Simulation of Biological Neural Activity

(Current Research in Progress)

The goal of this project is to simulate large networks of biological neurons, investigate the communication patterns between them and determine how Data Vortex can help. In these simulations we are dealing with hundreds of millions of cells with thousands of synapses each.

We are implementing a number of models, including Leaky Integrate and Fire (LIF) when we need exact solutions, and Hodgkin-Huxley equations for numerical approximations. This is a clock driven simulation and the delay of the impulses is described with circular arrays. In future work we will also investigate event driven simulations.

Small network of excitatory neurons (red) and inhibitory neurons (blue) exchanging spikes (short lines) with model LIF. When a neuron receives a spike it flashes green. The long lines represent active connections, and the whole animation is half second of activity. We use these small networks for testing our codes (click).