Brief Biography
Henry Markram is the Founder and Co-Director of the Brain Mind Institute at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Director of the Blue Brain Project. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science where he discovered a link between acetylcholine and memory mechanisms. At the Max Planck Institute of Medical Research he discovered calcium transients in dendrites evoked by sub-threshold activity and by single action potentials propagating back into dendrites. He also began studying the connectivity between neocortical neurons. Markram discovered Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) by altering the precise millisecond relative timing of single pre- and post-synaptic action potentials, which revealed a highly precise learning mechanism operating between neurons. He moved back to the Weizmann Institute where he started his systematic reverse engineering of the neocortical microcircuitry. He discovered a number of key principles of microcircuit structure and design and a novel vie w of synaptic learning called redistribution of synaptic efficacy. Based on the emergent dynamics of the neocortical microcircuit he and Wolfgang Maass developed the theory of liquid computing to explain computing in high entropy states. In 2002, he moved to EPFL as full professor and founder/director of the Brain Mind Institute. At the BMI, Markram developed state of art technologies to obtain a detailed blueprint of the neocortical column. He launched the Blue Brain Project with the support of IBM in 2005 to rebuild and simulate the neocortical column and is expanding the BBP to simulate the whole brain of mammals. Markram has received numerous awards and published over 75 papers.