Author: Julie Pryor

SPEAKER: Dr. May-Britt Moser
ORGANIZATION: Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience
DATE + TIME: Wednesday February 5, 2014 at 4pm
LOCATION: MIT Bldg 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)

ABSTRACT: The medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) is part of the brain’s circuit for dynamic representation of self-location. The metric of this representation is provided by grid cells, cells with spatial firing fields that tile environments in a periodic hexagonal pattern. I will begin my lecture by discussing how grid cells are organized within the MEC. Based on recordings from large numbers of grid cells in individual rats, I will show that grid cells cluster into a small number of layer-spanning anatomically-overlapping functionally independent modules with distinct scale and orientation – a property that may be advantage to high-capacity memory in output areas such as the hippocampus. I will further discuss how inputs from grid cells and other functional cell types determine properties of place cells in the hippocampus. Using a combination of electrophysiological and optogenetic techniques, we find that the hippocampus receives input from a variety of sources, including border cells and head direction cells in the MEC, odour-responsive cells in the lateral entorhinal cortex, and, via the nucleus reuniens, decision-correlated cells in the medial prefrontal cortex. Collectively these inputs may be enable memory in ensembles of place cells in the hippocampus.

To view the viral core image gallery, please click on one of the thumbnail images below.

Wishing you a ball this holiday season  — from your friends at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT!

Jisong Guan, Tsinghua University
“Chasing the memory traces in mammalian cortex”

On November 4, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT hosted a joint symposium with the IDG/McGovern Institutes at Beijing Normal University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Guest speakers gave talks on subjects ranging from learning and memory to the neurobiology of disease. The symposium was sponsored by the McGovern Institutes and Hugo Shong.

Yichang Jia, Tsinghua University
“Disease mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration caused by RNA metabolism abnormalities”

On November 4, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT hosted a joint symposium with the IDG/McGovern Institutes at Beijing Normal University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Guest speakers gave talks on subjects ranging from learning and memory to the neurobiology of disease. The symposium was sponsored by the McGovern Institutes and Hugo Shong.

Lihong Wang, Tsingua University
“The neural correlates of trait rumination?”

On November 4, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT hosted a joint symposium with the IDG/McGovern Institutes at Beijing Normal University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Guest speakers gave talks on subjects ranging from learning and memory to the neurobiology of disease. The symposium was sponsored by the McGovern Institutes and Hugo Shong.

Yulong Li, Peking University
“Spying nerve communication by constructing new genetically-encoded fluorescent probes”

On November 4, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT hosted a joint symposium with the IDG/McGovern Institutes at Beijing Normal University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Guest speakers gave talks on subjects ranging from learning and memory to the neurobiology of disease. The symposium was sponsored by the McGovern Institutes and Hugo Shong.

Kewei Wang
“Targeting voltage-gated Kv7/KCNQ K+ channels for therapeutic potential of neuropsychiatric disorders”

On November 4, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT hosted a joint symposium with the IDG/McGovern Institutes at Beijing Normal University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Guest speakers gave talks on subjects ranging from learning and memory to the neurobiology of disease. The symposium was sponsored by the McGovern Institutes and Hugo Shong.

Liang Li, Peking University
“Informational masking of speech in people with schizophrenia”

On November 4, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT hosted a joint symposium with the IDG/McGovern Institutes at Beijing Normal University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Guest speakers gave talks on subjects ranging from learning and memory to the neurobiology of disease. The symposium was sponsored by the McGovern Institutes and Hugo Shong.

McGovern faculty, researchers and staff participated in a snowball fight in the Bldg 46 atrium. The scene was filmed for the annual McGovern holiday video greeting.

See below for a photo gallery of the event. All photos courtesy of Justin Knight.