Department of Mathematics

Speaker: Martin Wechselberger
Title: Multiple Time-Scales, Bursts and Canards in Pituitary Lactotroph Cells
Affiliation: University of Sydney, Australia
Date: Friday, November 20, 2009
Place and Time: Room 101, Love Building, 3:35-4:30 pm
Refreshments: Room 204, Love Building, 3:00 pm

Abstract. Bursting oscillations in nerve cells have been the focus of a great deal of attention by mathematicians. These are typically studied by taking advantage of multiple time-scales in the system under study to perform a singular perturbation analysis. Bursting also occurs in hormone-secreting pituitary cells, but is characterized by fast bursts with small electrical impulses. Although the separation of time-scales is not as clear, singular perturbation analysis is still the key to understand the bursting mechanism. In particular, I will show that canards are responsible for the observed oscillatory behavior.