Brief Biography
Idan Segev is the David & Inez Myers Professor in Computational Neuroscience and former director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation (ICNC) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received his B.Sc. (1973) in Math and Ph.D. (1982) in Experimental and Theoretical Neurobiology. He pursued his post-doctoral studies with Wilfrid Rall and Robert Burke (1982-1985) at the National Institute of Health, modeling the integrative properties of dendrites and their synapses. His research team utilizes computational tools ranging from cable theory to compartmental modeling to statistical methods and information theory to study how neurons, the elementary microchips of the brain, compute and dynamically adapt to our ever-changing environment. In recent years, Segev‘s laboratory has worked jointly with several experimental groups worldwide in an endeavor to model in detail the cortical column – a functional unit containing thousands of intensely but very specifically connected networks of neurons. This project also aims at developing automated methods for generating models of the different electrical and morphological classes of neurons found in the column. The ultimate goal is to unravel how local fine variations within the cortical network underlie specific computations (e.g., the orientation of a bar in the visual system) and may give rise to certain brain diseases or to a healthy (and “individual”) brain. Idan Segev takes a keen interest in the connection between art and the brain and has recently edited an “Artists” book with original etchings by ten top Israeli artists prompted by an encounter with ICNC researchers.