Neural Types

• While each neuron is unique, it' clearly useful to break them into groups.
• This is an open area of research but they can be grouped into, say roughly, 40 types.
• One could then develop models for each type, perhaps with variance.
• I'm particularly fond of one paper: Reconstruction and Simulation of Neocortical Microcircuitry (2015) H. Markram et al.
• Here they're trying to simulate a small area of cortex, and seem to have made reasonable progress in developing a somewhat biologically accurate simulation.
• Here they look at dozens of different types and subtypes of neurons, and they're connectivity.
• They build complex compartmental models of each, and this is what they simulate.
• These neuron types have different genetic expression, connectivity, structure and a range of other properties.