11 replies to this topic

[Mind]

That's right - long time Imminst participant Peter Passaro (ocsrazor) has finally got his dissertation in and is ready to talk neuroscience, brain computer interfacing, and longevity on the Sunday Evening Update.

Just to whet your appetite, here is an Imminst text chat with Peter from a few years ago. More information to come.

Special note. This interview is occurring 1 hour earlier than normal. The normal time is 6pm EST (2300 GMT). On January 24th the show will begin at 5pm EST (2200 GMT).

[Mind]

Sorry about the erroneous date originally listed. It is Sunday January 24th, not the 23rd.

[Mind]

Mr. Passaro participated in the Imminst Sunday evening text chat about 6 years ago - a long time in today's fast-paced world. It will be interesting to see how his perspectives have changed since then.

[JediMasterLucia]

I'll be there, I mustn't not forget that it will start at 22.00 PM instead of 23.00 :-)

Edited by JediMasterLucia, 20 January 2010 - 08:38 PM.

[David Styles]

That's right - long time Imminst participant Peter Passaro (ocsrazor) has finally got his dissertation in and is ready to talk neuroscience, brain computer interfacing, and longevity on the Sunday Evening Update.

Just to whet your appetite, here is an Imminst text chat with Peter from a few years ago. More information to come.

Special note. This interview is occurring 1 hour earlier than normal. The normal time is 6pm EST (2300 GMT). On January 24th the show will begin at 5pm EST (2200 GMT).

Great! I'm really excited about this, and look forward to it with much anticipation.

Thanks for posting!

[Mind]

A recent paper Peter was involved with:

Sensory driven multi-neuronal activity and associative learning monitored in an intact CNS on a multielectrode array
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, Volume 186, Issue 2, 15 February 2010, Pages 171-178
Christopher A. Harris, Peter A. Passaro, Ildikó Kemenes, György Kemenes, Michael O'Shea

[Mind]

Link to the abstract.

The neuronal network controlling feeding behavior in the CNS of the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis has been extensively investigated using intracellular microelectrodes. Using microelectrodes however it has not been possible to record from large numbers of neurons simultaneously and therefore little is known about the population coding properties of the feeding network. Neither can the relationships between feeding and neuronal networks controlling other behaviors be easily analyzed with microelectrodes. Here we describe a multielectrode array (MEA) technique for recording action potentials simultaneously from up to 60 electrodes on the intact CNS. The preparation consists of the whole CNS connected by sensory nerves to the chemosensory epithelia of the lip and esophagus. From the buccal ganglia, the region of the CNS containing the feeding central pattern generator (CPG), a rhythmic pattern of activity characteristic of feeding was readily induced either by depolarizing an identified feeding-command neuron (the CV1a) or by perfusing the chemosensory epithelia with sucrose, a gustatory stimulus known to activate feeding. Activity induced by sucrose is not restricted to the buccal ganglia but is distributed widely throughout the CNS, notably in ganglia controlling locomotion, a behavior that must be coordinated with feeding. The MEA also enabled us to record electrophysiological consequences of the associative conditioning of feeding behavior. The results suggest that MEA recording from an intact CNS enables distributed, multiple-source neural activity to be analyzed in the context of biologically relevant behavior, behavioral coordination and behavioral plasticity. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Mind]

If you cannot attend live please ask any questions you have for Peter here in the show thread ahead of time and I will ask the question during the show.

[Mind]

Peter feels our own human stupidity and selfishness are the greatest impediments to our survival and advancement. I will certainly ask him about that.

[brokenportal]

I wish I had some questions ready but this looks interesting. Ill be watching. I hope more people come up with questions. We could use some help promoting the show too. If anybody is interested then lead the way. We can give you some pointers if your looking for some too.

[Mind]

A little technical difficulty might delay things a couple of minutes. sorry about that

[Mind]

Direct link to the show.

Peter was another very interesting guest, giving us some insight into the basic research going on in relation to brain-computer interfacing. He has been working with snail brains and multi-electrode arrays. His main focus now is implementing the hardware and creating the software that can handle the voluminous data that is coming from the experiments. He said insuffucient information technology is the biggest roadblock to understanding neuronal processes in greater depth. He has high hopes for the Blue Brain project but not so much for Kevin Warwick's experiments. He is disappointed in the reduction in government funding of basic research in recent years. Surprisingly perhaps, Nvidia came into the conversation as a great company supporting basic research such as his.