Dynamic Physiology Systems
Applying dynamical principals of biological function to challenges in technology, medicine, and basic research.
Neurophysiology
Our objective is to develop a dynamical understanding of complex biological systems and apply mathematical analysis and numerical simulation to formalize mechanisms of biological systems, and to extract principles of biological function. Theoretical studies of neurobiological systems can help bridge the gap between the fundamental level of biological processes and the systems level of biological function.
Technology
The design principals of these neural systems could find broad application to many engineering systems. Recently, Hewlett-Packard developed an implementation of a memristor, a hypothesized circuit element that opens a new door on potential hardware design based on neurobiological principals. Such neuromorphic hardware could produce extremely high-speed, low-power computational algorithm that are presently cumbersome on highly parallel machines. Two applications that we are currently pursuing are:
(1) Develop hardware circuit designs using memristors for simulating neural circuitry.
(2) Develop hardware circuit designs using memristors to implement action-selection algorithms for control systems based on the mammalian basal ganglia/cortical control loop.