A Video Presentation

Professors Edvard and May-Britt Moser lead the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience (director and co-director, respectively), as well as the Centre for the Biology of Memory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Their research has provided key insights into how spatial location and spatial memory are computed in the brain. One of these insights has led to an immediate revision of well-established views of how the brain calculates position and how the results of these computations are used by memory networks in the hippocampus – an insight that may ultimately benefit the development of tools for diagnostics and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Edvard and May-Britt were born in Norway, and attended the University of Oslo. Both are members of The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, and The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. They have also led the Kavli Institute since its establishment in 2007.

In this special interview, Edvard and May-Britt Moser explain how spatial locations and memories interact in the brain, how their own research began and has advanced, and the discovery of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex, as well as look ahead at the potential impact new insights may have for fighting neurodegenerative diseases.

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	Part One Edvard and May-Britt Moser discuss how their interest in neuroscience developed and began to focus on memory and navigation. They also talk about the dynamics of running a lab environment as well as the need for interdisciplinary interactions.
	Part Two How do different parts of the brain interact to form and store memories? Edvard and May-Britt Moser discuss different types of memories, how they are created, and provide special insight into the unique interactions between the entorhinal grid cells and the hippocampus.
	Part Three May-Britt Moser begins by talking about her "favorite experiment," which revealed the very important relation between spatial perception and our episodic memory. We also see how basic, exploratory research may have far-reaching effects on related interdisciplinary research.
	Part Four Edvard and May-Britt Moser illuminate the fact that studying the basic spatial cognitive mechanisms, such as grid cells, may eventually lead to breakthroughs in the higher order brain functions, such as planning and language. They also look toward the future and contemplate what is next for the neuroscience field.

 

View some of the photographs from the interview in more detail below.