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Summer of Spikes Summer Semester, 2009 elec4001 and engg7301
Course Profile elec4001, engg7301	Assessment deliverables	Software	Further Readings	Project suggestions
Prerequisites	Results

LECTURES are open to all UQ staff and students. Labs are for enrolled students only. Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, 2-4pm in 79-707, starting from week 1. Labs: Thursday 1pm-3pm in 78-110, starting from week 2, on Dec. 10^th, Dec. 17^th, and Jan. 7^th.
Wk	Date	Proposed Schedule (subject to change)
1	30 Nov	2pm Angelique Paulk- What is a brain? 3pm Angelique Paulk- What is a neuron?
1	2 Dec	2pm Pankaj Sah- What are synapses? 3pm Pankaj Sah- What is neural plasticity?
2	7 Dec	2pm Angelique Paulk- Why model neurons? 3pm Angelique Paulk- How do we do it?
2	9 Dec	2pm Angelique Paulk- What is Matlab? 3pm Peter Stratton- Simple neuron models.
2	10 Dec	1pm Practical 1- Learning Neuron- two hours
3	14 Dec	2pm Peter Stratton- Simple network models in Matlab. 3pm Peter Stratton- Discovering principles of network operation.
3	15 Dec *[Note* irregular date]**	2pm Francois Windels- How to we relate network models to the biology of the brain? 3pm Bruno van Swinderen- How do we relate these approaches to understanding an area of the brain?
3	17 Dec	1pm Practical 2- Learning Matlab- two hours
		Break
4	4 Jan	2pm Review 3pm Introduce approaches by guest speakers
4	6 Jan	2pm Jean-Marc Fellous- Basic issues in neural data analyses: Finding patterns.
4	7 Jan	1pm Practical 3- Analysis and Projects- two hours
5	11 Jan	2pm Jean-Marc Fellous- Neuromodulatory power... same neurons, different functions.
5	12 Jan	2pm Jean-Marc Fellous- It's time for spikes! Spike timing and spike patterns.
6	18 Jan	2pm Guy Wallis- Categorisation and generalisation using self-organising, competitive neural systems
6	20 Jan	2pm Anthony Burkitt - TBA
7	25 Jan	2pm Michael Breakspear- Populations of spiking neurons: From bifurcations to moments and hierarchies
7	27 Jan	2pm David Reutens - TBA
8	1 Feb	2pm Benedikt Grothe - Time and the Brain
8	3 Feb	2pm Project presentations

ASSESSMENT DELIVERABLES (dates will be finalized in week 1)

For assignment details and marking criteria see the Assignment Specification (.doc file).

Assessment summary:

Requirement & Marks	Deliverable Components Assessment criteria are provided with the assignment sheet		Time estimate (total 130 hours)	Advice / Handouts/Feedback
Participation at lectures (10%)	Wks 1-8	Marks will be given for participation in class.	Lectures: 26 hrs	Participation means taking part in class discussions, asking and answering questions. Students who prefer not to speak during the class may hand in written questions for the lecturer at the end of the class.
Participation at lab (10%)	Wks 1-8	Marks will be given for participation in lab.	Labs: 6 hrs (includes 6 hrs prep)	Participation means taking part in class discussions, asking and answering questions. Students who prefer not to speak during the lab may hand in written questions for the lecturer at the end of the class.
Project (80%)	Wk 3	Asgt 1a. Project title and abstract (pass/fail)	2 hours	Due midnight 16^th of December, with a one page draft
	Wk 5	Asgt 1b. Project Proposal and lit review, and preliminary results (25%)	23 hours	Full project proposal with literature review due at 5pm on the 15^th of January.
	Wk 8	Asgt 1c. Project report (55%)	60 hours	Due at 5pm on the February 3rd.
Assignment sheets
Sample assignments				This course is unique, so there are no past examples of completed assignments. However, other special topics courses have had project-based assessment, and examples of other projects may provide useful background. 1a. Title and abstract plan, see Sample Title and overview 1b. Project proposal and literature review, see Sample Project progress report Aim for 10-15 pages total; the literature review should have 5-10 references relevant to your project 1c. Project report Sample project report Aim for 20-30 pages total. The material in your 1b submisssion can be used again for this report. For examples of complete research projects, see the honours project listed at http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~comp4809/Sample%20projects/

TUTORIALS will be held in Building 79-707 Mondays and Wednesdays from 3 pm, starting from week 4, subject to guest speaker times and availability.

Week	Date	DRAFT (will be finalised in week 1) Tutorials
1		None
2		None
3		None
4		Project work
5		Project work
6		Project work
7		Project work
8		Project work

PREREQUISITES

At least 2.5 years of university-level coursework in science, maths, and/or engineering.

LECTURE NOTES

Links to readings may not be available outside of the University of Queensland domain.

Nov 30. What is a brain and What is a neuron? Also see Summer of Spikes Course Material.

Related reading: Chapters 5, 7, 17 in From molecules to networks : an introduction to cellular and molecular neuroscience.

Dec 2. What are synapses and What is neural plasticity? (whiteboard presentation; transcription will be available)

Related reading: Chapters 8, 9, 16, 19 in From molecules to networks : an introduction to cellular and molecular neuroscience.

Dec 7. Why do we model neurons and How do we do it?

Related reading: Chapters 4, 6, 14, 17 in From molecules to networks : an introduction to cellular and molecular neuroscience.

The original Hodgkin-Huxley model from 1952. See also a foreword written by Huxley 50 years later.

Dec 9. STDP, Neuron and MATLAB and

Simple Neuron and Synapse Models

Related reading: Chapters 1, 2, 13, 14, 16, 17 in Matlab for Neuroscientists: An Introduction to Scientific Computing in Matlab

Izhikevich, E. M. (2004). Which model to use for cortical spiking neurons? Neural Networks, IEEE Transactions on 15(5): 1063-1070.

Dec 14. Part 1. Model Synapses (notes by Peter Stratton, lecture by Angelique Paulk)

Part 2. Discovering principle (notes by Peter Stratton, lecture by Janet Wiles) , (pdf)

Summer of Spikes Summer Semester, 2009 elec4001 and engg7301

Summer of Spikes
Summer Semester, 2009
elec4001 and engg7301