"Analysis and Simulation of Neuronal and Astrocytic Activity" Kerstin Lenk

In the last two decades, astrocytes have gained more interest due to the realization that they are involved not only in information processing and memory formation but are also linked with several neurodegenerative disorders and brain diseases.

The mini-course is divided in two parts:

• The first part will focus on the electrical assessment and analysis of neuronal activity using in vitro multielectrode arrays. The resulting trains of action potentials can be evaluated with spike and burst analysis tools to quantify the neuronal activity patterns. Furthermore, synchrony as well as asynchrony are essential features of the functioning of interconnected neuronal networks. Temporal and spatial changes can be assessed for example with spectral entropy. 
• The second part will concentrate on computational models of astrocytes. An astrocyte participates in the neuronal activity by receiving neurotransmitters, i.e. glutamate, from an adjacent presynapse. This leads to the propagation of intra- and intercellular calcium waves. In my talk, I will present two computational models, a single cell astrocyte model and neuron-astrocyte network model. Using the network model, we investigate how astrocytes influence the neuronal activity, especially bursting behavior. Furthermore, it is not clear what effect the astrocyte’s morphology has on the described calcium dynamics, which we address with the single cell model. Computational modelling supports us in analyzing and predicting intra- and intercellular pathways in neurons and astrocytes in health and disease.

Dr. Kerstin Lenk is currently Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher in prof. Jari Hyttinen’s Computational Biophysics and Imaging Group (CBIG) at Tampere University, Finland. She received her Ph.D. in computer science from Clausthal University of Technology, Germany, in 2016. Her first postdoc at the Center for Regenerative Therapies/ TU Dresden, Germany, was on transcriptomic analysis of stem cell derived neurons. Her research fields include in silico and in vitro modeling of neuron-astrocyte networks and bioinformatics.