Why the Jaeger lab?
I was drawn to Dieter’s laboratory because I was interested in his unique approach to studying the brain: computational neuroscience. Although we most often think of computation as something only microprocessors and calculators can carry out, neurons are actually some of the most sophisticated computational devices known to man. Using this approach, neurons are viewed as a system of electrical circuits, which we can represent mathematically as electrical circuit equations. We can construct this system of electrical circuit equations in such a way as to represent a “model” of the neuron. Using specialized computer software, we can then manipulate (i.e., test) the model by inputting data which simulates the environment that a neuron may actually find itself in, such as excitatory and/or inhibitory connections from neighboring neurons. We can then observe how our model neuron behaves given these inputs relative to how actual neurons behave in in vivo and in vitro recording experiments. Wh
