Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Learning and experience reshape the adult brain throughout life. In the hippocampus, a region important for learning and memory and the regulation of stress and anxiety, remodelling includes the addition of entirely new neurons. The research theme of this Chair is to develop a novel animal model, the common degu, to investigate how new neurons in the hippocampus contribute to behaviour. Using an approach that exploits natural variation in the production of new neurons due to sex, aging, and parental experience, this work will expand our knowledge of how the hippocampus is shaped throughout life and subsequent impact on behaviour.