Neural coding and circuits for episodic memory Dr Nick Robinson Chancellor’s Fellow 1 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9XD Contact details Email: Nick.Robinson@ed.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0) 131 650 3256 Personal profile 2023 - present: Chancellor’s Fellow, The University of Edinburgh 2020 - 2023: MRC Research Co-Investigator, University College London 2016 - 2020: Research Associate, University College London 2011 - 2016: PhD student, Boston University Research Episodic memory is our memory for what happened, where and when. To enable cognition, such as episodic memory, areas of the brain communicate via the firing of populations of interconnected neurons in a complex spatiotemporal profile, or ‘neural code’. Our research identifies the population level activity profiles and functional network connectivity within the hippocampus which support the formation, consolidation and retrieval of episodic memories. The hippocampus is central to episodic memory, however, the precise neural codes which are fundamental to this ability remain to be fully established. This is due to our prior inability to manipulate brain activity in behaving animals at a cellular and millisecond resolution, driving physiologically realistic activity patterns and observing the effects on cognition. In the Neural Coding for Episodic Memory Lab, we test theories about the neural activity underlying memory, focussing on the importance of finely timed neural activity sequences. In addition, we assess the network/computational properties of the distinct hippocampal subfields which support memory, looking at cell assembly and sequence formation as well as pattern completion and separation capability. We utilise the ‘all-optical’ combination of 2-photon calcium/voltage imaging and 2-photon targeted optogenetics, mini-scope calcium imaging, extracellular electrophysiology and behavioural tasks involving memory. Our work allows the establishment of causal links between specific neural activity patterns and memory, we aim to move the field towards a unifying theory of hippocampal function and significantly advance the science of the neurobiology of memory. Figure 1: All-optical read out and cellular and millisecond resolution manipulation of neural activity during behaviour. Figure 2: Multiphoton imaging of neurons expressing GCaMP in statum oriens of CA1 in mice expressing tdTomato selectively in interneurons. Research Theme Synapses, circuits and behaviour Publications Targeted activation of hippocampal place cells drives memory-guided spatial behavior NTM Robinson, LAL Descamps, LE Russell, MO Buchholz, BA Bicknell, ... Cell 183 (6), 1586-1599. e10 Medial entorhinal cortex selectively supports temporal coding by hippocampal neurons NTM Robinson, JB Priestley, JW Rueckemann, AD Garcia, VA Smeglin, ... Neuron 94 (3), 677-688. e6 Learning causes reorganization of neuronal firing patterns to represent related experiences within a hippocampal schema S McKenzie, NTM Robinson, L Herrera, JC Churchill, H Eichenbaum, ... Journal of Neuroscience 33 (25), 10243-10256 Young adult born neurons enhance hippocampal dependent performance via influences on bilateral networks JM Zhuo, H Tseng, M Desai, ME Bucklin, AI Mohammed, NTM Robinson, ... Elife 5, e22429 Information for students: Willingness to discuss research projects with undergraduate and postgraduate students: YES - please click here This article was published on 2024-07-30
