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Marco Herrera-Valdez
PeerJ Author
350 Points

Contributions by role

Preprint Author 350

Contributions by subject area

Biophysics
Mathematical Biology
Neuroscience
Computational Biology
Cell Biology
Anatomy and Physiology
Computational Science

Marco A Herrera-Valdez

PeerJ Author

Summary

I am a mathematician and a scientist. My interests center around complex adaptive systems, especially in biology. My research focuses on studying nonlinear phenomena involving different levels of (biological) organization. My background is a mixture of formal training in mathematics and life sciences (biosketch), which explains my research interests and the ways I tackle research questions. In my work I combine mathematics, biophysics, and physiology, using theoretical and experimental approaches. I teach at undergraduate and graduate levels and train students to do research. I also do some work on non-academic fronts, consulting on projects in computational science, operations research, and epidemiology.

In my current research I combine theory of dynamical systems, graph theory, computational simulations, and neurophysiological experiments to study biophysical principles underlying the activity in neuronal microcircuits. Understanding the general principles underlying the changes and the adaptability of microcircuit activity is key to establish mechanistic explanations about phenomena occurring at high levels of organisation such as behaviour, learning and memory, immunological processes, etc. The mathematical principles unveiled by research like the one mentioned above are applicable to other areas of research.

Anatomy & Physiology Animal Behavior Autonomous Systems Biophysics Cardiology Cell Biology Computational Biology Computational Science Mathematical Biology Network Science & Online Social Networks Neuroscience

Past or current institution affiliations

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Work details

Professor, Mathematics and Theoretical Biology

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Mathematics
My interests center around complex adaptive systems, especially in physiology. My current research seeks to better understand mechanisms underlying nonlinear phenomena spanning different levels of physiological organization (note, not necessarily different spatiotemporal scales). In my current research, I combine the theory of dynamical systems, biophysics, graph theory, computational simulations, and neurophysiological experiments. For instance, I am studying biophysical principles underlying the formation and reactivation of neural traces within microcircuits. At a macroscopic level, neuronal activity depends on the anatomical connectivity, synaptic plasticity, and the level of heterogeneity in the physiological function of the neurons under consideration. Both of these factors are adaptively changed by neuromodulation, regulation of gene expression, as well as internal and external stimuli. Understanding the general principles underlying the changes and the adaptability of functionally connected circuits is important to find mechanistic explanations about phenomena occurring at high levels of organization such as behavior, learning, and memory, etc. Importantly, the mathematical principles unveiled by research like the one described above are applicable to other areas of knowledge. My academic background combines formal training in mathematics and physiological sciences and in my work, I combine theoretical and experimental approaches. I also teach at undergraduate and graduate levels and train students to do research. I have also done work on non-academic fronts, consulting on projects in computational science, operations research, and epidemiology. I am currently an assistant professor in the Mathematics Department at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Websites

  • Google Scholar

PeerJ Contributions

  • Preprints 2
  • Questions 1
September 11, 2018 - Version: 2
Synchronization, oscillator death, and frequency modulation in a class of biologically inspired coupled oscillators
Alessio Franci, Marco A Herrera-Valdez, Miguel Lara-Aparicio, Pablo Padilla-Longoria
https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.26447v2
April 16, 2018 - Version: 8
A thermodynamic description for physiological transmembrane transport
Marco A Herrera-Valdez
https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1312v8

1 Question

0
What is the ball park for the ratio of voltage-gated K to Na somatic channels?