Rachel Arey
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Neuroscience·Early-career
Forming long-term memories requires many types of neurons and brain regions working together. Yet the full set of molecules behind memory is still unknown.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
long-term memory
learning
memory formation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Map the brain-wide gene activity changes needed for long-term memory in C. elegans, combining behavioral training with spatial transcriptomics and profiling of cell-body and synaptic compartments.
- Test which identified genes are required for memory formation, using temporally and spatially precise gene manipulation in specific neurons.
- Use unbiased behavioral profiling to find patterns of variation in memory performance and predict which individual worms will keep better memory with age.
- Identify core memory components that set individual memory performance, using epigenomic and genomic methods, and confirm their role in age-related memory loss.
More about the research
It is also unclear why some individuals remember better than others, a difference that grows with age. This project uses the tiny roundworm C. elegans, whose every neuron and connection is already mapped and which uses the same memory molecules as humans. The goal is to define memory at the molecular level across the whole nervous system and over the lifespan.
Why it matters
Memory fails in age-related cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease and neurodevelopmental disorders. Identifying the molecules needed to form memories, and those that keep memory strong with age, could reveal pathways disrupted in these conditions. These could become targets for therapies that preserve or improve memory.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Alexandra Byrne
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, MA·Neuroscience
Determine how TIR-1/SARM1, a conserved protein that usually drives axon degeneration, instead protects C. elegans neurons from damage caused by excess acetylcholine receptor activity or paraquat-induced oxidative stress.
E. Jane Hubbard
New York University, NY·Biology
Identify the molecular mechanisms by which insulin/IGF-like signaling acts from other tissues to drive age-related decline of the one-cell germline stem cell niche in C. elegans.
Adriana San Miguel
North Carolina State University, NC·Biomedical Engineering
Develop BOWiD components, including inducible promoters that drive Cre recombinase, robust cellular landmarks and labeling approaches, and machine learning pipelines that read random fluorescent cell-labeling barcodes in individual C. elegans.
The school
Baylor College of Medicine: 38 labs on PI Pages, $881M a year on research, 115 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.