Focussing on the dynamics of biological sensory systems including neurons, this project formed the subject of a third direction of research, funded by a SERB (EMR scheme) grant to Prof. Janaki Balakrishnan. Earlier work by this programme member explained experimentally observed behaviour of the sound-detecting inner hair cell of the ear, as well as features of the ear’s spontaneous otoacoustic emission spectrum. Several important and inadequately understood issues in hearing research -– multi-tone detection, two-tone interference, pitch perception, etc. are some of the active areas of research. These have practical medical applications.
Modelling bursting oscillations in neurons is important as this is conjectured to play a key role in information processing, in associative memory, etc. A recent contribution of the Programme is a paper which identifies the dynamical mechanisms governing different types of bursting oscillations observed when neurons having different excitability mechanisms are coupled via electrical gap junctions under different coupling schemes. A unique bifurcation mechanism underlying bursting in bidirectionally coupled neurons is reported. This work has applications in understanding the process of information transfer from the hippocampus to the neocortex, memory consolidation, development of epilepsy.