Welcome to the June 2014 IEEE Life Sciences eNewsletter
This issue of the IEEE Life Sciences Newsletter brings you some very interesting and leading-edge information on the intersection between fundamental neuroscience research and electronic engineering. The May issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE was a special issue entitled “Engineering Intelligence Electronic Systems Based on Computational Neuroscience”. In an overview article, Dr. Mark McDonnell, who co-edited that issue, summarizes the context and contributions of the Special Issue. We also present three papers that summarize contributions to the Special Issue with particular relevance to life sciences in respect of neuroscience. We especially wish to thank Dr. McDonnell, a Senior Member of IEEE, for arranging for these articles.
Mark D. McDonnell is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, where he is Principle Investigator of the Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience. He received a PhD in Electronic Engineering from The University of Adelaide, Australia His interdisciplinary research focuses on the application of computational and engineering methods to advance scientific knowledge about the influence of noise and random variability in brain signals and structures during neurobiological computation. 
Nicolas Franceschini received the Doctorat d'Etat degree in physics from the University of Grenoble and National Polytechnic Institute, Grenoble, France. He was appointed as a Research Director at the C.N.R.S. and set up the Neurocybernetics Lab, and later the Biorobotics Lab in Marseille, France. His research interests include neural information processing, vision, eye movements, microoptics, neuromorphic circuits, sensory-motor control systems, biologically-inspired robots and autopilots. 
Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi is a PhD candidate in the University of Adelaide, Australia. His current research interests include neuromorphic learning systems, spiking neural networks and nanoelectronic. 
Giacomo Indiveri is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland. His current research interests lie in the study of real and artificial neural processing systems and in the hardware implementation of neuromorphic cognitive systems, using full custom analog and digital VLSI technology. 
Derek Abbott is a full Professor within the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Adelaide, Australia. His interests are in the area of multidisciplinary physics and electronic engineering applied to complex systems. 
Terrence C. Stewart received a Ph.D. degree in cognitive science from Carleton University in 2007. He is a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Systems Design Engineering with the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Canada. His core interests are in understanding human cognition by building biologically realistic neural simulations, and he is currently focusing on language processing and motor control. 
Chris Eliasmith received a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis in 2000. He is a full professor at the University of Waterloo. He is currently Director of the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo and holds a Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Neuroscience. He has authored or coauthored two books and over 100 publications in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, and engineering venues.