Grant: Project Grant

Our memories make us who we are. Loss of the ability to remember long-lasting or remote memories is a devastating and common feature of many neurodegenerative disorders including dementia, with very limited benefit from current treatments. Alarmingly, rates of dementia in Canada are expected to triple by 2050, affecting more than 1 in 30 Canadians. These critical numbers urge the need for novel research avenues that explore the biological basis of remote memory function. Decades of research have identified a number of interconnected brain regions that are necessary for remote memory retrieval. Analyzing inter-regional correlations in brain activity in humans and rodents led to the compelling hypothesis that memory regions modulate each other via brain networks to support memory retrieval. Yet, the physical connections between neurons in putative memory networks has never been tested. We have developed a powerful technical approach to tag and manipulate brain-wide networks of connected, memory-responsive neurons to directly test the hypothesis that brain networks mediate remote memory function. These experiments will be the first to identify the connectivity of neuronal networks supporting remote memory, building a foundation for future health-related research with crucial implications for our understanding of the etiology and treatment of disorders featuring memory deficits.