Analysis of brain microcircuitry with statistical physics and machine learning tools

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Approximately one in every five people will suffer from a mental health or a neurological condition during**their life time. Due to the enormous complexity of the nervous system, understanding the underlying cellular**mechanisms of diseases such as dementia, epilepsy, depression and bipolar disorder has proven to be a**challenging task. To understand the underlying causes of brain and spinal cord diseases, the next generation of**diagnostic imaging technologies will need to provide more detailed understanding of how distinct types of**neurons in different regions of the brain and the spinal cord work together to encode, regulate, process and**transfer information within the nervous system. In the past two decades, functional imaging technologies, such**as fMRI and PET have provided a significant improvement in our understanding of the brain function.**However, these methods and current optical devices do not allow simultaneous monitoring of activities of**individual neurons in large neuronal assemblies in multiple regions that are involved in a disease and are**located deep in the brain and in the spinal cord. Neurescence, a Canadian owned and operated company, is the**only company in the market that offers the capability of simultaneously monitoring the activities of neuronal**populations in multiple brain and spinal cord regions, with its first available product called Quartet. The**novelty of Quartet technology requires appropriate new tools for the analysis of the data it provides to yield the**most significant insight into brain function. With these new tools, Neurescence platform enables better**understanding of the system level operation of the central nervous system and leveraging this understanding**for rational drug development. In this proposal we will apply recently developed machine learning tools rooted**in statistical physics to the analysis of the data obtained by Quartet and will develop efficient inference and**analysis venues with the overarching goal of integrating the mathematical analysis into a software-hardware**package for Neurescence. This addition to Neurescence's product line allows employment of additional highly**qualified personnel and contribute to the Canadian economy.