Areas of Interest
Professor Zochowski’s laboratory group focuses on trying to understand mechanisms of the formation of spatiotemporal patterns in coupled dynamical systems, with special focus on their applicability and role during information processing in the brain. To achieve this, they connect theoretical as well as experimental approaches. Theoretical studies focus on synchronization and dynamical control in simple nonlinear systems (e.g. coupled Rossler, Lorenz oscillators, map systems), as well as in more complex, biologically feasible, computational models. They are especially interested in coupled systems with self-adaptive units that could model neuromodulatory processes in the neural systems. From the experimental side, they employ optical imaging systems (CCD camera and/or photodiode array) to monitor activity of large neuronal populations. Dependent on the experimental design, they can monitor spatially averaged population response of many cells or spiking activity of many separate neurons. Those techniques are applied to: 1) monitor changing patterns of spike interactions between cultured neurons, and 2) monitor odor evoked oscillations in (in vivo) olfactory bulb.