9615565 Zhou This project will investigate the possibility of modeling biological phenomena such as hormone release, neuron firings, and electrophysiological profiles, by viewing pertinent measurements as events with random occurrence times. Such time series and their transformations are known as point processes and filtered point processes, respectively, and their application to biological signals will offer additional insight into their mechanisms. In collaboration with a neuroscience research group at Emory University, biologically meaningful models will be explored and state-of-the-art statistical signal processing tools will be adopted to extract model parameters. Directly interpretable models and advanced signal processing methodologies are capable of explaining certain biological phenomena which may not be evident from the raw data. A formal joint proposal (with collaborators from life science fields) will be submitted at the end of the twelve-month planning period. The present planning proposal will provide support for one graduate student and release time for the PI both of which are instrumental for the success of a junior faculty entering a new interdisciplinary field. ***
