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By Brian Fitzgerald
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CAS Psychology Professor Howard Eichenbaum directs the Center for Memory and the Brain, an interdisciplinary center that includes researchers in psychology, neuroscience, and biomedical engineering. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky |
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How does memory work? How do the different parts of the brain function
and interact to store and retrieve information? Basic questions such
as these have prompted BU scientists to dedicate their careers to understanding
how the mind works.
With the recent launching of the Center for Memory
and the Brain (CMB), which is bringing together faculty with expertise
in psychology, neuroscience,
and biomedical engineering, researchers in memory-related fields now
have a valuable new resource.
Neurobiological mechanisms behind cognition
Howard Eichenbaum, a UNI professor, a CAS psychology professor,
and director of the CAS cognitive neurobiology laboratory, explores the
neural circuitry
involved in cognition and memory. “In particular,” he says, “work
in my lab focuses on the contributions of a system of brain structures
that include the hippocampus and cerebral cortex.”
Eichenbaum,
who studies the brains of rats as they solve complex problems, is one
of the four core faculty at CMB. The others are Chantal Stern,
a CAS associate professor of psychology, who uses magnetic resonance
imaging to study working memory in people; Michael Hasselmo, a CAS psychology
professor, who examines the intricacies of working memory at a cellular
level; and John White, an ENG associate professor of biomedical engineering.
Hasselmo and his colleague Angel Alonso at the Montreal Neurological
Institute and McGill University study working memory — the ability
of the brain to hold information for a relatively short time to complete
a task (such as remembering the words at the beginning of a sentence
long enough to understand the complete sentence). Their studies reveal
that contrary to previous expectations, individual neurons in the entorhinal
cortex (an area of the brain near the hippocampus) fire single electrical
impulses, or spikes, not only when they are activated by sensory input,
but also for several seconds after sensory input ceases. This sustained
neuronal activity, says Hasselmo, indicates working memory. Their research
was published in the November 14, 2002, issue of the journal Nature.
Hasselmo
and Alonso are now examining the relationship between sustained
neuronal activity and the neurochemical acetylcholine, a substance known
to activate neurons — but one that is depleted in the brains of individuals
with Alzheimer’s disease. By better understanding the cellular
processes underlying working memory, the researchers ultimately hope
to find mechanisms that lead to effective treatments for Alzheimer’s.
State-of-the-art
facility
CMB, based on the ground floor of 2 Cummington St.,
features newly renovated office and laboratory space that will eventually
extend into the
adjoining Life Science and Engineering Building, which will be completed
by July
2005. The center includes a state-of-the-art machine for cellular
imaging and powerful computational hardware and software to model the
complex
interactions between different brain structures.
The center not only
facilitates collaborations among professors, but also provides a stimulating
learning environment for students.
According
to Eichenbaum, “Students are encouraged and supported to work
collaboratively with professors within a variety of
disciplines, giving them broader experience and expertise in the global
area of memory.”
“
The great thing about CMB is the collaborations that are already taking
place there,” says Sean Wright (UNI’03), a research technician
at the CAS cognitive neurobiology laboratory. Wright, who majored in
cognitive neuroscience as an undergraduate, worked with Eichenbaum through
the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). His work with
Eichenbaum was presented at the 32nd Annual Society for Neuroscience
Meeting, and in 2002 helped him earn a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship,
awarded by the U.S. government to promising scientists, engineers, and
mathematicians, a Harold C. Case Scholarship, and a scholarship from
the Scarlet Key Society. “The ability to work with researchers
in different fields is contributing new perspectives to the experiments
we’re doing in our lab,” Wright says. “I am confident
that this will lead to a better understanding of how memory works.” Further
information about the Center for Memory and the Brain is available at
www.bu.edu/cmb.
14
November 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations