### OSB Workshop 2014: Building and sharing models of the cortex

This meeting will be the second main meeting of the Open Source Brain initiative (http://www.opensourcebrain.org).

Dates: **9am Wednesday 14th - 5pm Friday 16th May, 2014**

Location: [Hotel Calabona](http://www.hotelcalabona.com/), [Alghero](http://www.alghero-turismo.it/en/), Sardinia

Local organisers: [Sergio Solinas](/users/23), Irene Solinas
Organising committee: [Padraig Gleeson](/users/4), [Eugenio Piasini](/users/3), [Angus Silver](/users/6), [Boris Marin](/users/67)

### Focus of the meeting

There are an increasing number of cortical cell and network models being developed and made publicly available, from networks of leaky integrate and fire neurons based on cortical connectivity and firing properties, to multicompartmental, conductance based cell models. Many of these are being reused, reimplemented and extended to address new scientific questions by labs around the world.

In this meeting, we will look at the range cortico-thalamic models out there which are of widespread interest and work towards getting these into public, open source repositories, in standardised formats such as NeuroML and PyNN. We will investigate the steps needed to ensure these models are well tested, annotated and ready for use as research tools by the attendees and the wider community.

There will be presentations from experimentalists who are producing the data to constrain these models, as well as simulator and application developers who will create the infrastructure to build, simulate, analyse and share the models.

### Confirmed speakers

[Giuseppe Chindemi](http://people.epfl.ch/giuseppe.chindemi), [Blue Brain Project](http://bluebrain.epfl.ch), EPFL, Switzerland
[Sharon Crook](/users/8), Arizona State University, USA
[Markus Diesmann](http://www.fz-juelich.de/SharedDocs/Personen/INM/INM-6/EN/Diesmann_Markus.html?nn=724694), Research Center Jülich, Germany
[Dirk Feldmeyer](http://www.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/cznk/?lidx=1), Aachen University, Germany
[Alon Korngreen](/users/190), Bar-Ilan University, Israel
[Linda Lanyon](http://incf.org/about/who-we-are/staff), International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility, Stockholm, Sweden
[Dave Lester](/users/90), [SpiNNaker project](http://apt.cs.man.ac.uk/projects/SpiNNaker/), University of Manchester, UK
[Robert A. McDougal](http://senselab.med.yale.edu), Yale University School of Medicine, USA
[Michele Migliore](http://www.pa.ibf.cnr.it/personale/migliore/index.html), National Research Council, Italy & Yale University School of Medicine, USA
[Ole Paulsen](http://noggin.pdn.cam.ac.uk/Group/OlePaulsen), University of Cambridge, UK
[Horacio G. Rotstein](http://web.njit.edu/~horacio/), New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark (NJ) USA.
[Angus Silver](/users/6), University College London
[Werner Van Geit](http://bluebrain.epfl.ch/page-68317-en.html), [Blue Brain Project](http://bluebrain.epfl.ch), EPFL, Switzerland
[Tim Vogels](http://www.cncb.ox.ac.uk/team/group-leaders/tim/), University of Oxford, UK
[Daniel Wójcik](/users/74), Nencki Institute, Poland

### Registration

Registration for this meeting is now closed. If you please contact: [p.gleeson@ucl.ac.uk](mailto:p.gleeson@ucl.ac.uk) for any queries.

### Agenda

There will be a [NeuroML Editorial Board](http://www.neuroml.org/editors.php) meeting on **Tues 13th May**. More details will follow on the main [NeuroML mailing list](http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=neuroml-technology).

#### Wednesday 14th May, 9am - 6pm

| |**Morning Session** | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| *Welcome & background to the Open Source Brain initiative* |
| **Angus Silver** | Introduction |
| **Padraig Gleeson** | Overview of OSB & relationship to NeuroML |
| **Adrian Quintana** | Using Open Source Brain |
| *Relationship to other initiatives* |
| **Robert McDougal** | ModelView: extracting model structure and presenting it on the web with NEURON |
| **Linda Lanyon** | The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility |

**12:30-13:30 Lunch**

| |**Afternoon Session** | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| *Detailed modelling of individual cortical neurons* |
| **Alon Korngreen** | Realistic modelling of cortical pyramidal neurons|
| **Angus Silver** | Glutamate-Bound NMDARs Arising from In Vivo-like Network Activity Extend Spatio-temporal Integration in a L5 Cortical Pyramidal Cell Model |
| **Guy Eyal** |Dendrites impact the encoding capabilities of the axon |
| **Werner Van Geit** | Reconstruction of a neocortical microcircuit: Neurons |

#### Thursday 15th May, 9am - 6pm

| |**Morning Session** | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| *Enabling technologies* |
| **Dave Lester** | The SpiNNaker Project |
| **Matteo Cantarelli** | Geppetto: A web based multiscale simulator |
| Network models of the cortex|
| **Tim Vogels** | The dance of excitation and inhibition |

**12:30-13:30 Lunch**

| |**Afternoon Session** | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Markus Diesmann** | Title tbc |
| **Giuseppe Chindemi** | Reconstruction of a neocortical microcircuit: connectivity & synapses |
| **Daniel Wójcik** | From generation to publication of simulated data in a large-scale model of thalamo-cortical loop |
| **Chaitanya Chintaluri** | Modeling extracellular potentials in a cortical slice preparation |
| **Dirk Feldmeyer** | Excitatory and inhibitory neuron morphologies and their implication for synaptic connectivity |

#### Friday 16th May, 9am - 6pm

| |**Morning Session** | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| OSB Symposium: Oscillation and resonance in CNS network loops | **Organiser: [Sergio Solinas](/users/23)** This symposium aims to cluster the neuroscientists actively working in the field of neuronal network oscillations within the framework of OSB in order to promote the integration of models and tools in this area. For more information see here: [[Symposium2014]] |

**12:30-13:30 Lunch**

| |**Afternoon Session** | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| *The future of OSB* |
| **Boris Marin** | Model testing & validation framework for OSB |
| **Padraig Gleeson** | Requirements gathering: What is needed for truly collaborative model development in computational neuroscience |

### Accommodation

Special rates are available at the meeting venue, [Hotel Calabona](http://www.hotelcalabona.com), Alghero. **Please use Customer Code: BRAIN when making reservations** (leave Promo Code blank). Rate per night for a double room (before tax) should be EUR105 (**ensure you select 1 adult**).



### Reaching Alghero

Alghero is easy to reach thanks to national and international flights that land daily (list of Companies and destinations: http://www.aeroportodialghero.it/compagnie_en.asp). http://www.aeroportodialghero.it/voli/compagnie\_en.asp).

Alghero-Fertilia Airport is located just 12 km from the Workshop venue and is the most convenient way to reach the meeting venue. The Airport is very well connected to Alghero by public transportation (buses run every 15 minutes, one way fare Euro 0,70) and by taxi. The major rent-a-car companies are located at the airport arrival area.

The city is also well connected to the main Mediterranean sea routes. The port of Porto Torres is located 45 Km away. Alternatively, Olbia-Costa Smeralda airport is 128Km away and Cagliari airport is 225Km away.



### Enquiries

If you have any enquiries about this meeting, please don’t hesitate to contact: [p.gleeson@ucl.ac.uk](mailto:p.gleeson@ucl.ac.uk).

### Support

This meeting is being generously supported by:


 

*Illustration courtesy of [Matteo Farinella](/users/34)  *