consequences of optimization principles for dendrite shape.

The second main theme focuses on how dendrites contribute to the computations that neurons perform. A wide range of studies is brought together, with topics ranging from general to system-specific phenomena. The studies consider many different neural systems coming from various animal species ranging from invertebrates to mammals. With this broad focus, an overview is given of the diversity of mechanisms that dendrites can employ to shape neural computations.


Michiel Remme, PhD
Institute for Theoretical Biology
Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin
Invalidenstr. 43
10115 Berlin, Germany

tel:   +49  (0)30 2093 8408
fax:  +49  (0)30 2093 8801
Room number 1301

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