Working Memory: Substrates & Mechanisms
A human network to study the networks of the mind
A distinctive feature of intelligence is being able to represent objects “in the mind”, without the need to see them directly. What are the brain mechanisms behind mental representations? Answering this question has been difficult, due to the lack of tools that allow scientists to search for answers in the vast landscape of molecules, cells and networks that make up a brain. Our network of scientists across the United States, Canada and Germany is combining efforts to approach the problem as a global task force. What makes us distinctive is the excellence of the researchers and our wide breadth of expertise as a team.
Under the umbrella of the NeuroNex initiative led by the NSF (USA), teaming up with CIHR (Canada) and DFG (Germany), our group of 16 laboratories makes a unique task force. Our team spans 9 different institutions: in the United States, Yale University (Drs. Amy Arnsten and John Murray), the University of Pittsburg (Drs. David Lewis and Guillermo Gonzalez-Burgos), Harvard University (Dr. Steve McCarroll), and New York University (Dr. Xiao-Jing Wang); in Canada, Western University (Drs. Julio Martinez-Trujillo, Lyle Muller, Wataru Inoue and Stefan Everling) and the CAMH Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto (Dr. Shreejoy Tripathy); in Germany, the German Primate Center (Dr. Stefan Treue), the University of Goettingen (Dr. Jochen Staiger) and the Max Planck Institute (Dr. Andreas Neef and Fred Wolf).
Our goal is to systematically explore the specializations that allows the brain to produce mental representations. Using the most advanced technologies, we will scrutinize for new molecules, cell types, and patterns of brain activity and behavior. We will then use advanced computational techniques to assemble the knowledge in an integrated quantitative model of “mental brain networks”. The opportunity for scientific trainees to join us is unique. In neuroscience, research is often situated in vertical silos, and trainees rarely work together with seasoned investigators across different subfields to answer big questions. Under the NeuroNex umbrella, electrophysiologists will learn about molecules and sequencing of RNAs, computational scientists will learn about behavioral experiments and histology, and anatomists will learn physiology and computer science. Our team breaks silos and borders. NXWM (short for NeuroNex – Working Memory) has started an extraordinary journey to unravel one of the greatest mysteries of brain evolution.