Convergence, divergence, and computational optimization in neural circuit evolution
June 23, 2024
15:00-15:15 welcome and opening remarks (Fred Wolf, University of Göttingen, CIDBN & MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization)
15:15-16:00 Lecture I: On dogs, dinosaurs, and diversity: From an optimization-minded to an opportunity-based view of brain evolution (Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA)
16:00-16:15 coffee break
Session I: Neural circuit evolution across deep time
chair: Kerstin Schmidt, Brain Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
- 16:15-16:45 From so simple a beginning, or why study opossum brains? (Diego Astúa, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - UFPE, Recife, Brazil)
- 16:45-17:15 Functional organisation of visual processing in the avian brain (Winston Seah, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany)
- postponed to Jun 24 Lecture II: Composition and characteristics of cnidarian nervous systems (Ulrich Technau, University of Vienna, Austria)
June 24, 2024
09:00-09:15 opening remarks (Fred Wolf, University of Göttingen, CIDBN & MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization)
09:15-10:00 Key note: Natural Neuroscience (Nachum Ulanovsky, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel)
Session II: Grade shifts in the evolution of cortical networks
chair: Julian Vogel, University of Göttingen, CIDBN
- 10:00-10:30 Functional circuitry of visual cortex in a very large rodent brain (Kerstin Schmidt, Brain Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil)
- 11:00-11:30 Optimization and phase transitions in visual cortex evolution (Zoe Stawyskyj, U Göttingen & Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Germany)
- 11:30-12:00 Putting primates in perspective: size and shape in euarchontogliran brain evolution (Mary T. Silcox, University of Toronto, Scarborough, Canada )
- 13:20-14:00 How animals decode time information from sun and moon (Kristin Tessmar-Raible, University of Vienna, Austria)
- 14:00-14:30 Composition and characteristics of cnidarian nervous systems (Ulrich Technau, University of Vienna, Austria)
- 14:30-15:00 Evolutionary and numerical optimization of biochemical networks (Gasper Tkacik, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria)
10:30-11:00 coffee break
12:00-12:45 lunch break
Session III: Molecular evolution of cellular processing
chair: Ornella Bertrand, Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Spain
12:45-13:20 Lecture III: Epistasis and the speed of evolution (Fyodor Kondrashov, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)
15:00-16:00 poster session including coffee break
16:00-16:45 Lecture IV
chair: Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA
How the study of the past can pave the way to better understand the present-day mammalian neurosensory diversity (Ornella Bertrand, Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Spain)
16:45-17:00 closing remarks (Fred Wolf, University of Göttingen, CIDBN & MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization)