How computations are performed in biological organisms? My long term goal is to better understand the distinction between mechanical and biological computation. Computers are good examples of mechanical computation, while brains are good examples of biological computing devices.

During my PhD, I worked on how neurons – the building blocks of our brain – compute. Our understanding of neurons biophysics has tremendously progressed these last decades, yet little progress have been made on how neurons compute. For instance it is a common belief that neurons are incapable of linearly non-separable computations like the famous exclusive or. Contradicting this belief, my thesis demonstrates that all neurons possessing a single passive dendritic branch are capable of such computations. As a Post-Doc, I am working on how these complex neurons can work together.