NeuroCommunications Lecture Series

Prof. Gisella Vetere (École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris):

“Create and maintain fear memories in the neuronal network”

May 23^rd 2023

3pm

Ebbinghaus lecture hall, LIN

Ph.D. candidates will have the special opportunity to join the speaker for lunch at LIN on May 24^th 2023 at 12.00 pm.

Don’t miss your chance to talk with Prof. Gisella Vetere and reserve your time slot via email to the host: alessio.attardo@lin-magdeburg.de

Abstract

Since 1904, when Richard Semon introduced the term “engram” to describe the neural substrate for storing memories, several researches have been done to identify these special cells within the neuronal network. Understanding how memories are created and maintained over time is a fundamental problem in neuroscience.  Our data show that a memory can be artificially created through the precise co-activation of brain regions that process olfactory inputs with regions that process affective valence, in the complete absence of any sensory experience. This study emphasizes both the critical role of sensory input in establishing highly specific memories, as well as the need for coordinated activity of neural networks in memory. In a seond study, I will show question what is the engram and what should be the best way to define it. Today, we can use refine techniques that allow us to dissect an hippocampal fear memory engram and define the contribution of the different ensemble of cells linked with specific behaviours. Here I will show preliminary data that describe the engram in a novel guise, revealing interesting implications in dissecting the memory engram. Lab website: https://veterelab.weebly.com

About the speaker

Memories build up the person that we are, changing day by day our brain to integrate the new information into the plastic network of knowledges formed by past experiences.It is impossible to imagine us without our memories. How are memories integrated in the neural network? How are they kept for a lifetime in our brain? The main interest of my laboratory is to answer these questions and reveal the neural basis of the process that transform an everyday experience in a long-lasting memory. Particularly we study how memories are encoded and represented in the brain at different levels, from changes at the synaptic to the more complex network level.