Answering the mistery of memory
Here is a more polished and coherent version, with a slightly more continuous narrative tone and tightened phrasing:
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In 1953, a young man who would later become known as patient H.M. underwent an experimental surgery in which his hippocampi were bilaterally removed to treat intractable epilepsy. Although the procedure successfully controlled his seizures, it resulted in a profound and unexpected deficit. While he retained previously formed memories, he was no longer able to form new ones.
Studies of H.M.’s condition established that the hippocampus is essential for the initial formation of memory, but not for its long-term storage. Yet the fundamental question remains unresolved: how are memories encoded within the hippocampus, transferred to distributed cortical networks, and later retrieved? Addressing this problem continues to be one of the central challenges in neuroscience.
In our laboratory, we investigate these questions across multiple levels, from molecular mechanisms to animal behavior:
- Protein trafficking and long-term potentiation
- Liquid–liquid phase separation in synaptic plasticity
- Molecular mechanisms of structural plasticity in dendritic spines
- Dynamic properties of cellular memory engrams
Original drawing of the hippocampus by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Golgi staining).
Mouse hippocampal section from a transgenic line expressing G-CaMP7 and DsRed2.
Latest News
- November 12, 2021: Work by Akihiro Goto published in *Science*. See “Erasing memory with light – understanding why sleep is necessary for memory.”
- April 29, 2021: Work by Tomohisa Hosokawa and Pinwu Liu published in *Nature Neuroscience*. See “An oil–water relationship explains memory formation – a new protein segregation mechanism in the brain.”
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If you would like, I can tune the tone further—for example, making it more formal for a grant homepage, or more accessible for a general audience.