ZHANG LAB

Bridging the neural circuit and cognition via computational neuroscience

Welcome to the Computational Neuroscience Lab (CNL) at UT Southwestern Medical Center, directed by Wen-hao Zhang. Our lab combines normative theories and biologically plausible neural circuit models to study the principles and algorithms of neural information processing, in order to answer how perception, cognition, and behavior emerge from neural circuits.

To conduct this interdisciplinary research, we combine techniques from nonlinear dynamics, Bayesian inference, neural coding, information theory, representation theory, etc. Meanwhile, we collaborate closely with experimental neuroscientists to verify our theories and models.

News

Sept. 23, 2025: The paper "On neural circuits of working memory sequence permutation: optimizing circuit architectures via Cayley graphs" is accepted by NeurIPS 2025 NeurReps workshop. Congratulations to Kevin Bien and Junfeng Zuo.
Sept. 18, 2025: The paper "Place Cells as Multi-Scale Position Embeddings: Random Walk Transition Kernels for Path Planning" is accepted by NeurIPS 2025. Congratulations to Minglu Zhao and Ying Nian Wu!
September 2025: Three bioRxiv preprints
- Chen et al., "Natural gradient Bayesian sampling automatically emerges in canonical cortical circuits".
- Sale & Zhang, "Canonical cortical circuits: A unified sampling machine for static and dynamic inference".
- Zuo et al., "Towards a mental programming neural circuit: Insights from working memory sequence manipulation".
Apr. 18, 2025: Welcome Armand Rathgeb to join our group for PhD study.
Mar. 23, 2025: Eryn Sale is accepted by the Computational Neuroscience Summer Course held by Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Japan. Congratulations!
Jan. 23, 2025: the paper "An Investigation of Conformal Isometry Hypothesis for Grid Cells" is accepted by ICLR 2025. This is a collaboration with Dr. Ying Nian Wu at UCLA. Congratulation to Dehong Xu and Ying Nian Wu!
Jan. 15, 2025: Welcome Zimei Chen and Yi Ren to join our group as PhD students.
Dec. 23, 2024: The abstract "Neural sampling in a balanced spiking network with internally generated variability" is accepted by Cosyne 2025. Congratulations, Xinruo!
Sept. 25, 2024: Two papers are accepted by NeurIPS 2024.
Congratulations to Eryn Sale and Junfeng Zuo!
- E. Sale, W.H. Zhang. The Bayesian sampling in a canonical recurrent circuit with a diversity of inhibitory interneurons. [pdf]
- J. Zuo, Y.N. Wu, S. Wu, W.H. Zhang. The motion planning neural circuit in goal-directed navigation as Lie group operator search. [pdf]
Sept. 16, 2024: Welcome Junfeng Zuo to visit us from Peking University.
June 23, 2024: Welcome Micheal Myers Jr joins us as a research assistant.
June 17, 2024: Wenhao Zhang gives a talk entitled "Decentralized neural circuits implement Bayesian sampling of multisensory integration" at IMRF 2024 at Reno, NV.
Feb 5, 2024: Eryn Sale receives a travel grant from Cosyne 2024. Congratulations!
Jan. 26, 2024: The book chapter "Decentralized Neural Circuits of Multisensory Information Integration in the Brain" (Springer Nature Singapore) is online!
Jan. 17, 2024: two abstracts are accepted by the conference Computational and System Neuroscience (Cosyne). Congratulations to Eryn Sale and Junfeng Zuo!
- Stimulus-tuned interneurons accelerate Bayesian sampling in recurrent circuits.
- Temporal-scaling equivariant recurrent neural circuit: a Lie group perspective.

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