Towards Mathematical Modeling of Neurological Disease from Cellular Perspective

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"Towards Mathematical Modeling of Neurological Disease from Cellular Perspective," is a series of workshops to be held at the Fields Institute in Toronto, Ontario, during May and June 2012. Oscillations and other complex dynamic behaviors have been implicated in several neurological diseases. Both animal models and humans with Parkinson?s disease, schizophrenia, epilepsy and sleep disorders exhibit changes in the firing properties of neurons within certain brain regions. These changes often take the form of increased correlation in spiking activity, changes in bursting and other rhythmic behavior and changes in the firing rates of neurons. Although the functional role of rhythmic activity in cognitive processing remains poorly understood, it is clear that these pathological rhythms depend on specific cell types and network properties. Recent technological advances such as optogenetics allow for the targeting of specific biological cells and the recording from multiple cells lying in separate brain regions. This provides novel opportunities for theoreticians to model the role of different cell types and network properties in the generation of neuronal activity. A series of five workshops will be conducted, each devoted to a separate neurological disease: Parkinson?s disease, schizophrenia, epilepsy, Alzheimer?s and anesthesiology/sleep disorders. Each workshop will bring together neuroscientists, mathematicians and clinicians, so that the most relevant issues and latest research associated with the workshop?s topic will be presented from several different viewpoints. In this way, the workshops will: (i) attract newcomers to the field; (ii) broaden and deepen perspectives of those in the field; and (iii) consider what mathematical tools and analyses would be most helpful, and where further developments are most needed, to move forth in tackling neurological disease. Millions of people suffer from some form of neurological disease. Experiments have demonstrated that many brain disorders, including Parkinson?s disease, schizophrenia, sleep disorders and epilepsy, are associated with the onset of pathological neuronal firing patterns. For example, recordings from both monkeys and humans have shown that Parkinson?s disease is associated with increased synchronization among neurons within the basal ganglia. Changes in the synchronization properties of neurons may also play a critical role in epilepsy and pathological firing patterns within the prefrontal cortex, and other brain regions, have been implicated in patients suffering from schizophrenia. While there has been tremendous progress in developing experimental techniques for identifying cellular processes involved in the generation of neurological diseases, the mechanisms underlying these pathological firing patterns remain poorly understood. It has become increasingly evident that mathematical models, together with both computational and mathematical analysis of them, can play an important role in making sense of the data, testing hypotheses and generating new ones. A series of five workshops will be conducted, each devoted to a separate neurological disease: Parkinson?s disease, schizophrenia, epilepsy, Alzheimer?s and anesthesiology/sleep disorders. Each workshop will address the most recent and relevant research associated with the workshop's topic and will bring together scientists from a wide range of disciplines.