https://nolansurmelilab.github.io/

Matt Nolan graduated with a 1^st class Honours degree in Physiology from the University of Birmingham and completed his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Aberdeen. He recieved a Wellcome Trust Prize Travelling Fellowship to carry out his postdoctoral work with Eric Kandel at Columbia University in New York. He was recruited to a lectureship at the University of Edinburgh in 2006, was promoted to Reader in 2011 and was appointed Professor of Neural Circuits and Computation in 2014.

Molecular and cellular mechanims that enable neural circuits to carry out computations, with a focus on computations important for learning and memory.

Development of technologies that advance our ability to image neural activity.

Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research

Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain

Centre for Statistics

Circuit organisation. We are investigating the local and long-range organisation of circuits in the entorhinal cortex. We want to understand how molecular level organisation within the entorhinal cortex leads to architectural principles that are critical for memory storage and retrieval.

Circuit computations. We are using high density neural recordings and neural network models to investigate how entorhinal cortex circuits implement computations important for spatial memory.

Technology development. With collaborators in the Institute for Integrated and Nanosystems we are developing kilohertz frame rate cameras for imaging neural activity, and with collaborators in the School of Informatics and the Centre for Statistics we are developing new tools for analysing the organisation and activation of neural circuits.

Circuit disorders. Many disorders of the brain appear to result from circuit level deficits. We believe that understanding the fundamental principles for neural circuit computation will be essential for understanding and treating disorders. We are addressing this by focusing on models of autism spectrum disorders and Alzheimer’s disease.

The brain's extraordinary cognitive capabilities result from computations carried out by groups of neurons organised into circuits. Understanding how neural circuits implement computations is a major unsolved scientific problem. We address this using state-of-the-art optical, electrical and molecular technologies, with a particular focus on the neural computations that underlie learning and memory. Our research has implications for understanding normal cognitive function and for cognitive disorders including Alzheimer's and autism spectrum disorders.

Postgraduate

I organise and teach on the Neural Dynamics elective for the MSc by Research in Integrative Neuroscience. 

Undergraduate

Year 4. I co-organise with Emma Wood and teach on the Neural Circuits for Learning and Memory elective for Honours Neuroscience. Year 2. I contrbute to teaching neuroscience components of Biomedical Sciences 2.

I welcome applications from:

1) Students who wish to pursue a PhD in my research group.

2) Postdoctoral researchers seeking to hold an independent Fellowship within my group.

We also from time to time have funded positions available. These are advertised on the University's jobs portal (jobs.ed.ac.uk).

We have outstanding mentoring and support structures for reseachers at all stages of their career and a strong track record in helping candidates secure major competive Fellowships