Anatomy and Neuroscience Symposium guest speaker wins Nobel Prize

7 Oct 2014

Symposium guest speaker wins Nobel Prize

Professor John Cryan and Dr Yvonne Nolan, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, organisers of the forthcoming Symposium 'The Hippocampus in Health and Disease'  are delighted that their guest speaker Professor John O'Keefe was yesterday jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Norwegian couple May-Britt and Edvard Moser.

The award in Physiology or Medicine was given to the three scientists for discovering the brain’s internal positioning system, an “inner GPS” helping humans find their way and giving clues to how strokes and Alzheimer’s affect the brain.

John O'Keefe is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London.  In 1971, he discovered place cells, neurons within the hippocampus that become active when one enters a particular place in the environment. He consequently proposed the hippocampus as a cognitive map for spatial memory. His current work focuses on computational models to predict hippocampal function. Among other accolades he has recently received the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (2013) and was a co-recipient of the Kavli Prize (2014).

Nobel Laureate John O’Keefe, whose father was born in Co. Cork will visit UCC in the new year to receive an Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree in recognition of his enormous contribution to Neuroscience. He will deliver a lecture entitled  ‘The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map: an update’ in advance of the honorary conferring ceremony.  The UCC symposium, ‘The Hippocampus in Health & Disease’, which is organised by Science Foundation Ireland-funded Investigators Dr Yvonne Nolan and Professor John F. Cryan also features a number of other renowned Irish neuroscientists.

News links

Irish Times

Scientist with Irish heritage wins Nobel prize

UCC to honour Nobel Laureate

Son of Irish emigrants wins Nobel Prize for medicine

Irish Examiner

Corkman’s son wins Nobel Prize for medicine

Please Note: Sympsoium date change

The Symposium, ‘The Hippocampus in Health & Disease’,  has been rescheduled to Monday 15^th December 2014, as its planned date clashes with the week of Nobel celebrations!

Dr Yvonne Nolan and Professor John F. Cryan