Newswise — On Nov. 6, 12:30-1 pm PST, Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric R. Kandel, and Drs. Elias Pavlopoulos and Scott A. Small will join a live webcast to answer questions about memory and aging, and to discuss compelling new evidence that age-related memory loss is a syndrome in its own right, apart from Alzheimer’s. In fact, in the case of one type of age-related memory loss – again, distinct from Alzheimer's – researchers were able to restore memory function in mice so that it was comparable to that of young mice. These are exciting findings that, along with implications for the study, diagnosis and treatment of memory disorders, may in the future have significant public health consequences.
The webcast will be available at: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/science-spotlights/spotlight-live-memory-and-aging
Questions can be submitted ahead of and during this event via Twitter #KavliLive and by email to [email protected]. (Webmasters: An embed code is available. Submit request to: [email protected])
PARTICIPANTS* ERIC R. KANDEL – Nobel Laureate, University Professor, Kavli Professor and Director, Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University; and Senior Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Kandel is one of the world's foremost authorities on how the brain forms and stores memories. He won the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his discovery that learning and memory involve changes in how nerve cells communicate: short-term memory involves temporary changes in the connections between brain cells, while long-term memory involves more lasting anatomical changes. Dr. Kandel is the editor of Principles of Neural Science, the standard textbook in the field; author of two popular science books; and co-host of the Charlie Rose Brain Series on PBS. He has received numerous academic awards, including the Albert Lasker Award and the National Medal of Science USA.
* ELIAS PAVLOPOULOS – Researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Kandel at Columbia University. Dr. Pavlopoulos uses genetically engineered mice to explore how the brain stores memories. His long-term research goals are to understand how memories are formed and stored, how they decline in later life, and how this decline can be prevented or lessened. In 2011, his work led to the discovery of an important molecular mechanism in a region of the brain called the hippocampus, which is involved in storing memories. In August, he described his development of the first mouse model for human cognitive aging, which could significantly accelerate the discovery of drugs that target age-related memory loss. Dr. Pavlopoulos was the lead author of the study the webcast will highlight.
* SCOTT A. SMALL – Professor of Neurology at Columbia University, Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Columbia, and member of the Kavli Institute for Brain Science. Dr. Small primarily studies how the hippocampus works when memories form, and how it fails during aging and Alzheimer's disease. His lab has pinpointed populations of cells within the hippocampus that are most vulnerable to normal aging, and he has contrasted this to what is seen in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Small and colleagues also have begun to identify molecules that cause age-related memory decline, versus those that contribute to Alzheimer's disease.
Moderator BRUCE LIEBERMAN is a freelance science writer with more than 20 years of experience in the news business. Along with The Kavli Foundation, he has written for Scientific American, Air & Space/Smithsonian and Sky & Telescope magazines, and other media outlets about a variety of science topics.
RSS