1) 26/05/2026

**DAY AND LOCATION HAVE BEEN CHANGED**

WHO: Gregory Schwartzman,  JAIST 

WHEN: Tuesday, May 26th 2026 at 12:00

WHERE: BUILDING 503 (Computer Science), SEMINAR ROOM 226 

Title: What Can We Learn from Neuronal Connectivity Alone?

Recent advances in electron microscopy and computer vision have enabled the mapping of complete wiring diagrams, called connectomes, of brain regions and even entire brains. The emergence of these increasingly large-scale datasets has intensified the need for efficient and accurate neuronal cell type identification. Traditional approaches rely on labor-intensive analyses of molecular, anatomical, and physiological features. As a step toward fully automated neuronal cell type classification, we present NTAC (Neuronal Type Assignment from Connectivity), a method for grouping neurons into cell types based solely on synaptic connectivity. 

Our approach is grounded in the hypothesis that synaptic connectivity is key to determining neuronal cell types, and our results provide the strongest evidence to date supporting its validity. We further show that this connectivity-based approach extends beyond cell typing, enabling neurotransmitter classification from synaptic connectivity alone.

Bio: Gregory Schwartzman is an Associate Professor at JAIST. His research focuses on large-scale graph algorithms and clustering, with recent applications to connectomics. Before joining JAIST, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo and completed his Ph.D. at the Technion.