Stefano Fusi
Columbia University, NY·Neuroscience
Telling apart two similar experiences, like two parking spots or two faces, gets harder with age and in Alzheimer's disease (AD). One brain process behind this skill is pattern separation, which turns similar experiences into distinct memory codes.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Computer Science
Pharmacology
- Topics
adult hippocampal neurogenesis
dentate gyrus
hippocampus
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2027
What they work on
- Test whether adult-born granule cells in the dentate gyrus support sparse memory encoding that enables pattern separation, combining neural recordings in mice with computational modeling.
- Test whether increasing adult hippocampal neurogenesis, genetically in iBax mice or with a Bax antagonist drug, rescues age-related cognitive discrimination deficits by improving pattern separation.
- Build computational models of the dentate gyrus circuit to explain how newborn neurons shape memory codes and how their loss with age affects discrimination.
More about the research
A part of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus is thought to perform it. The dentate gyrus is one of only two places in the adult mammal brain that keeps making new neurons. This adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) declines sharply in aging and in AD.
Why it matters
Aging is the biggest risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. Adult neurogenesis drops with age and in both disorders, so it could be a target for therapies against age-related memory decline. Learning whether drug-based boosting of new neurons restores memory discrimination in aged mice could inform future treatment strategies.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Matthew J.M. Rowan
Emory University, GA·Neuroscience
Develop enhancer-AAVs, viruses carrying cell-type-selective DNA switches, that label dentate gyrus granule cells, and convert the best candidates into optogenetic and chemogenetic variants for controlling these neurons.
Junyue Cao
Rockefeller University, NY·Neuroscience
Develop sciNext1000, a high-throughput, low-cost single-cell genomics method, and use it to profile four million cells from post-mortem human hippocampus to measure adult neurogenesis in aging and Alzheimer's disease.
Catherine Clelland
Columbia University, NY·Neuroscience
Test whether disrupted BH4 production, driven by functional variants in the GCH1 gene that controls BH4 synthesis, lowers BH4 levels and predicts cognitive impairment in patients with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.
The school
Columbia University: 89 labs on PI Pages, $1.4B a year on research, 625 research doctorates a year.
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