ERIC R. KANDEL TO SPEAK FEB. 8 AT HARVARD
Harvard University
Details:
Eric R. Kandel, M.D.
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2000
"The Molecular Biology of Memory Storage and the Biological Basis of Individuality"
February 8, 2010
3:30 - 5:30 P.M.
Science Center, Lecture Hall D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Mass.
Co-Sponsors: Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Medical School
ABSTRACT:
Dr. Kandel will consider the neural systems and molecular mechanisms that contribute to learning and long-term memory. He will divide his talk into two parts: First, he will consider how different memory systems in the human brain were identified and shown to be involved in simple and complex forms of memory storage. Dr. Kandel will then go on to outline animal studies of simple forms of memory, which demonstrated that long-term memory is reflected in the growth of new synaptic connections, as well as complex forms of memory in the hippocampus. Finally, Dr. Kandel will discuss how our insights into memory are allowing us to understand various forms of age-related memory loss.
SPEAKER:
Eric R. Kandel, M.D., is University Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Psychiatry, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University. A graduate of Harvard College and N.Y.U. School of Medicine, Kandel trained in Neurobiology at the National Institutes of Health and in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He joined the faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1974 as the founding director of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior. At Columbia Kandel organized the neuroscience curriculum. He is an editor of Principles of Neural Science, the standard textbook in the field. He recently has written a book on the brain for the general public entitled In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind.
Eric Kandel’s research has been concerned with the molecular mechanisms of memory storage in Aplysia and mice. More recently, he has studied animal models in mice of memory disorders and mental illness. Kandel has received 18 honorary degrees, is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences as well as the National Science Academies of Germany and France. He has been recognized with the Albert Lasker Award, the Heineken Award of the Netherlands, the Gairdner Award of Canada, the Wolf Prize of Israel, the National Medal of Science USA and the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2000.
DISCUSSANT:
Steven E. Hyman, Provost of Harvard University and Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School