[CTN] CTN Seminar - Wednesday, April 22 - Wilten Nicola

Sue Ann Campbell sacampbell at uwaterloo.ca
Wed Apr 15 12:55:54 EDT 2026


Hello Everyone,

We have a final "bonus" seminar for this term.

Wednesday, April 22 at 3:30 p.m.  in DC 1304

Speaker:  Wilten Nicola,  University of Calgary, https://www.nicolacomputationalneurosciencelab.com/

Title:  Subthreshold Asynchronous States and Pattern Generation in Biophysically Detailed Populations of Neurons

Abstract: Learning with spikes is difficult.  Spikes are metabolically costly and difficult to stabilize for computation.  Here, we demonstrate that excitatory/inhibitory asynchronous states can exist without firing spikes through self-sustaining subthreshold voltage fluctuations in networks of biophysically detailed Hodgkin-Huxley neurons.  This novel subthreshold asynchronous state, which we call voltage chaos, can be controlled for useful computation and pattern generation also without firing spikes.  Our work here provides computational evidence for the existence of neural circuits that compute exclusively with subthreshold dynamics.

Bio: Dr. Nicola is an Associate Professor and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Computational Neuroscience in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, at the Cumming School of Medicine in the University of Calgary.  He also holds adjunct appointments in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Physics and is a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute. Dr. Nicola completed his PhD in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London.


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Dr. Sue Ann Campbell (she/her)

Professor and University Research Chair

Department of Applied Mathematics & Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience<https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-theoretical-neuroscience/>

Associate Dean, Research, Faculty of Mathematics

https://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~sacampbe/



I acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional territory of the Chonnonton, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo main campus is located on the Haldimand tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is co-ordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.

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