@article {69660,
	title = {From the fly connectome to exact ring attractor dynamics},
	journal = {bioRxiv},
	year = {2024},
	month = {2024 Nov 01},
	abstract = {<p>A cognitive compass enabling spatial navigation requires neural representation of heading direction (HD), yet the neural circuit architecture enabling this representation remains unclear. While various network models have been proposed to explain HD systems, these models rely on simplified circuit architectures that are incompatible with empirical observations from connectomes. Here we construct a novel network model for the fruit fly HD system that satisfies both connectome-derived architectural constraints and the functional requirement of continuous heading representation. We characterize an ensemble of continuous attractor networks where compass neurons providing local mutual excitation are coupled to inhibitory neurons. We discover a new mechanism where continuous heading representation emerges from combining symmetric and anti-symmetric activity patterns. Our analysis reveals three distinct realizations of these networks that all match observed compass neuron activity but differ in their predictions for inhibitory neuron activation patterns. Further, we found that deviations from these realizations can be compensated by cell-type-specific rescaling of synaptic weights, which could be potentially achieved through neuromodulation. This framework can be extended to incorporate the complete fly central complex connectome and could reveal principles of neural circuits representing other continuous quantities, such as spatial location, across insects and vertebrates.</p>
},
	doi = {10.1101/2024.11.01.621596},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.01.621596},
	author = {Biswas, Tirthabir and Stanoev, Angel and Romani, Sandro and Fitzgerald, James E.}
}
@article {68559,
	title = {Robust cell identity specifications through transitions in the collective state of growing developmental systems},
	journal = {Current Opinion in Systems Biology},
	volume = {31},
	year = {2022},
	month = {2022 Nov 08},
	pages = {100437},
	abstract = {<p>Mammalian development is characterized with transitions from homogeneous populations of precursor to heterogeneous population of specified cells. We review here the main dynamical mechanisms through which such transitions are conceptualized, and discuss that the differentiation timing, robust cell-type proportions and recovery upon perturbation are emergent property of proliferating and communicating cell populations. We argue that studying developmental systems using transitions in collective system states is necessary to describe observed experimental features, and propose additionally the basis of a novel analytical method to deduce the relationship between single-cell dynamics and the collective, symmetry-broken states in cellular populations.</p>
},
	issn = {24523100},
	doi = {10.1016/j.coisb.2022.100437},
	url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2452310022000233},
	author = {Stanoev, Angel and Koseska, Aneta}
}
