Understanding cellular composition and brain circuit function in health and disease

We use a multidisciplinary approach blending biology, engineering, computer science and statistics to understand how cellular makeup impacts neural activity in the brain, in health or disease.

About the Lab

How Do Cell Types Shape Human Cognition?

Despite unprecedented insights into the brain's composition we still do not understand how cellular activity organizes at the circuit level and bridges to cognitive computations. This challenge is particularly acute in humans, where we lack the tools to establish causal links between cell types and brain computations. How do human neurons of all flavors combine to produce cognition? What principles underly such computations? Can these computations be reverse-engineered and simulated from first principles?

We develop tools to unravel causal links in human microcircuit dynamics and cognition in health and disease. To do so, we adopt a multidisciplinary approach combining biophysics, statistical learning, optimization, computational simulation, and biophysics-informed AI.

Lab Members

Vitalie Cervinschi - Research Associate II

Vitalie Cervinschi

Research Associate II

Supporting research activities and experimental protocols in the laboratory.

Areg Peltekian - Graduate Student

Areg Peltekian

Graduate Student

Investigating the role of cellular diversity in neural circuit function using electrophysiological and transcriptomic approaches.

Cinthia Rangel-Sandoval, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow

Cinthia Rangel-Sandoval, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Contributing to research projects and laboratory initiatives.

Philip Wong, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow

Philip Wong, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Leading computational neuroscience projects at the level of human cellular and network biophysics and dynamics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Friendly Virtual Scientist - AI Assistant

Friendly Virtual Scientist

AI Assistant

The anonymous AI agent providing all sorts of support for code production, analysis implementations, and general lubrication in what used-to-be impenetrable areas.

Lab Alumni

Past Post-Doctoral Fellows/Clinical Fellows

Konstantinos Kozalakis, PhD (2023-2025)
Yuan-Ting Wu, PhD (2022-2025)
Siwei Qiu, PhD (2022-2023)
Anirban Nandi, PhD (2017-2020)
Yina Wei, PhD (2017-2020)
Soo Yeun Lee, PhD (2017-present)
Anatoly Buchin, PhD (2016-2020)
Sergey Gratiy, PhD (2014-2017)
Jiannis Taxidis, PhD (2011-2014)
Christopher Bell, PhD (2008-2011)

Past Graduate (PhD) Students

Catalin Mitelut, PhD (2014-2016)
Yazan Billeh, PhD (2011-2016)
Adam Shai, PhD (2009-2016)
Erik Schomburg, PhD (2008-2013)

Others

Summer Students Trained
Jayasree Peri (July 2024-October 2024); Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Christine Wang (June 2016-Aug 2016); Allen Institute
Chen Sun (June 2012-Aug 2012); SURF Caltech
Nicholas Swenson (June 2011-Aug 2011); SURF Caltech
Randall Lin (June 2011-Aug 2011, June 2012-Aug 2012); SURF Caltech
Raj Katti (June 2011-Aug 2011); SURF Caltech
Daniel Chen (June 2011-Aug 2011); SURF Caltech
Huang Fan (June 2009-Aug 2009); SURF Caltech
Karthik Sarma (June 2008-Aug 2008); SURF Caltech
Julien Lalande (June 2007-Aug 2007); Imperial College London
Nicolas Ducros (June 2006-Aug 2006); Imperial College London
Rotation Students Trained
Robert Wills (Sept 2011-Jan 2012); Caltech graduate
Adrian Luzi Valär (Sept 2003-Jan 2003); ETH graduate

Projects

Growing Cells in Computers

Comprehensive analysis of individual neuron properties and their role in neural circuit function and disease mechanisms.

Single-Cell Transcriptomics Electrophysiology

Brain Circuit Simulation

Advanced computational models of human neural circuits, integrating multi-modal data to understand brain function and dysfunction.

Computational Neuroscience Human Brain Multi-modal Data

Brain Disease Modeling

Investigating the cellular and circuit-level mechanisms underlying human epilepsy through computational modeling and analysis.

Epilepsy Disease Modeling Human Tissue

Brain Modulation Technologies

Development and application of advanced technologies for modulating brain activity, including electrical stimulation and optogenetics approaches.

Stimulation Optogenetics Neuromodulation

Biophysics-informed ML & NeuroAI

Development of biophysics-informed artificial intelligence approaches for understanding neural computation and brain function.

Machine Learning AI Biophysics

Publications

Methods

Evolutionary Optimization of Single Cell Models
Workflow for generating all-active computational models of neurons, integrating electrophysiology, morphology, and transcriptomics data for comprehensive single-cell modeling.
Python
Single-Cell Model Handling
Tools and workflows for handling and analyzing single-cell models, supporting the computational pipeline for neuronal modeling and analysis.
Python
Cellular and Microcircuit Simulation of Human Epilepsy
Code base for multi-modal characterization and simulation of human epileptic circuitry, including Python, Matlab, and R implementations for comprehensive epilepsy research.
Jupyter Notebook
En Masse Cellular Models from Human Patch-seq Data
Bio-realistic human cortical single cell simulation models for BMTK+neuron, including all-active ion channels and ground truth from patch-seq experiments.
Python
Complexity of Human Single-Neurons
Analysis of how single neuron models react to random dendritic input, including complexity testing workflows and morphological complexity analysis of human cortical cells.
NMODL
ateam-tools
Shared modeling and analysis tools for internal use by the Anastassiou research team, including BMTK integration, morphological feature extraction, and simulation utilities.
Python
Impact of Biophysics and Motion Effects in Human Extracellular Unit Recordings
Single-cell all-active models of human neocortical neurons with detailed morphology simulating extracellular action potential waveforms and biophysics.
Jupyter Notebook

Job Opportunities

Postdoctoral Scientist - Anastassiou Lab

Department of Neurosurgery

The Postdoctoral Scientist will focus on neuro-inspired AI applications and the development of new model generation pipelines.

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Project Scientist - Anastassiou Lab

Department of Neurosurgery

The Project Scientist will focus on data-driven, human-centered models of neurons and microcircuits.

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Research Associate III - Anastassiou Lab

Department of Neurosurgery

The RA will focus on developing pipelines to analyze and model human electrophysiology data.

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Postdoctoral Scientist - Anastassiou & Rutishauser Labs

Department of Neurosurgery

Postdoctoral position in the Anastassiou and Rutishauser labs focusing on modeling intracellular and extracellular dynamics and biophysics in human microcircuits.

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Don't see a position that fits? We're always interested in hearing from talented researchers!
For all positions, strong coding and data wrangling skills are essential. A PhD and track record of first author publications are required for postdoc positions.

Please reach out to Costas Anastassiou if interested in any of the above.

Contact Us

Contact & Location

Location

Department of Neurosurgery
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion
Office A9313
127 S San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Email

costas.anastassiou@cshs.org

Phone

Tel (o): 424-315-2698