People
André Longtin
Research
Neural Modeling, Neurophysics, Stochastic Nonlinear Dynamics, Nonlinear Time Series Analysis
Prof. Longtin's research is mainly on the mathematical modeling of the activity of nervous system, and more generally, of physiological systems and nonlinear systems. The research ranges from the development of theoretical analytic approaches to the modeling of neural data and nonlinear time series analysis. In most cases the work is inspired by experimental results, and draws much on a close interaction with experimental neuroscientists such as Len Maler and John Lewis at the University of Ottawa. He also carries out research on the interaction of nonlinear systems with noise ("stochastic dynamics"). The neural systems of interest range from the subcellular level (synaptic and ionic mechanisms) up to the systems level (e.g. reflexes, behavior, and communication). The short term goals are to develop predictive models on paper and in silico of the behavior of various neural systems. The long term goals are to elucidate the principles of sensory coding and the role of feedback, adaptation and noise in this coding. Apart from the relevance to fundamental advances in neuroscience, this work will help pave the way for e.g. corrective procedures for defective sensory pathways at the primary transduction stage, as well as beyond this primary stage where recurrent feedback connectivity becomes important. This research also lies at the forefront of studies in nonlinear stochastic dynamical systems.
Training
Andre Longtin is native of Montreal, Canada. He received his honours B.Sc. Physics in 1983, and his M.Sc. Physics in 1985 from the Universite de Montreal. His M.Sc. thesis was on Mathematical Models of the Human acoustic Reflex ( in French), supervised by Jean Robert Derome. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from McGill University in 1989. His thesis was a theoretical and experimental study of Nonlinear Oscillations, Noise and Chaos in Neural Delayed Feedback Systems, under the supervision of Michael Mackey and co-supervision of John Milton (Montreal Neurological Institute). This work was awarded the Grand Prix de l'Academie des Grands Montrealais in 1990 for the best thesis in the pure and applied sciences across the four Montreal universities in 1990.
He then joined Los Alamos National Laboratory for two years, both as a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow and a Los Alamos Director's Funded Postdoctoral Fellow. He held a joint position in the Theoretical Division T13 (Complex Systems; Doyne Farmer group leader) and the Center for Nonlinear Studies (David Campbell, Director). He began as assistant professor of Physics in 1992 at the University of Ottawa. He is now Professor since 2002, and cross-appointed to the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and on the editorial board of Biological Cybernetics, Cognitive Neurodynamics, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, J. Mathematical Neuroscience and Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience.
André's presonal web page