Faculty

Computational Neuroscience is a study based on the assumption that the brain is a biological computer. To truly understand a computer (brain), we need to understand the functions of its logic gates (neurons) and their wiring (neuronal circuits) that yields higher level functions, in a bottom-up manner. Historically, computational neuroscience has striven to suggest mathematical models of the neural computations based on biological and physiological experiments and thus to produce theoretical foundations for understanding the brain functions—firstly for individual neurons and then for neuronal circuits. Connectomics inherits and realizes these ideas by considering the ultrastructural connection specificity and the complete population of neurons in circuits—firstly for small samples or regions of the brain and ultimately for the entire brain. In our lab we observe the 3D structure of neurons and their connectivity from high-resolution images obtained by serial electron and light microscopes. We use deep learning artificial intelligence and other computational techniques to analyze the images. We mathematically model the functions of neural networks from the activity of neurons in the circuit.

• Anatomical studies on neural cells and connectome through the analyses of high-resolution neural microscope images
• Understanding of the fundamental principles of brain functions through the theoretical and computational study of information processing on the neural microcircuits
• Unveiling the biophysical basis of the mind or mental processes including perception, cognition, memory, thinking, and emotion

• 2019~ : Assistant Professor, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea
• 2015~2019 : Principal Researcher & Group Leader, KBRI
• 2014~2015 : Postdoctoral Associate, Princeton Univ., USA
• 2010~2014 : Postdoctoral Associate/Fellow, MIT, USA
• 2010: Visiting Postdoctoral Associate, SNU, Korea
• 2005~2010 : Ph.D., Department of Physics, SNU
• 2003~2005 : M.S., Department of Physics, SNU
• 1995~2000 : B.S., Department of Physics, SNU

• 2019~Present : Executive Board Member, Brain Engineering Society of Korea
• 2016~Present : Executive Board Member, Korean Society for Computational Neuroscience
• 2016~Present : Member,Korean Society for Brain and Neuroscience
• 2018~Present : Editorial Board Member, Experimental Neurobiology

• JA Bae†, S Mu†, JS Kim†, NL Turner†, I Tartavull, N Kemnitz, CS Jordan, AD Norton, WM Silversmith, R Prentki, M Sorek, C David, DL Jones, D Bland, ALR Sterling, J Park, KL Briggman, HS Seung, the EyeWirers. Digital museum of retinal ganglion cells with dense anatomy and physiology. Cell 173(5):1293, 2018. (†equal contribution)
• MJ Greene†, JS Kim†, HS Seung, EyeWirers. Analogous convergence of sustained and transient inputs in parallel on and off pathways for retinal motion computation. Cell Reports 14(8):1892, 2016. (†equal contribution) 
• JS Kim†, MJ Greene†, A Zlateski, K Lee, M Richardson, SC Turaga, M Purcaro, M Balkam, A Robinson, BF Behabadi, M Campos, W Denk, HS Seung, EyeWirers. Space-time wiring specificity supports direction selectivity in the retina. Nature 509(7500):331, 2014. (†equal contribution) 
• JS Kim, M Kaiser*, From Caenorhabditis elegans to the human connectome: a specific modular organization increases metabolic, functional and developmental efficiency. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 369:20130529, 2014.

• 2019~2021 (PI) A study on the functional mechanisms of cerebellar neural microcircuits through computer-aided analyses on electron microscope images, Priority Research Centers Program, IBS of SKKU, NRF of Korea
• 2018~2022 (Co-I) Extreme Exploitation of Dark Data, Engineering Research Center, NRF of Korea
• 2017~2019 (Co-I) Wiring principles of prefrontal cortex in perceptual decision making, Research Program for Brain Science, NRF of Korea 

• 바이오프로그래밍 (Programming for Biologists) : 학부, 봄학기
• 뇌과학 (Brain Science) : 학부, 가을학기
• 커넥톰과 머신러닝 (Connectome and Machine Learning) : 대학원, 가을 학기 (격년)
• 신경과학특론 (Advanced Topics in Neurobiology) : 대학원, 가을 학기 (격년)