Workshop 1

Chair: Jan Bjaalie

The patterns of input and output connections of different brain regions largely determine their functions, and precise maps of connections, together with information about anatomical characteristics, represent a basis for understanding brain function under normal and pathological conditions. Over several decades, an overwhelming amount of publications have described the connections of the brain at multiple levels, and one would assume that the connectivity of the brain would be largely elucidated. This is hardly the case. Thus, investigators in need of connectivity data needed to explore neural network principles will find that  a considerable fraction of brain connections are still uncharted, that it is difficult to establish complete wiring diagrams of given brain regions, and that the process of retrieving, interpreting, and comparing published data is challenging. This workshop will discuss a range of neuroinformatics approaches for studying neural network principles, with a focus on cortical networks.