Panayiota Poirazi

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Panayiota Poirazi
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Born (1974-08-06) August 6, 1974 (age 50)
Cyprus
Alma materUniversity of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Known formodelling dendritic computations
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience, Computational Neuroscience
InstitutionsFoundation of Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB)
Thesis Contributions of active dendrites and structural plasticity to the neural substrate for learning and memory  (2000)
Website http://www.dendrites.gr/

Panayiota Poirazi is a neuroscientist known for her work in modelling dendritic computations. She is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

Contents

Education and career

Poirazi studied at the University of Cyprus from 1992 until 1996. [1] She earned an M.S. from the University of Southern California in 1998, [2] and went on to earn her Ph.D. from there in 2000. [3] Following her Ph.D., she worked at the Alexander Fleming Instite of Immunology in Greece until 2001, when she moved to the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) in Crete, Greece in 2004. [1] As of 2021, she is the director of research at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH). [1]

Research

Poirazi is known for her work in neurobiology where she focuses on dendrites, the portion of a neuron that propagates signals. Her early research generated predictive models of how active dendrites and structural plasticity enhance storage capacity in single neurons. [4] She has used biophysical models of pyramidal neurons to show that dendrites of these cells integrate inputs in a sigmoidal manner, enabling the neurons to act as two-layer neural network devices. [5] [6] Poirazi has built a circuit-level model of the hippocampus that shows how memories are linked through time. [7] She has developed and applied biophysical models to explain how human neurons compute information, with a focus on solving the XOR problem. [8] [9]

Selected publications

Awards and honors

In 2017, Poirazi was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. [10] In 2018, she received a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. [11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "PANAYIOTA POIRAZI – FKNE" . Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  2. ↑ Poirazi, Panayiota (1998). Memory capacity of neurons with active dendrites (Thesis). OCLC   42188424.
  3. ↑ Poirazi, Panayiota (2000). Contributions of active dendrites and structural plasticity to the neural substrate for learning and memory (Thesis). OCLC   51873663.
  4. ↑ Poirazi, Panayiota; Mel, Bartlett W. (2001). "Impact of Active Dendrites and Structural Plasticity on the Memory Capacity of Neural Tissue". Neuron. 29 (3): 779–796. doi: 10.1016/S0896-6273(01)00252-5 . PMID   11301036. S2CID   14303314.
  5. ↑ Poirazi, Panayiota; Brannon, Terrence; Mel, Bartlett W. (March 2003). "Pyramidal Neuron as Two-Layer Neural Network". Neuron. 37 (6): 989–999. doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00149-1 . PMID   12670427. S2CID   1680778.
  6. ↑ Poirazi, Panayiota; Brannon, Terrence; Mel, Bartlett W. (2003-03-27). "Arithmetic of Subthreshold Synaptic Summation in a Model CA1 Pyramidal Cell". Neuron. 37 (6): 977–987. doi: 10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00148-X . ISSN   0896-6273. PMID   12670426. S2CID   15742277.
  7. ↑ Kastellakis, George; Silva, Alcino J.; Poirazi, Panayiota (2016-11-01). "Linking Memories across Time via Neuronal and Dendritic Overlaps in Model Neurons with Active Dendrites". Cell Reports. 17 (6): 1491–1504. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2016.10.015. ISSN   2211-1247. PMC   5149530 . PMID   27806290.
  8. ↑ Gidon, Albert; Zolnik, Timothy Adam; Fidzinski, Pawel; Bolduan, Felix; Papoutsi, Athanasia; Poirazi, Panayiota; Holtkamp, Martin; Vida, Imre; Larkum, Matthew Evan (2020-01-03). "Dendritic action potentials and computation in human layer 2/3 cortical neurons". Science. 367 (6473): 83–87. Bibcode:2020Sci...367...83G. doi: 10.1126/science.aax6239 . PMID   31896716. S2CID   209676937.
  9. ↑ Cepelewicz, Jordana (2020-01-14). "Hidden Computational Power Found in the Arms of Neurons". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  10. ↑ "IMBB-FORTH's Researcher Panayiota Poirazi elected as member of EMBO". Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas. June 16, 2017. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  11. ↑ "Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award to IMBB researcher Panayiota Poirazi" (PDF). December 18, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
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