Download 1 Cricket Software userdict /md known{/CricketAdjust true def

Cricket
Software
!! /newWidth
userdict
/mypsb
currentpoint
/newXScale
/newYScale
/psb
/pse
{}
/mypse
/mypsb
store
/psb
/md /picOriginY
pop
/newHeight
known{/CricketAdjust
newHeight
newWidth
/pse
load
load
{}
store
def
store
store
/mypse
613
exch
58
exch
div
div
exch
def
picOriginY
/pse
def
def
/picOriginX
picOriginX
true
load
def}{/CricketAdjust
sub
defexch
sub
def def
pop
def
false def}ifelse
Cellular and Systems Neurobiology Section
Porter Neuroscience Research Center
Building 35, Room 3C-917
35 Convent Dr. MSC 2003
NINDS, National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Phone: (301) 496-4960
FAX: (301) 496-6729
E-mail: [email protected]
December 18, 2006
Dr. Jonathan Rubin
Department of Mathematics
University of Pittsburgh
301 Thackeray Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Dear Dr. Rubin,
I fully support your NSF grant application on oscillations in neuronal network
models for respiratory rhythm generation. My colleagues and I in the Cellular and
Systems Neurobiology Section at NINDS, NIH are fully committed to continue our
interactions with you and your students. We would be glad to provide consultation for
all of the modeling projects that you propose. Models of the type that you propose
have become crucial for our analysis of cellular and network mechanisms generating
respiratory rhythms. The fundamental issues that you will address on cellular and
network dynamics will unquestionably further our understanding of the functional
dynamics of the brainstem respiratory network. Questions relating to how cellular-level
conductance mechanisms such as persistent sodium and CAN currents generate
oscillations and shape activity of respiratory neurons, and how synaptic interactions
and heterogeneity of different neuron populations shape network dynamics, represent
central questions in our field. The mathematical models that you have developed in the
past have already provided important insights regarding oscillatory bursting dynamics
and synchronization within the heterogeneous populations of respiratory neurons
comprising the oscillator in the brainstem pre-Bötzinger complex. These earlier models
provide an excellent foundation for the important extensions of the modeling and
analysis that you propose in this application. The new directions that you propose,
including modeling the respiratory CPG with inhibitory and excitatory interactions
among different types of respiratory neurons, are state-of the-art and will make major
contributions to the field. My lab will continue to provide our electrophysiological data
on cellular and network properties for the further development and refinement of your
models. We will also perform experiments, including experimental studies with our
dynamic clamp system, to test predictions of the models. We have had very fruitful
1
interactions with your group in the past, including your visits to the lab, and we very
much look forward to continuing our participation in this important project.
Yours sincerely,
Jeffrey C. Smith, Ph.D.
Senior Investigator and Chief,
Cellular and Systems Neurobiology Section
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
2