This lesson is a general overview of overarching concepts in neuroinformatics research, with a particular focus on clinical approaches to defining, measuring, studying, diagnosing, and treating various brain disorders. Also described are the complex, multi-level nature of brain disorders and the data associated with them, from genes and individual cells up to cortical microcircuits and whole-brain network dynamics. Given the heterogeneity of brain disorders and their underlying mechanisms, this lesson lays out a case for multiscale neuroscience data integration.

The state of the field regarding the diagnosis and treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) is discussed. Current challenges and opportunities facing the research and clinical communities are outlined, including appropriate quantitative and qualitative analyses of the heterogeneity of biological, social, and psychiatric factors which may contribute to MDD.

This lesson gives an in-depth introduction of ethics in the field of artificial intelligence, particularly in the context of its impact on humans and public interest. As the healthcare sector becomes increasingly affected by the implementation of ever stronger AI algorithms, this lecture covers key interests which must be protected going forward, including privacy, consent, human autonomy, inclusiveness, and equity. 

This lesson describes a definitional framework for fairness and health equity in the age of the algorithm. While acknowledging the impressive capability of machine learning to positively affect health equity, this talk outlines potential (and actual) pitfalls which come with such powerful tools, ultimately making the case for collaborative, interdisciplinary, and transparent science as a way to operationalize fairness in health equity. 

This lesson delves into the opportunities and challenges of telepsychiatry. While novel digital approaches to clinical research and care have the potential to improve and accelerate patient outcomes, researchers and care providers must consider new population factors, such as digital disparity. 

This lesson is an overview of transcriptomics, from fundamental concepts of the central dogma and RNA sequencing at the single-cell level, to how genetic expression underlies diversity in cell phenotypes. 

This is a continuation of the talk on the cellular mechanisms of neuronal communication, this time at the level of brain microcircuits and associated global signals like those measureable by electroencephalography (EEG). This lecture also discusses EEG biomarkers in mental health disorders, and how those cortical signatures may be simulated digitally.

This lesson breaks down the principles of Bayesian inference and how it relates to cognitive processes and functions like learning and perception. It is then explained how cognitive models can be built using Bayesian statistics in order to investigate how our brains interface with their environment. 

This lesson corresponds to slides 1-64 in the PDF below. 

This lecture provides an introduction to Plato’s concept of rationality and Aristotle’s concept of empiricism, and the enduring discussion between rationalism and empiricism to this day.

This lecture goes into further detail about the hard problem of developing a scientific discipline for subjective consciousness.

This lesson gives a brief introduction to the course Neuroscience for Machine Learners (Neuro4ML). 

This lesson briefly goes over the outline of the Neuroscience for Machine Learners course. 

This lesson covers the history of neuroscience and machine learning, and the story of how these two seemingly disparate fields are increasingly merging. 

In this lesson, you will learn about the current challenges facing the integration of machine learning and neuroscience. 

This lesson goes over the basic mechanisms of neural synapses, the space between neurons where signals may be transmitted. 

While the previous lesson in the Neuro4ML course dealt with the mechanisms involved in individual synapses, this lesson discusses how synapses and their neurons' firing patterns may change over time. 

Whereas the previous two lessons described the biophysical and signalling properties of individual neurons, this lesson describes properties of those units when part of larger networks. 

This lesson goes over some examples of how machine learners and computational neuroscientists go about designing and building neural network models inspired by biological brain systems. 

This lesson describes spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), a biological process that adjusts the strength of connections between neurons in the brain, and how one can implement or mimic this process in a computational model. You will also find links for practical exercises at the bottom of this page. 

As the previous lesson of this course described how researchers acquire neural data, this lesson will discuss how to go about interpreting and analysing the data.