G. Bard Ermentrout, PhD

  • Professor, Mathematics

Phone

412-624-8324

E-mail

bard@pitt.edu

Education & Training

PhD, University of Chicago (1979)

Campus Address

502 Thackeray

One-Line Research Description

Applications of mathematics to biological systems

Dr. Ermentrout's research program investigates the dynamics of neural populations and neural rhythmicity. His recent focus has been on the behavior of networks of cortical-like neurons. He is interested in the wave propagation in cortical and thalamic slice models and how neurons synchronize and what the role of this synchronization might be. He applies methods from dynamical systems and pattern formation to a variety of neural problems. He has recently used computational and mathematical modeling to study correlation-induced synchrony in the olfactory bulb. His work spans the gamut from single cell and channel modeling through large scale models of behavior and to the development of neural connectivity. He is the author of XPPAUT, a software platform for the simulation and analysis of nonlinear dynamical systems that is also a popular tool for computational neuroscientists.

Representative Publications

Rotaru, Diana C., Yoshino, Hiroki, Lewis, David A., Ermentrout, G. Bard and Gonzalez-Burgos, Guillermo. Glutamate Receptor Subtypes Mediating Synaptic Activation of Prefrontal Cortex Neurons: Relevance for Schizophrenia, J. Neuroscience, 2010 (in press)

Smeal, R.M., Ermentrout, G.B. and White, J.A. Phase-response curves and synchronized neural networks. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. Aug 12;365(1551): 2407-22, 2010.

Ly, C., Melman, T., Barth, A.L. and Ermentrout, G.B. Phase-resetting curve determines how BK currents affect neuronal firing. J Comput Neurosci. Jun 2, 2010

Marella, S. and Ermentrout, B. Amplification of asynchronous inhibition-mediated synchronization by feedback in recurrent networks. PLoS Comput Biol. Feb 19;6(2): e1000679, 2010.

Ermentrout, B., Simons, D.J. and Land, P.W. Subbarrel patterns in somatosensory cortical barrels can emerge from local dynamic instabilities. PLoS Comput Biol. 2009 Oct;5(10):e1000537. Epub 2009 Oct 16.

Ermentrout, G.B., Gal‡n, R.F. and Urban, N.N. Reliability, synchrony and noise.Trends Neurosci. 2008 Aug;31(8):428-34. Epub 2008 Jul 5