ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Tier II Canada Research Chair in Computational Neuroscience

Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy
Department of Physics and Astronomy (Adjunct)
Department of Mathematics and Statistics (Adjunct)

Dr. Nicola is devoted to analyzing how networks of neurons come together to perform behaviours or display emergent dynamics. Dr. Nicola utilizes techniques from dynamical systems and bifurcation theory, applied mathematics, and machine learning to investigate neural networks, both biological and artificial.

Dr. Nicola completed his PhD in 2015 under the supervision of Prof. Sue Ann Campbell, at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Nicola completed a postdoctoral position (NSERC PDF) with Prof. Claudia Clopath, at Imperial College London, after which he began his faculty position at the University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, in 2019.

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

Maria is currently training Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) with machine learning techniques to learn chimera states. Chimera states are patterns of synchronized and unsynchronized activity which have been related to brain disorders such as epilepsy. By analyzing the trained RNN, one can get information about the structure which leads to a chimera state.

Maria completed her PhD in computational physics, at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya, where she worked on neuronal dynamics, particularly she tried to understand how neurons encode a weak signal in a noisy environment.

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE
and PIMS Post-Doctoral Fellow

Jordan is currently working on a collaborative project with the McGirr Lab here at the University of Calgary, that focuses on developing numerical and analytical tools that describe the temporal dynamics of mesoscale neural imaging data created in the McGirr Lab.

Previously to his work at the University of Calgary, Jordan completed his PhD in Mathematics from Washington State University. His area of research was in the study of cluster solutions in networks of weakly coupled oscillators. Before his time at Washington State University, he completed a Master of Science in Mathematics from Murray State University, where he specialised in multi-linear algebra and higher order Markov chains.

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

Jafar is currently developing spiking neural networks using digital systems for commercial purposes. Specifically, spiking neural networks are implemented on Field Programmable Gate Arrays to be used for engineering applications.

He received his master's and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering at Iran University of Science and Technology. His PhD dissertation focused on the implementation of spiking neural networks. After completing his PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Microelectronics of Sevilla, on an EU-funded project (NeurONN). A neuromorphic chip has been designed to perform as an associative memory as a result of that project.

MATHEMATICS MASTER STUDENT

Thomas is currently completing his Master of Mathematics. He has his Bachelor of Science Honours in Mathematics and Physics. During his undergrad he had the opportunity to work on two thesis projects: one on biologically plausible learning algorithms for recurrent neural networks with Dr. Nicola in mathematics and another on modelling memristive network circuits with Dr. Gomes da Rocha in physics. His current research is a continuation of his undergraduate work with Dr. Nicola into biologically plausible learning algorithms, where he is currently investigating the difference in the computational power of spiking networks and rate-based networks.

PHYSICS MASTER STUDENT

Josué uses computational and dynamical systems tools to model how mouse Primary Auditory Cortex encodes/decodes auditory information, and how this neural code changes in response to certain conditions. This would contribute to the growth of the body of basic knowledge, which eventually might provide basis for development of treatments of its pathological function.

Josué received his BSc. in Comp. Sci. & Engg. and studied Psychology for 3 semesters at the Catholic University of Asuncion, Paraguay.

Research Assistant

How does the brain encode and manipulate information? To Connor these are the most deeply fascinating processes in neuroscience — especially when considering how large assemblies of neurons coordinate to accomplish them. His research is dedicated to the development of statistical and machine learning techniques which detect and quantify types of functionally mysterious neuronal coordination. Right now he is specifically interested in a phenomenon known as hippocampal theta phase precession. His hope is that one day these techniques will prove useful in revealing the computational content of coordinated neuronal activity.

PHYSICS AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MASTERS STUDENT

Taylor is currently doing a Masters in Mathematics in the Nicola Lab. His research program will entail utilizing evolutionary approaches to better train artificial neural networks to perform tasks.