Friday morning and evening

On spatial representation of odors in the olfactory system: what de we know, what do we think we know and what do we think we ought to know?

Is there a spatial representation of odorants in the olfactory epithelium and olfactory bulb? What computations can the neural circuitry in the olfactory bulb/antennal lobe perform with these spatial representations? Do broad response spectra of olfactory sensory neurons and secondary neurons help or impede odor recognition? How can concentration-independent quality recognition be achieved in a system in which response patterns to a given odor change as a function of odor concentration? How does the neural circuitry in the olfactory bulb/antennal lobe deal with noisy signals?
 

1. Introduction, Questions and Overview (Christiane Linster)

2. John Scott, Emory University: A functional map of the olfactory epithelium

3. Jean-Pierre Rospars, INRA, Paris: Code formation in the recpetor neuron layer.

4. Michael Leon, University of California Irvine: Spatial representation of odorant chemistry in the olfactory bulb.

5. Joel White, Tufts University: Odorant recognition from cross-reactive sensors: exploring distributed specificity in an olfactory system.

6. Christiane Linster, Boston University: How modulation of inhibition in the olfactory bulb can help discrimination between similar odorants.

7. Wayne Getz, University of California Berkeley: Code formation in the insect antennal lobe.

8. Summary, more questions, discussion.

Saturday morning

Where does time come in? What do we know about the "temporal" in spatio-temporal coding? What do we mean when we say "temporal or rate codes" and what do others understand when we say it?

Temporal modulation of the spatial activation patterns in the olfactory bulb/antennal lobe can be observed on various time scales. Are oscillations, temporal synchrony and temporal variations in the response patterns of individual neurons important for odor coding? Or, are they simply byproducts of computations performed on spatial representations?

8. Introduction, Overview and Questions (Frank Grasso)

9. Peter Cariani, Mass Eye and Ear: A brief introduction to temporal coding, definitions and examples.

10. Bill Lemon, University of California Berkeley: Fast time scale rate codes in olfactory receptor neurons are transferred into slower time scale temporal patterns in antennal lobe projection neurons.

11. Mark Stopfer, Caltech: Synchrony, oscillations and odor discrimination in the honeybee antennal lobe.

12. Thom Cleland, Tufts University: How synchrony can affect odor discrimination: a case study using a computational model of the honeybee antennal lobe.

13. Frank Grasso, Boston University: The temporal aspects of odor stimulus distributions in the natural environment: implications odorant coding schemes in creatures with external noses.

14. Summary, spatial-vs.-temporal panel discussion. The workshop will be followed by a ski race between the representatives of each camp (spatial vs. temporal) while the participants believing that both are intertwined and equally important will relax in the hot tub.

Saturday evening

Now that we know a little more about representations, lets talk about how they can be influenced by behavioral states and learning!

15. Introduction, What do we know about plasticity and learning in the olfactory bulb/ antennal lobe?

16. Leslie Kay, Caltech: Neural activity in the olfactory bulb is modulated with behavior and learning.

17. David Horn, Tel Aviv: Associative memory function in a model of the olfactory bulb.

18. Brian Smith, Ohio State University: How behavioral observations of the perception of odor mixtures could be due to learning-induced modulation of inhibition in the honeybee antennal lobe.

19. Olfaction unexplained? Summary and discussions!