Life at Low Molecule Number
Terry Sejnowski
Salk Institute
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
November 29, 2007 (Thursday)
Beckman Inst. Auditorium
About the speaker
Terrence J. Sejnowski, professor and head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, is a pioneer in the field of computational neuroscience.
Transient molecular signals occur in microdomains that are typically neither well mixed nor in equilibirum. The number of molecules is often so small that large fluctuations occur. As a consequence, knowing the spatial organization of the molecular components is essential in understanding cell signaling pathways. Monte Carlo computer simulations that incorporate realistic 3-D geometries can be used to explore the subcellular architecture and physiology of cells and synapses.