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In rats shuttling between a variably placed landmark of origin and a fixed goal, place fields of hippocampal CA1 cells encode location in two spatial reference frames. On the initial part of the outbound journey, place fields encode location with respect to the origin while on the final segment, place fields are aligned with the goal ([Gothard et al., 1996b][1]). An abrupt switch of reference frame can be induced experimentally by shortening the distance between the origin and the goal. Two linked hypotheses concerning this effect were addressed: (1) that the persistent, landmark-referenced firing results from some internal dynamic process (e.g., path integration or “momentum”) and is not a result of maintained sensory input from the landmark of origin; and (2) that this hypothetical process is generated by connections either within CA3 or between CA3 and CA1, in which case the effect might be absent from the dentate gyrus. Neuronal ensemble recordings were made simultaneously from CA1 and the dentate gyru...

Read science policy and advocacy news from the week of September 29, 2017.

Read science policy and advocacy news from the week of June 30, 2017.

Introduction: When asked “What has participation in this research study meant to your child and your family?” a parent responded, “You let me out of prison”. This impromptu conversation with a parent catalyzed our exploration of the parent and patient e...

Mazes are a fundamental and widespread tool in behavior and systems neuroscience research in rodents, especially in spatial navigation and spatial memory investigations in freely behaving animals. However, their form and inflexibility often restrict potential experimental paradigms that involve multiple or adaptive maze designs. Unique layouts often lead to elevated costs, whether financially or in terms of time investment from scientists. To alleviate these issues, we have developed an automated, modular maze system that is flexible and scalable. This open source Adapt-A-Maze (AAM) system will allow for experiments with multiple track configurations in rapid succession. Additionally, the flexibility can expedite prototyping of behavioral paradigms. Automation ensures less variability in experimental parameters and higher throughput. Finally, the standardized componentry enhances experimental repeatability within labs and replicability across labs. Our maze was successfully used across labs, in multiple ex...

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will present the Award for Education in Neuroscience to Ronald L. Calabrese, PhD, senior associate dean for research at the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, and Randy J. Nelson, PhD, chair of the Department of Neuroscience and co-director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at The Ohio State University. The award honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to neuroscience education and training and will be jointly presented at Neuroscience 2017, SfN’s annual meeting and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

For many years, efforts to decipher the various cellular components that comprise the CNS were stymied by a lack of technical strategies for isolating and profiling the brain's resident cell types. The advent of transcriptional profiling, combined with powerful new purification schemes, changed this reality and transformed our understanding of the macroglial populations within the brain. Here, we chronicle the historical context and scientific setting for our efforts to transcriptionally profile neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes, and highlight some of the profound discoveries that were cultivated by these data. Following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer, Ben Barres passed away during the writing of this Progression piece. Among Ben's innumerable contributions to the greater scientific community, his addition of publicly available transcriptome databases of CNS cell types will forever remain a relic of his generous spirit and boundless scientific curiosity. Although he had impressively commi...

As infant rats begin to develop independence from their mother, their nervous system must start responding to and learning about threats. However, it remains ecologically relevant for threat learning to be under the control of the mother until the infan...

Read science policy and advocacy news from the week of June 2, 2017.