Microcircuit modeling: the cerebellar usecase

This talk will present how to develop and apply biologically-inspired in silico models to unveil the structure-function-dynamics relationships, focusing on the cerebellum.

We developed an advanced computational modeling framework (Brain Scaffold Builder – BSB) to reconstruct and simulate any brain region using morphologically multi-compartmental or point-neuron models. It interfaces with brain atlases to map the reconstruction on neuroanatomy. The BSB has been applied to reconstruct and simulate the structure and function of the mouse cerebellar cortex using multi-compartmental neuron models. The cerebellar connectome has been generated through appropriate connection rules, unifying a collection of scattered experimental data into a coherent construct and providing a new model-based ground-truth about circuit organization. Naturalistic background and sensory-burst stimulation are used for functional validation against recordings in vivo, monitoring the impact of cellular mechanisms on signal propagation, inhibitory control, and long-term synaptic plasticity. The human cerebellum model is under construction.

These detailed data-driven computational models can embed pathology-specific neural alterations, in order to predict the impact on network dynamics also at large-scale system level, so offering a promising avenue for investigating potential therapies, like neuromodulation, in neurological disorders, such as in ataxia or autism.