[visionlist] Deadline approaching: Workshop of Ideas in Neuroscience - What is a neuron?

[Mateusz Kostecki]

Hello!

We would like to remind you that the deadline to apply for our workshop -
What is a neuron? - is due tomorrow, April 2nd!

The goal of this series is to take a fresh look at the basic assumptions
held in our field.

In the first workshop, we will ask the most fundamental question: *What is
a neuron? *What properties should a cell have to be defined as such? An
answer to this question may seem obvious at first: it has to be a cell that
uses electrical signals, is connected to other neurons by synapses, and has
extended processes—axons and dendrites.

But the deeper we dig, the more challenging counterexamples we encounter:
clearly non-neural cells using action potentials; neurons without axons or
dendrites; or whole nerve nets in jellyfish that form a syncytium.  And
what defines a neuron during development, and how do its developmental
pathways differ from those of other cells? Can we draw clear boundaries
between neural and non-neural states?

Things are no easier in an artificial neural network: what exactly is a
processing unit in an ANN? How does it correspond to a biological neuron,
and what can we learn from these models?

The aim of this workshop is to look closely at different ways of defining a
biological or artificial neuron and try to have a fresh look at our basic
assumptions.

This workshop will be held in the spirit of our Schools of Ideas—with an
informal atmosphere, open exchange of thoughts and perspectives, in-depth
talks, and plenty of space for discussion.

Speakers:

Clarisse Brunet (Institut Curie)
Thibaut Brunet (Institut Pasteur)
Bassem Hassan (Paris Brain Institute)
Fred Keijzer (University of Groningen)
Aneta Koseska (Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior)
Ines Samengo ( Instituto Balseiro)

The workshop will be held Jun 3-5th 2026 in Paris. Please find more info
and the application form here - https://nenckiopenlab.org/neuron/

With best wishes,
Mateusz Kostecki

-- 


---
Mateusz Kostecki

PhD Student

Knapska Laboratory
Nencki Institute
02-093 Warsaw, Pasteura 3, Poland

https://twitter.com/mtkostecki

https://evolvingbehavior.blog/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://visionscience.com/pipermail/visionlist_visionscience.com/attachments/20260330/5fbc1106/attachment.html>