Pier Stanislao Paolucci is the coordinator of the WaveScalES experiment, WP3.2 in the Human Brain Project SP3 - Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
The WaveScalES experiment, led by the INFN, is performed by a team of five research institutes. Three of the partners are specialised in experiments on the human brain and the brains of rodents, the other two will concentrate on developing theoretical models and computer simulations. The INFN's APE lab will combine its DPSNN simulation engine and the HBP platforms to develop the large scale neural WaveScalES simulator, which will mimic the behaviour generated by several tens of billions of nerve cell connections, or synapses. The partners in the experiment will measure the slow cerebral waves propagated in the cortex during deep sleep and the waking state, and observe the cortical response to localised spatio-temporal perturbations. The experimental techniques used will include non-invasive observations in humans, such as high resolution electroencephalographic response to transcranial magnetic stimulation, performed by the team led by Marcello Massimini at the University of Milan. And electrophysiological measurements on rodents in response to opto-pharmacological stimulations, conducted by teams led by Maria Victòria Sánchez-Vives, from the Institut D’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) in Barcelona, and by Pau Gorostiza, from the Institut de BioEnginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC), also in Barcelona. The theoretical models will be developed by the Italian Institute of Health (ISS - Istituto Superiore di Sanità), under the direction of Maurizio Mattia and Paolo Del Giudice.