Ph.D., Brown University, 1984
Professor
Associate Investigator
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Department of Neuroscience
329 Metcalf Research Laboratory
Tel. (401) 863-2070
Ph.D., Brown University, 1984
Professor
Associate
Investigator
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Department of
Neuroscience
329 Metcalf Research Laboratory
Tel. (401) 863-2070
Even brief experiences - odors, images, sounds - can be remembered for
many years, even a lifetime. My research program focuses on the mechanisms of
experience-dependent brain modification in mammals. Because the physical basis
of memory formation and storage is of unusual subtlety and complexity, we use
neural systems in which the effects of experience can be measured and the
underlying mechanisms can be investigated. One such system is the developing
visual cortex. Manipulations of visual experience can lead to measurable
changes in the physiology and performance of the visual system. We are
currently using a number of methods to explore how these modifications come
about. These methods include mathematical modelling and computer stimulation of
visual cortical plasticity, neurophysiological recordings from the visual cortex
in vivo and in vitro, several different biochemical assays, and neuroanatomical
techniques. In addition to our work on the visual cortex, we are also using
neurophysiological methods to study activity-dependent synaptic plasticity in
the hippocampus, a brain structure closely linked to learning and memory in
animals and humans.
Kirkwood, A., Lee, H.-K. and Bear, M.F. (1995) Long-term
potentiation and experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in visual cortex are
corregulated by age and experience. Nature 375: 328-331.
Bear,
M.F. and Malenka, R.C. (1994) Synaptic plasticity: LTP and LTD. Curr.
Opin. Neurobiol. 4: 389-399.
Kirkwood, A. and Bear, M.F. (1994) Hebb
synapses in visual cortex. J. Neurosci. 14: 1634-1645.
Dudek,
S.M. and Bear, M.F. (1993) Bidirectional homosynaptic modifications in
hippocampus in vitro. J. Neurosci. 13: 2910-2918.
Synaptic responses in hippocampus and visual
cortex exhibit similar forms of plasticity following high-frequency (TBS) and
low-frequency (LFS) conditioning stimulation