UKRI MINDS CDT postgraduate researcher Xander Lowe combines experiments on real neurons with computational modelling to investigate how the brain processes and holds information. At the British Science Festival 2026, he found a simple but effective way to begin a much bigger conversation about neural connections, memory and brain-inspired computing.
How does the brain bring together separate details to recognise a familiar face, remember a place or picture a red car?
For Xander Lowe, a postgraduate researcher in the UKRI MINDS CDT’s 2020 cohort, questions like these lead into the electrical activity of neurons and the connections through which information is processed. His research combines laboratory electrophysiology with computational modelling to investigate how neurons process and hold information in the short term.
Electrophysiology enables researchers to measure electrical activity in real neurons. Computational modelling provides a complementary way to represent aspects of those mechanisms in software and investigate their behaviour. Xander works across both approaches, collecting neuronal data and developing models concerned with the electrical properties of neurons and how they code, store and process information.
Connecting experiments and models
A neuron does not hold a complete thought or concept by itself. Instead, information can be represented through the combined activity of connected groups of neurons.
That principle is important to Xander’s wider research interest in how the brain processes information. His work examines neuronal excitability and activity associated with memory and cognition, including circumstances in which the balance of neural activity is altered.
Experimental recordings and computational models offer different perspectives on the same problem. Recordings show how biological neurons behave. Models allow researchers to represent selected mechanisms computationally and explore how changes within a system may affect its behaviour.
The combination does not make the biological system and its software representation interchangeable. Instead, it provides a way to move between observed electrical activity and a model through which particular mechanisms can be investigated.
Building a concept from connections
At the British Science Festival 2026, Xander introduced this wider area of science through Connect the Concept, an interactive memory game supported by a research poster.
The activity asked visitors to construct a target concept by connecting separate pieces of information. A car, for example, might have tyres, a particular colour, a brand and a certain number of doors. Those details can be stored separately and then combined into the larger idea of a specific car.
“We’re trying to demonstrate how the brain forms its connections to build up ideas, forms connections between concepts, and that produces representations, our thoughts, our memories,” Xander explained in the film accompanying the demonstration.
The activity did not attempt to reproduce the full complexity of his doctoral experiments. Its purpose was to give visitors an accessible starting point for thinking about connectivity and information processing.
That simplicity was deliberate.
“The game was thoroughly simplified to be appropriate to a range of people,” he said. “The goal was simply to emphasise the significance of connectivity within the brain.”
From biological brains to computing
Understanding biological information processing also raises questions for computing. The brain carries out complex tasks while operating very differently from conventional computing systems. Researchers working in brain-inspired or neuromorphic computing explore whether features of nervous systems could inform new hardware and algorithms.
For Xander, the connection is a source of possible technological inspiration rather than a claim that his research has already produced a new computing system.
“In understanding how the brain is doing it we hope that we can take inspiration from that and produce machines that could do the same,” he said.
In the film, he identified medical imaging, data storage and other forms of large-scale computation as areas where lower-energy computing could potentially be relevant. He framed these as possible applications of the wider field, particularly as demand for large-scale computing grows and the energy used by data centres attracts concern.
The distinction matters. Xander’s research is helping to investigate biological information processing through experiments and models. Brain-inspired computing is a wider research direction that may draw on knowledge of such biological processes.
Letting the audience set the depth
The Festival also gave Xander an opportunity to see which aspects of the subject caught visitors’ attention.
“It was interesting to see how much people underestimated the scale of the brain, how many neurons and connections there are between them,” he said.
Some visitors played the game more than once. One was particularly pleased to encounter research into neuromorphic technologies, describing the area as under-explored. But the activity was not designed to give every visitor the same technical explanation. Instead, the game opened a conversation that could develop according to the person’s interest.
“Having a simple concept engages conversation and from that you can judge how technical a discussion people might be looking for,” Xander said.
That approach made accessibility the beginning rather than the limit of the exchange. A visitor could engage with the basic idea of making connections, then ask about neurons, synapses, computation or hardware in as much depth as they wanted.
Returning as a researcher
Taking part also brought Xander back to an experience he remembered from earlier in his life.
“I remember coming to science festivals at Southampton when I was younger,” he said. “I think it is important and our responsibility to help foster curiosity in science and technology.”
His return as a researcher captures the value of public engagement from both sides. Visitors gain a route into research that might otherwise appear remote or highly technical. Researchers have an opportunity to discover what people notice, where assumptions differ and which questions encourage a conversation to go further.
Through the UKRI MINDS CDT, Xander has been able to connect experimental neuroscience, computational modelling and public explanation. Connect the Concept did not try to compress all of that research into a single game. It did something more useful: it gave people a place to begin.
Watch Xander explain Connect the Concept and explore how neural connections could inspire thinking about lower-energy computing.