Biography
Dr. Henry Markram moved to EPFL in 2002 as full professor. From 1995
to 2001, he was at the Weizmann Institute where he received early
tenure and was Stanley and Hellen Diller Professor of Neuroscience. In
1994-95, he was Minerva Fellow in Laboratory of Nobelist Bert Sakmann
at the Max Planck Institute, where he discovered calcium transients in
dendrites evoked by sub-threshold activity, and by single action
potentials propagating back into dendrites. He also began studying the
connectivity between neurons and published a paper describing in great
detail how layer 5 pyramidal neurons are inter-connected. In 1992-93,
he was Senior Fulbright Scholar at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), where he studied ion channels on synaptic vesicles.
He was the first to alter the precise millisecond relative timing of
single pre and postsynaptic action potentials to reveal a highly
precise learning mechanism operating between neurons which has now been
reproduced in many brain regions and is now commonly know as spike
timing-dependent synaptic plasticity (STDP). At Weizmann, he started
systematically dissecting out the neocortical column, and discovered
that synaptic learning can also involve a change in synaptic dynamics
rather than merely changing the strengths of connections. He also
revealed a spectrum of new principles governing neocortical
microcircuit structure, function, and emergent dynamics. Based on the
emergent dynamics of the neocortical microcircuit he, together with
Wolfgang Maass developed the theory of liquid computing or high entropy
computing. At the BMI, he has continued to unravel the blue print of
the neocortical column at a greatly accelerated pace building the state
of art tools to carry out multi-neuron patch clamp recordings combined
with laser and electrical stimulation as well as multi-site electrical
recording (up to 12 patch-clamp recordings) and chemical imaging and
gene expression.
He has received numerous awards, including the Ebner Science Award in 2001, the James Heinemann Prize in 1999, and the Abramson Research Award in
1998, and has published over 75 papers. In April, 2005 the EPFL signed
the agreement with IBM to launch one of the largest single initiatives
in neuroscience - the Blue Brain Project.
Dr. Henry Markram obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of
Cape Town, South Africa, under the supervision of Rodney Douglas and
his Ph.D from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, under the
supervision of Menahem Segal.
