Converting a globus pallidus neuron model from 585 to 6 compartments using an evolutionary algorithm

Background Biologically realistic neuron models are useful tools for understanding the behavior and mechanisms of neurons, but they are computationally expensive due to their fine granularity. This makes them unattractive for use in network simulations and generally leads to their replacement by simpler "integrate and fire" or black box models which are computationally cheaper, but further removed from biology. An attractive alternative is to replace a biologically realistic model with a 'reduced' version containing fewer compartments. This reduced model should largely preserve biological realism while limiting complexity and computational cost.