The Molecular Biology of Memory Storage: A Dialogue Between Genes and Synapses
Abstract
One of the most remarkable aspects of an animal's behavior is the ability to modify that behavior by learning, an ability that reaches its highest form in human beings. For me, learning and memory have proven to be endlessly fascinating mental processes because they address one of the fundamental features of human activity: our ability to acquire new ideas from experience and to retain these ideas over time in memory. Moreover, unlike other mental processes such as thought, language, and consciousness, learning seemed from the outset to be readily accessible to cellular and molecular analysis. I, therefore, have been curious to know: What changes in the brain when we learn? And, once something is learned, how is that information retained in the brain? I have tried to address these questions through a reductionist approach that would allow me to investigate elementary forms of learning and memory at a cellular molecular level—as specific molecular activities within identified nerve cells.
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I have had the privilege to work with and to learn from many gifted students, fellows, and collaborators, and I have tried throughout this lecture to acknowledge their contributions. My science has benefited enormously from the interactive environment created by the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. It would be hard to find a more ideal environment in which to mature as a scientist. Specifically, I have benefited greatly from my long-standing friendship with R. Axel, C. Bailey, J. Dodd, R. Hawkins, J. Koester, T. Jessell, J. H. Schwartz, S. Siegelbaum, and G. Fischbach, the current Dean of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. I am further grateful to J. Koester for his excellent leadership of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, and to D. Hirsh, S. Silverstein, and J. Oldham, chairs of the three departments to which I belong. Finally, I am indebted to H. Pardes who, until recently, served as Dean of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. My research has been generously supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the NIH, the Mathers Foundation, FRAXA, and The Lieber Trust. I am particularly indebted to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and its leadership, D. Fredrickson, G. Cahill, P. Chopin, M. Cowan, D. Harter, and more recently T. Cech and G. Rubin, whose farsighted vision has encouraged Hughes investigators to take a long-term perspective so as to be able to tackle challenging problems. Research on learning and memory certainly meets both of these criteria!
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Volume 294 | Issue 5544
2 November 2001
2 November 2001
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