Pursuing Synaptic Plasticity From Cortex to LTP in the Hippocampus.

Here I describe how an interest in synaptic plasticity took me from a PhD at McGill, where I worked on activity-dependent plasticity in the responses of single units in the association cortex of anesthetized cats, to a collaboration with Terje Lømo in Per Andersen's laboratory in Oslo in 1968-9. There we followed up on Lømo's discovery of LTP, published as an abstract in 1966, to produce the first detailed description of the phenomenon. Later, in London, Tony Gardner-Medwin and I showed that LTP lasting for days could be obtained in the awake rabbit.

Long-term potentiation: 50 years on: past, present and future.

We introduce and summarize reviews and research papers by speakers at a discussion meeting on 'Long-term potentiation: 50 years on' held at the Royal Society, London, on 20-21 November 2023. The meeting followed earlier discussion meetings marking the 30th and 40th anniversaries of the discovery of long-term potentiation. These new contributions give an overview of current research and controversies in a vibrant branch of neuroscience with important implications for our understanding of the neurobiological basis of many forms of learning and memory and a wide spectrum of neurological and cognitive disorders.

Decoding the molecular crosstalk between grafted stem cells and the stroke-injured brain.

Stem cell therapy shows promise for multiple disorders; however, the molecular crosstalk between grafted cells and host tissue is largely unknown. Here, we take a step toward addressing this question. Using translating ribosome affinity purification (TRAP) with sequencing tools, we simultaneously decode the transcriptomes of graft and host for human neural stem cells (hNSCs) transplanted into the stroke-injured rat brain.

"It Can Be Magic:" Creating Age Awareness Through Contemporary Dance.

Professional dancers typically retire before age 40. Although the physical requirements for dance performance are often considered the reason for retirement, there is an increasing number dance researchers who demonstrate that the idealization of youthfulness on the stage is also a result of complex cultural, social, and economic realities and as such, in need of critique. As a group of mature women dancers who continue to perform, we aim to critique the idealization of youthfulness as a form of ageism in professional dance.