Spine morphogenesis and plasticity

Project description

Mathematical Neuroscience is increasingly being recognised as a powerful tool to complement neurobiology to understand aspects of the human central nervous system.  The research activity in our group is concerned with developing a sound mathematical description of sub-cellular processes in synapses and dendritic trees.  In particular we are interested in models of dendritic spines [1], which are typically the synaptic contact point for excitatory synapses.  Previous work in our group has focused on voltage dynamics of spine-heads [2].  We are now keen to broaden the scope of this work to include developmental models for spine growth and maintenance, as well as models for synaptic plasticity [3].  Aberrations in spine morphology and density are well known to underly certain brain disorders, including Fragile X syndrome (which can lead to attention deficit and developmental delay) and depression [4].  Computational modelling is an ideal method to do in-silico studies of drug treatments for brain disorders, by modelling their action on spine development and plasticity.  This is an important complementary tool for drug discovery in an area which is struggling to make headway with classical experimental pharmaceutical tools.

The mathematical tools relevant for this project will be drawn from dynamical systems theory, biophysical modelling, statistical physics, and scientific computation.