I'm a Professor of Biology. My lab studies biochemical mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. That means that we study the mechanisms within synapses in the brain that allow them to change their strength. Stronger synapses are more likely to trigger an impulse in their postsynaptic neuron; weaker ones are less likely to. The ability to change the strengths of synapses allows the brain to create and modify its wiring "on the fly". Long lasting changes in strength of synapses permit the storage of memories. As you might expect, the biochemical mechanisms that adjust the strength of synapses are extremely complex. Circuits in the brain can rewire in response to a wide variety of environmental influences sensed over many time scales. We now know enough about these mechanisms to begin to simulate how they function over time (their "kinetics") with great precision. Their complexity requires that we use a variety of high performance computing methods.
