NEWS Edvard Moser, 2014 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, comes to Umeå University on 8 December to hold a public lecture on his discovery on the human ‘inner GPS’ – a form of positioning system in the brain that is essential for navigation. Brain researcher Lars Nyberg hosts the event.
“Edvard Moser is a pleasant character and a phenomenal researcher, who together with his wife May-Britt Moser, in a detailed way has connected a complex behaviour – how we navigate through a room – with a new type of nerve cell in the brain. It’s feels incredibly rewarding that he wants to visit Umeå University and talk about his excellent research in Trondheim,” says Lars Nyberg, professor in psychology and neuroscience at the Department of Radiation Sciences and Integrative Medical Biology (IMB).
Photo: Alexander Mahmoud. © Nobel Media AB
How we navigate and recognise ourselves in a complex environment is a problem that has perplexed researchers for a long time. An important piece of the puzzle was found in the 1970s by the researcher John O’Keefe when he discovered that different nerve cells in the hippocampus activate depending on where in the room you are. These so-called “place cells” act as a map in the brain. In 2005, Edvard and May-Britt Moser discovered the next important piece of the puzzle. They identified a new type of nerve cells – grid cells – that create a form of internal coordinate system.
“Together, the different cell types constitute an advanced navigation system in the brain – an ‘inner GPS’. The discovery is incredibly important for us to better understand how nerve cells and parts of the brain collaborate when we carry out several complex behaviours, such as for instance planning, thinking and remembering,” says Lars Nyberg.
Edvard Moser and Lars Nyberg first met at a conference at the end of the 1990s. They are both psychologists and brain researchers interested in studying memory processes and the parts of the brain that are involved when we use our memory – for instance hippocampus.
In order to study human brain functions, research in the latest years have used the fMRI – functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging – a technology that provides three-dimensional images of the brain at the same time as the brain is in progress. A huge advantage of this technology is that radioactive substances are no longer needed. During his visit to Umeå, Edvard Moser will be given a much longed-for guided tour around Lars Nyberg’s advanced laboratory at the Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging. For instance, there is an MRI scanner of as much as three Tesla, which is the unit in which its power is measured, and suggests an incredibly strong magnetic power – resulting in particularly high-resolution and detailed images.
“First and foremost, I believe Edvard Moser is looking forward to sitting down to discuss the most recent news in the research field. We are hoping that his visit will lead to some form of future collaboration,” says Lars Nyberg.
About the Nobel lecture:
Title: “Grid cells and the brain’s map of space”.
Time: Thursday 8 December at 13:00–14:00
Place: Aula Nordica, Umeå University
The lecture is open to members of staff, students and other interested listeners. The lecture is given in English. Free entrance. Please note! Show up on time to ensure a place as seats are limited.
About Edvard Moser:
Edvard Moser was born in Ålesund, Norway, in 1962. He has studied psychology at the University of Oslo and is active at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. He is also in charge of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience. In 2013, he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in New York. In 2014, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with his wife May-Britt Moser ‘for their discoveries of cells that provide the brain with an internal coordinate system essential for navigation’. They shared the prize with John O’Keefe.
Read more about the 2014 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine:The Official Web Site of the Nobel Prize
Read more about Edvard Moser’s research:Kavli Institute for Systems NeuroscienceThe Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU
Lars Nyberg,Department of Radiation Sciences and Integrative Medical Biology, Umeå University
lars.nyberg@umu.se
Editor: Anna Lawrence