We invite advanced master students, doctoral students, and postdoctoral researchers to participate in the BNNI 2018 to be held at the Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, Ventspils, Latvia in June 2018.

The Course

The course is interdisciplinary and covers modeling at different levels of organization of the brain. Additionally this year's training course is planned more diverse and will include also EEG/SEEG signal processing techniques as well as forward and inverse modeling of the brain. Finally the participants will be introduced to various basic aspects of deep learning in order to answer following questions:

• How to choose an algorithm?
• How to prepare the data?
• How to train and deploy the model?

Participants will learn about Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs).

The course combines lectures, tutorials and computer exercises. This summer school is the sixth in the series of the Baltic-Nordic Courses on Neuroinformatics (BNNI 2013 in Kaunas, Lithuania; BNNI 2014 in Tampere, Finland; BNNI 2015 in Tartu, Estonia; BNNI 2016 in Warsaw, Poland; BNNI 2017 in Kaunas, Lithuania).

• BNNI 2013 in Kaunas, Lithuania
• BNNI 2014 in Tampere, Finland
• BNNI 2015 in Tartu, Estonia
• BNNI 2016 in Warsaw, Poland
• BNNI 2017 in Kaunas, Lithuania

Target audience

The target audience of the course will be advanced master students, doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in biomedical and technology sciences, from medicine, biology, psychology, to mathematics, informatics, information technology, physics, chemistry, who would like to get an introduction to neuroinformatics and computational neuroscience. Some experience with programming and quantitative reasoning as well as strong interest in computational and mathematical modeling of the brain will be desirable but not necessary to benefit from the school. Last year we had participants from 14 countries all over the world!

Faculty includes

Marja-Leena Linne, Tampere University of Technology, Finland; The Human Brain Project
Bruce Graham, University of Stirling, UK
Daniel Wojcik, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
Arnd Roth, University College London, UK
Peter Jedlicka, NeuroScience Center, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany
Gaute Einevoll, UiO Department of Physics The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Norway
Ausra Saudargiene, Neuroscience Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, and Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
Radu Ranta, CRAN, University of Lorraine, France
Louis Maillard, CHRU Hôpital central - Nancy, CRAN, University of Lorraine, France
Janis Hofmanis, Smart Technology Research Center, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, Ventspils, Latvia
And others.

Scientific program committee:
Gundars Bergmanis-Korats, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, Ventspils Smart Technology Research Centre, Latvia
Gaute Einevoll, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway
Jeanette Hellgren Kotaleski, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Henrik Lindén, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Marja-Leena Linne, Tampere University of Technology, Finland
Ausra Saudargiene, Neuroscience Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences; Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
Daniel Wójcik, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland

Local organizer:
Gundars Bergmanis-Korats, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, Ventspils Smart Technology Research Centre, Latvia

Photos: courtesy of Dr. Silvija Jankeviciute,
Laboratory for Research of Pharmacological Regulation of Pathological Processes and Drug Metabolism, Neuroscience Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania

11 June 2018

• 8.00 - 9.00 Registration
• 9.00 - 9.20 Opening and welcome

• I-A session. Neuroinformatics methods in neuroscience and medicine.

• 9.20 - 10.40 Prof. B. Graham, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, University of Stirling, UK
  From neurons and synapses to networks: Basics of Computational Neuroscience: Neurons and Synapses to Networks
• 10.40 - 11.00 Coffee/Tea
• 11.00 - 12.00 Dr. A.Roth, Wolfson Institute of Biomedical Research, University College London, UK
  Introduction to NEURON.
• 12.00 - 12.40 Prof. A. Saudargiene, Neuroscience Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania; Department of Informatics, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
  Memory, learning and synaptic plasticity.
• 12.40 - 13.40 Lunch. Coffee/Tea
• 13.40 - 14.40 Prof. P. Jedlicka, NeuroScience Center, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany
  Compartmental models of neuronal excitability and plasticity in healthy and diseased hippocampus.
• 14.40 - 15.40 Prof. D. Wojcik, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
  Extracellular electrophysiology from modeling perspective
• 15.40 - 16.00 Coffee/Tea

• I-B session. Computer exercises. Modeling the healthy brain

• 16.00 - 19.00 Dr. A.Roth, Wolfson Institute of Biomedical Research, University College London, UK,
  Prof. B. Graham, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, University of Stirling, UK
  Prof. A. Saudargiene, Neuroscience Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania; Department of Informatics, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
  Hands on NEURON software. Simulating synapses, neurons and networks in health.
• 19.00 - 20.00 Coffee/Tea. Poster session and networking

12 June 2018

• I session. Neuroinformatics methods in neuroscience and medicine.

• 8.30 - 9.00 Morning Coffe/Tea
• 9.00 - 10.00 Prof. M.-L.Linne, Tampere University of Technology, Finland; The Human Brain Project
  Introduction to Neuroinformatics: From wet-lab data, informatics tools and modeling of neuronal and glial functions to engineering applications
• 10.00 - 11.00 Prof. G. Einevoll, UiO Department of Physics The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Norway
  Neuroscience with both hands – bridging brain scales with mathematics
• 11.00 - 11.30 Coffee/Tea

• II-A session. EEG/SEEG signal processing. Forward and Inverse modeling.

• 11.30 - 13.00 Prof. Louis Maillard / Olivier Aron, University of Lorraine, CRAN, France
  Clinical / Neuroscientific aspects of EEG and SEEG analysis.
• 13.00 - 14.00 Lunch. Coffee/Tea
• 14.00 - 15.30 Prof. R.Ranta, University of Lorraine, CRAN, France
  EEG signal processing: from filtering and artifact removal algorithms to forward and inverse modeling.
• 15.30 - 16.00 Coffee/Tea

• II-B session. Computer exercises. Modeling head, simulating and localizing sources.

• 16.00 - 18.30 Prof. R.Ranta, University of Lorraine, CRAN, France
  Forward/Inverse modeling. EEG signal processing.

• Dinner and Networking

13 June 2018

• III-A session. Introduction to Deep Learning.

• 8.30 - 9.00 Morning Coffe/Tea
• 9.00 - 10.00 Ph.D. J. Hofmanis, Ph.D. G. Bergmanis-Korats, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, Smart Technology Research Centre, Ventspils, Latvia
  Introduction to Deep Learning: Object Detection using ConvNets Part I
• 10.00 - 10.15 Coffee/Tea
• 10.15 - 12.00 Ph.D. J. Hofmanis, Ph.D. G. Bergmanis-Korats Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, Smart Technology Research Centre, Ventspils, Latvia
  Introduction to Deep Learning: Object Detection using ConvNets Part II
• 12.00 - 13.00 Lunch. Coffee/Tea

• III-B session. Computer exercises. Hands on DNN

• 13.00 - 17.00 Ph.D. J. Hofmanis, Ph.D. G. Bergmanis-Korats, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, Ventspils, Latvia
  Introduction to Deep Learning: Data preparation, model training and deployment.

• Coffe/Tea. Farewell.