15th FORTH Scientific Retreat in Heraklion!
Wrapping up an inspiring few days at the 15th FORTH Scientific Retreat (October 9–11) at the Innovation and Advanced Education Hub in Heraklion! Our lab members presented our latest work with oral talks and a poster. It was wonderful to connect with colleagues across FORTH institutes and discuss exciting research directions. Explore the full technical […]
European Researcher’s Night 2026 at FORTH!
A big thank you to everyone who dropped by our bench during European Researchers’ Night! We loved chatting with you, answering your questions, and sharing a bit of what we do in the lab. A special shoutout to our team for the fun ideas and energy! Your curiosity gives us a wonderful boost to keep […]
How does the brain solve complex tasks on just 20W of power?
In a new Q&A with the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, Dr. Panayiota Poirazi explains how active dendrites & synaptic clustering allow neurons to maximize computational efficiency. Read the Q&A here.
New paper out: Clustered inputs engage dendritic nonlinearities and calcium signaling to support efficient place-field formation in CA1 pyramidal neurons
Excited to share our latest paper, led by Simone Tasciotti and supervised by Dr. Panayiota Poirazi in collaboration with the Losonczy and Polleux labs, now published in Cell Reports! In this study, we explored how the topological distribution of synapses across CA1 pyramidal neurons shapes spatial selectivity. By combining in vivo mapping with detailed biophysical […]
Thesis Defense: Role of synaptic topology in CA1 place cell encoding
Congratulations to Dr. Simone Tasciotti on a brilliant PhD defense! Simone successfully defended his thesis, “Role of synaptic topology in CA1 place cell encoding,” under the guidance of Dr. Panayiota Poirazi. A biologist by training, Simone did an amazing job mastering computational modeling for his PhD. You’ve been a fantastic teammate, Simone, and we are […]
Thesis Defense: A single-neuron perspective on brain function
Huge congratulations to Dr. Roman Makarov on an outstanding PhD defense! He successfully defended his PhD thesis, “A single-neuron perspective on brain function”, under the guidance of Dr. Panayiota Poirazi. Roman, you have been an amazing colleague, and we are so proud of your hard work! On to your next steps!
Celebrating a Successful EMBO Dendrites 2026 in Heraklion
An incredible week at EMBO Dendrites 2026 has come to an end! Hosting this amazing group of neuroscientists in Heraklion was an absolute pleasure. These past few days were the perfect mix of excellent science, collegiality and fun! We are walking away with fresh ideas and exciting new collaborations. Huge thanks to everyone who joined […]
Registration is still open for the EMBO Workshop on Dendrites!
REGISTRATION REMAINS OPEN! Join the EMBO Workshop on Dendrites for an immersive look at molecular, biophysical, anatomical, and computational neuroscience, as well as neuro-inspired AI. May 19-22, 2026 Heraklion, Greece Link: https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-dendrites See you in Crete!
Online Workshop: Introduction to Neuronal Modeling | April 28, 2026
Join us for a free online workshop on neuronal modeling! You will learn how to build, validate, and analyze neuronal models with active dendrites. We will begin with foundational concepts, including neuronal structure, biophysical properties, and input integration. We will then move to hands-on model implementation using DendroTweaks and Dendrify, two modeling tools developed in […]
New Publication: Dendritic nonlinearities mitigate communication costs
In this collaborative study, led by Xundong Wu, we demonstrated that dendritic nonlinearities increased the efficiency of artificial neural networks by reducing communication costs. This work opens new avenues for developing more efficient and less energy-consuming AI systems. Read the whole study here.