KI/CBM
New Kavli Institute at the University of Tokyo
Professors May-Britt and Edvard Moser welcome the new member into the Kavli family.
– The Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe is an excellent addition to the group of Kavli Instituttes, and we look forward to meeting them, says director Edvard Moser at The Kavli Institute for systems Neuroscience (KISN) at NTNU in Trondheim.
The Institute, which will now be known as the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU), probes the biggest mysteries in modern cosmology: How did the universe begin, and how will it end? What is it made of, and what laws govern its behavior? How did we come to exist?
The Kavli Foundation, based in Southern California, sponsors research in astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics at institutes across the globe, including China, England, Netherlands, Norway and the United States. Kavli IPMU is The Kavli Foundation’s 16th institute, its sixth in astrophysics and third in theoretical physics, and the first to be established in Japan.
The future practice of science
In the current edition of the journal Science, PhD student Asgeir Kobro-Flatmoen has published a short essay on the future practice of science. The essay is part of an initiative by Science called NextGen Voices, a feature to engage young scientist by asking for short essays on specified topics. A selection of the best responses is published in print. For the current edition the question posed was: How will the practice of science change in your lifetime? What will improve and what new challenges will emerge?
The printed version of the short essay is available here (NB. Log on required)
The online version is available here
Distinguished Kavli Lecture with Professor Michael Hausser on 9 December 2011
Professor Michael Hausser from University College London will hold a lecture on 9th of December 2011 at 14:30
Title: “Dendritic computation.”
Hausser will describe results from experiments combining patch-clamp recordings with two photon imaging and glutamate uncaging that demonstrate how the dendrites of cortical pyramidal neurons can decode spatiotemporal sequences of synaptic inputs, and can implement different temporal coding strategies along single dendrites.
Location: MTFS, CBM/Kavli, seminar room, 5th floor.
The brain's zoom button
Lisa Giocomo and her colleagues at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience have discovered a key mechanism that can act like a zoom button in the brain, by controlling the resolution of the brain's internal maps.
In the November 16 edition of Cell, the researchers describe the effect of knocking out HCN1 ion channels in the grid cells of the brain.
Changing the brain's resolution
When the researchers knocked out the ion channels, they found that the resolution of the maps created by the brain became coarser, in that the area covered by each grid cell was larger.
“If grid cells are similar to a longitude and latitude coordinate system, what determines the distance between the coordinate points of this internal map?” Giocomo asks. “When we knocked out the HCN1 ion channel, the scale of the innate coordinate system increased. It's like losing longitude and latitude lines on a map. Suddenly you can't represent a spatial environment at a very fine scale.”
“Report card for the Kavli Institute”: This is undoubtedly Excellent.
The Research Council of Norway (RCN) is given the task by the Ministry of Education
and Research to perform subject-specific evaluations. According to the plan for these
evaluations the RCN carried during 2010 and 2011 out a comprehensive evaluation of
Norwegian research within biology, medicine and health in Norwegian universities,
hospitals, relevant university colleges and relevant research institutes.
Here is their report:
Scientific quality
The Centre for the Biology of Memory (CBM) has developed into one of the world’s
leading arenas for experimental and theoretical studies of memory in brain networks.
Since its inauguration in 2007, CBM has been able to provide some of the most groundbreaking insights so far into how spatial location and spatial memory are computed in the brain and, more generally, how the brain generates its own neural patterns.
The most remarkable contribution was perhaps the discovery of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex (in 2005), which immediately pointed to the entorhinal cortex as a hub for the brain
network that makes us find our way through the environment.
The discovery led to a complete revision of established views of how the brain calculates position and how the results of these computations are used by memory networks in the hippocampus. The results will ultimately benefit the development of tools for diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, which commonly begins in just the brain area that contains the grid cells.
The present publication record is indeed excellent with great international impact.
Grade: This is undoubtedly Excellent.
NORBRAIN project receives 80 Million NOK grant
NORBRAIN receives 80 MNOK (10.2 Million Euro) from the National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure 
NORBRAIN is an NTNU-coordinated national infrastructure for neuroscience. The project is structured around two Centres of Excellence - the Centre for the Biology of Memory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience at the University of Oslo - as well as one Centre for Research-based Innovation - the Medical Imaging Laboratory at NTNU. The contribution will be used to set up state-of-the-art neuroscience equipment across a broad spectrum of molecular and systems neuroscience. A total of NOK 400 million is being allocated under the National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure this year.
- We collaborate to get one of the best neuroscience infrastructures in the world, Director Edvard Moser says.
International perspective - The new state-of-the-art equipment will enhance our opportunity to conduct groundbreaking research, Moser says. - The project also has an international perspective in that it makes it easier for us to receive guest researchers and researchers in training.
Faculty position in systems neuroscience
The Kavli Institute Invites applications for a faculty position in systems neuroscience. The new position is part of NTNU’s strategic effort in the field of neuroscience.
The Institute seeks applicants with experience and interest in using state-of-the-art molecular and cellular technologies to understand neural networks and behaviour. The successful applicant will benefit from the strong infrastructure at the Kavli Institute. Start-up funding, including scientific equipment and PhD/post doctoral fellows, is negotiable.
The position is advertised at the rank of Professor but may alternatively be defined as a qualification fellowship for a period of no longer than 3 years in case of sufficient future potential. Young applicants not yet qualified for full professorship are thus encouraged to apply. For further information.
Teleportation sheds light on quantal nature of memory
Memory is divided into discrete individual packets, analogous to the way that light is divvied up into individual bits called quanta. Each memory is just 125 milliseconds long – which means the brain can swap between different memories as often as eight times in one second. The findings are published in this week's edition of Nature
“The brain won't let itself get confused,” says Professor May-Britt Moser. “It never mixes different places and memories together, even though you might perceive it that way.
Distinguished Kavli Lecture with Professor Carla Shatz on 16th of September 2011 at 15:00
Professor Carla Shatz from Stanford University, USA, will hold a lecture on 16th of September 2011 at 15:00.
Title:“Moonlighting Immune Genes and Brain Circuit Tuning during Developmental Critical Periods.”
Abstract: Major histocompatibility class I proteins and an innate immune receptor, both expressed in neurons, play an unexpected role in putting the brakes on synaptic plasticity.
Location: MTFS, CBM/Kavli, seminar room, 5th floor.
Fred Kavli visits Trondheim and the Kavli Institute
Fred Kavli was the main speaker at a symposium on philanthropy organized by Trondheim Foundation for Neuroscience in collaboration with Focus Bank and NTNU at Britannia Hotel in Trondheim on September 6, 2011.
He spoke about motivation and experiences in his philanthropic efforts to support science. Minister of Science, Tora Aasland, spoke about quality in research and May-Britt and Edvard Moser provided an overview of the Kavli Institute’s research activities. More than 60 participants from the business community in Trondheim as well as authorities and academia attended the symposium.
Fred Kavli also found time to visit the new laboratories under construction at the Kavli Institute.
