How do human brains function? This question is vital for us to understand ourselves and the intelligence emerge from the complex interactions between cells. Carrying out experiments on human and animals, and measuring their brain activities and behaviors, can provide us valuable insights. However, animal experiments are costly, ethically complex, and occasionally hindered by technological limitations. Here is where mathematics lends a helping hand! Through computational models, we can create digital versions of brain parts. Generally, models can summarize what we know and infer what we don’t know. They can explain physiological mechanism behind crucial brain functions and predict the activities of the brain, and eventually, help us better understand the brain.

I primarily work on the following two research directions.