Contact
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Michael I. HamLos Alamos National Laboratory Theoretical DivisionMathematical Modeling and Analysis, T-7 Center for Nonlinear Studies Mail Stop B284 Los Alamos National Laboratory Phone: +1.505.606.0220 Fax: +1.505.665.5757 Email: mih0001@t7.lanl.gov |
Research
Neural Network Modeling
My current research focuses on identifying trends in data recorded from in vitro neural networks. This work is a collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Center for Network Neuroscience. So far, we have analyzed empirical data using information theory (Bettencourt et al., 2007) and network features (Ham et al., 2007). Our present goal is to combine these two ideas in order to clarify network organizational structures.Experiments
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My research is based on experiments I performed at CNNS. This data is of utmost importance
for deriving neural mechanisms and modeling them. My experiments fall in
three categories.
1) Native activity: recording the natural activity of a culture for many hours in order to establish a baseline of activity. Data from this type of recording was used in Bettencourt et al. (2007) and Ham et al. (2007) 2) Pharmacological manipulation: adding drugs, such as bicuculline which lowers inhibition, to study the effect they have on native activity. We used this information in Ham et al. (2007) where we show that major burst leaders are effected by the loss of inhibitory connections. 3) Electrical stimulation: studying the response of neural networks to electrical pulses. Such studies have the potential to unlock the mystery of how to successfully communicate with a neuronal network in vitro Click here to see what it takes to set up an experiment at CNNS. |
Neural network growing in vitro. Photo courtesy CNNS. |
Affiliations
Though I work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and perform my research at CNNS, I am actually a PhD track physics student with the University of North Texas Physics Program.
Publications
Ham MI, Bettencourt LMA, McDaniel FD, Gross GW (submitted for publication) Spontaneous coordinated activity in cultured networks: analysis of multiple ignition sites, primary circuits, and burst phase delay distributions.
Bettencourt LMA, Stephens GJ, Ham MI, Gross GW (2007) The functional structure of cortical neuronal networks grown in vitro. Phys Rev E 75, 021915 Click here for abstract