Abstract

Please join us for our fortnightly journal club online via zoom where two presenters will jointly present a topic together. The next topic is ‘Molecular Memory Codes’ presented by Samuel Eckmann and Yashar Ahmadian.

Zoom information: https://eng-cam.zoom.us/j/84204498431?pwd=Um1oU284b1YxWThObGw4ZU9XZitWdz09 Meeting ID: 842 0449 8431 Passcode: 684140

Summary: The view that memories are stored in the brain as synaptic connections, and that memories are formed through associative modification of synapses, is widely accepted in neuroscience. However, this view has been challenged on experimental and conceptual grounds. As an alternative, it has been proposed that molecules within a neural cell body store memories and that biochemical manipulation of these molecules is the neural basis of memory formation. We will give a brief introduction to the concept and history of synaptic memory storage and its criticisms. We will then cover a recent preprint that presents a bayesian theory of memory storage and manipulation, incorporating synaptic and intracellular storage sites in a combined framework. Finally, we will take a closer look at how RNA might be utilised as a biological substrate for memory formation and recall.

References: – The molecular memory code and synaptic plasticity: a synthesis — Gershman, arXiv, 2022 – The Coding Question — Gallistel, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2017 – An RNA -based theory of natural universal computation — Akhlaghpour, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2022