Signalling and Information Processing

Coordinator: F. Müller (Cellular Biophysics)
 
Lecturers: C. Fahlke and F. Müller (Cellular Biophysics), A. Offenhäusser (Bioelectronics)
(building 15.1X, room 249)

All cells can respond to external signals and utilize a variety of signal transduction mechanisms. In neurons and sensory cells, signalling mechanisms have reached an astonishing complexity. By generating electrical signals at the cellular membrane, nerve cells can generate, propagate, and process biological information. Our brain extracts information from hundreds of millions of receptor cells that respond to sensory stimuli. For some of these receptors, performance is limited only by the laws of physics. For example, rod photoreceptors in our eye can respond to a single light quantum. Our brain provides elaborate neuronal networks to analyze sensory input and to extract information in order to construct an image of our environment in our mind and to generate our behaviour. This lecture will cover cellular mechanisms of signal transduction, the biophysical properties of membranes, ion channels and transporters, as well as basic features of information processing in neuronal networks. Finally, a journey that starts with the absorption of a light quantum in the eye and ends within the complex neuronal circuitry in our brain will show how the visual system extracts information about the form of objects and their location, as well as their motion in our environment. This journey will encompass both cellular physiology as well as psychophysical experiments to unravel the principles of information processing in our brain.

Wednesday, November 4, 9:30-11:00
      Christoph Fahlke,
      Signalling at membranes,
      exercises from 11:15-12:00
Wednesday, November 18, 9:30-11:00
      Andreas Offenhäusser,
      Signal propagation and processing in small networks,
Wednesday, December 9, 9:30-11:00
      Frank Müller,
      Cellular signal processing,
Wednesday, January 13, 9:30-11:00 (room change: building 16.15, auditorium)
      Frank Müller,
      Neuronal information processing I: what the retina tells the brain,
Wednesday, February 3, 9:30-11:00
      Frank Müller,
      Neuronal information processing II: from feature detectors to perception