Ass.Prof. Dr.rer.nat. Kerstin LENK
Institute of Neural Engineering
Graz University of Technology
Programm
"Modeling neuron-astrocyte interaction"
Astrocytes, a type of glial cell in the brain, are actively involved in neuronal information processing and synaptic plasticity. Computational models can guide experimentalists toward the most relevant experiments by forming a theoretical framework to characterize and predict the function of the system of interest. Firstly, I will give a general introduction to the development of computational astrocyte models. Then, I will present computational models to investigate the tight interaction of neurons and astrocytes on singlecell and network levels. In diseases like epilepsy and schizophrenia, for example, the uptake and release of neurotransmitters, the ion exchange, and the astrocyte morphology are altered. With the aid of our computational models, we investigate those aspects at several temporal and spatial levels.
Host: Vered KELLNER
Contact for questions: Helmut KUBISTA