The fields of neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI) have a long history of fertile bi-directional interactions. On the one hand, important contributions to the development of models and theories of sensory perception in neuroscience have emerged from AI research. On the other, important inspiration for the development of AI systems has come from neuroscience, the study of biological systems of intelligence. The research program being pursued by the Architectures of Biological Learning Lab (ABL-Lab) is an interdisciplinary one, aiming to expand this symbiotic relationship between state-of-the-art neuroscience and AI theories to solve a fundamental mystery at the intersection of these two disciplines: How sensory perception is learned in the neocortex. Integrating the latest empirical advances in our understanding of the synaptic, dendritic and circuit physiology of the neocortex, the ABL-Lab leverages a synergy of biophysical simulations of neocortical circuits and functional deep convolutional networks to explore a radically new dendritic perspective on the processes of neocortical learning. The aim is to provide new inspiration to solve open problems in the field of deep learning, and a new conceptual foundation for understanding learning function and dysfunction in mammalian brains.
Career Summary
Eilif B. Muller is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at Mila, an IVADO Associate Research Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Université de Montréal, a Fond de Recherche du Québec en Santé (FRQS) Research Scholar, and Principal Investigator of the Architectures of Biological Learning Lab (ABL-Lab) at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. His research at the intersection of neuroscience and AI employs simulation and mathematical modeling to understand learning function and dysfunction in the mammalian brain, and is supported by IVADO, CIFAR, FRQS, NSERC, UNIQUE, the John R. Evans Leaders Fund, Calcul Quebec, the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation, and Google.
Dr. Muller obtained his BS.c. (2001) in mathematical physics from Simon Fraser University, and his MS.c. (2003) and Doctor of Natural Sciences (2007) in physics with a focus on computational neuroscience from Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, Germany’s oldest university. Dr. Muller undertook his post-doctoral work (2007-2010) in the Laboratory for Computational Neuroscience with Prof. Wulfram Gerstner at EPFL, Switzerland, focusing on network dynamics, simulation technology and plasticity. Subsequently, he led (2011-2019) the team of researchers at the Blue Brain Project, EPFL, Switzerland who pioneered in silico neuroscience, a new era of data-driven brain tissue simulation. In 2015, Dr. Muller and colleagues published their landmark team-science study "Reconstruction and Simulation of Neocortical Microcircuitry" in the journal Cell, describing “the most complete simulation of a piece of excitable brain matter to date” according to Dr. Christof Koch (president and CSO of the Allen Institute for Brain Science). The approach enabled Dr. Muller and his team to make significant contributions to our understanding of the structure, dynamics and plasticity of the neocortex, resulting in publications in top journals such as Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications, and Cerebral Cortex. In 2019, Dr. Muller moved to Montréal, attracted by the thriving Neuro-AI research community, initially as a senior researcher at Element AI, prior to his appointment at the Université de Montréal and the CHU Sainte-Justine to launch the Architectures of Biological Learning Lab (ABL-Lab).