With a research team of accomplished bioscientists, physicists, computer scientists and mathematicians, CD BioSciences is dedicated to helping clients build biophysical models of large-scale neural activity using non-linear dynamical systems theory. We integrate experimental data from multiple modalities into a common framework to facilitate prediction, testing and possible refutation.

Introduction

Movement, perception and cognition all derive from the collective activity of neurons in cortical circuits and large-scale systems throughout the brain. While much progress has been made on the causes of single neuron spikes, we do not yet have a clear understanding of the processes involved in supporting collective neural behavior in large-scale cortical systems. To date, there is no widely accepted mathematically relevant theory of neuronal clustering activity. Conventional analyses of cognitive and functional neuroimaging data have largely been conducted without the use of biophysical models of large-scale neural activity.

Models of population neuronal activity are essential for understanding both perception and behavior, as well as the determinants of large-scale neuroimaging data. Large-scale neuronal dynamics models are unique in explaining, predicting and integrating neuronal activity at the macroscopic scale of perceptual behavior and functional imaging data. Multiple arguments have demonstrated the increasing importance of large-scale brain activity models in understanding the neural origins of functional imaging data (e.g. oscillations and network dynamics) in health and disease.

Fig.1 Technical and conceptual framework for empirical testing of NMMs and NFMs. (Breakspear, 2017)

Our Services

We build biophysical models of large-scale brain dynamics through detailed theoretical derivations of neuronal cluster dynamics. We provide modeling services including, but not limited to:

• Neural mass model (NMM). We build this model to describe a local cluster of interacting neurons, such as pyramidal and inhibitory cells. And we bridge these scales by coupling an ensemble of NMMs into mesoscopic circuits and macroscopic systems.
• Brain network model (BNM). We couple an ensemble of NMMs to a large-scale system, with connections informed by the connectome to build BNMs.
• Neural field model (NFM). We build this model with a nonlinear wave model at its core to account for a broad spectrum of wave-like empirical data, such as the propagation fronts of oscillatory activity observed in the sensory and motor cortices.
• Computational model of large-scale resting-state dynamics at the whole-brain level. We combine biophysical large-scale computational models of brain dynamics with neuroimaging to build this model, which helps to understand how systems-level neuroimaging biomarkers are generated from potential synaptic-level disturbances related to disease status.

Applications

• Study on whole-brain dynamics.
• Study on the perturbative dynamics of neural networks in psychiatric conditions.
• Study on computational psychiatry.
• Study on the circuit bases of large-scale structure-function relationships.

With extensive expertise in neurophysiology, statistical physics and non-linear dynamics, CD BioSciences has developed a variety of methods to help clients build biophysical models of large-scale neural activity. Our specialist technical services will accelerate your research into the ebbs and flows of collective behavior in complex systems. If you are interested in our services, please feel free to contact us.

Reference

1. Breakspear, M. Dynamic models of large-scale brain activity. Nature neuroscience. 2017, 20(3): 340-352.

• Whole-Brain Imaging Based on Biophysical Technology
• Detection of Neurotransmitters
• Analysis of Neurotransmitter Release
• Electrophysiological Measurements of Neurons
• Analysis of Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity
• Analysis of 3D Neural Morphology
• Visualization of Neural Activity
• Structural and Functional Analysis of Neural Circuits