Dear Colleagues,
Following the success of the previous four editions of LASCON (Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience), held in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012, I am pleased to announce the 5th LASCON, which will take place between January 12 and February 7 in Natal, Brazil.
LASCON aims at introducing young researchers and graduate and advanced undergraduate students to the use of computational and mathematical methods for modeling neurons and neural networks. These models will be taught via a combination of theoretical lectures and hands-on tutorials with the use of the programs neuroConstruct, NEURON, GENESIS, XPPAUT, NEST and Matlab.
Students will have to work on small research projects (to be done in groups of two), which they will present orally at the end of the school. The groups and projects will be defined at the middle of the second week, after interviews between students and lecturers/organizer. In the beginning of the fourth week there will be an informal poster session in which student groups will make presentations of the progress achieved. Based on the suggestions and comments made by lecturers and other students the groups will resume work to prepare the final oral presentation.
Theoretical classes and tutorials will be given by the following people:
Adriano Tort (Brain Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil)
Arnd Roth (University College, London, UK)
Avrama Blackwell (Krasnow Institute, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA)
David Beeman (University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA)
Gennady Cymbalyuk (Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA)
Rodrigo Quiroga (University of Leicester, Leicester, UK)
Sacha van Albada (Research Center Juelich, Juelich, Germany)
Volker Steuber (University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK)
The number of students is limited to 20 and applications should be made electronically via the application form in the school’s web page ( http://sisne.org/lascon). Applicants are also requested to submit a detailed CV (in English) and to provide two letters of recommendation.
There is no registration fee for the school. Costs for accommodation will be covered by the school organization but travel costs will have to be covered by the students.
In the selection procedure, priority will be given to Latin-American students, but students from other parts of the world are encouraged to apply as well.
The application deadline is September 21 2013.
I am looking forward to see you in Natal.
Best regards,
Antonio Roque
LASCON organizer
