Neural Systems, Memory & Aging

The Division of Neural Systems, Memory, and Aging is a research group whose main focus is to study the brain mechanisms of learning and memory and the manner in which these mechanisms are affected by the aging process. This is a highly interdisciplinary endeavor that draws on technical approaches from many scientific disciplines, including biochemistry, molecular biology, psychology, neurophysiology, computer science, biomedical engineering, bioimaging, biomathematics, and clinical medicine. The group participates in the teaching mission of the University at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, and is committed to engaging undergraduates in hands-on research experience in NSMA laboratories.

Over the past fifteen years, this group has developed a number of cutting-edge technologies that have allowed them to make significant inroads into the understanding of the normal mechanisms of information representation, storage and retrieval in the brain, and changes in these mechanisms with age. Examples of these include a system for neurophysiological recording of hundreds of brain cells simultaneously in freely behaving animals. This group leads the field in this type of technological development and is internationally recognized for these innovative methods. Another technological advance is a method for the identification in a single animal brain of precisely which neurons have been involved in a specific experience. This method makes use of differential gene express patterns in activated neurons. The application of both of these methodologies has already begun to revolutionize the range of questions that can be asked in Systems Neuroscience worldwide.