Ramirez and Yiu

This week's papers focused on the topic of memory formation. Both Ramirez and Yiu took a creative approach to exploring the research. Ramirez relied heavily on optigenetics, and used it as a model for "creating a new memory".

It should be said that creating a memory in mice is not as villainous as it sounds. As it would be impossible to create specific memories and have the mice explain what they remember back to us, it was logical that the memories implanted were simply fear memories. To do this, Ramirez isolated a basic fear memory circuit in the hippocampus, and paired a condition stimulus with optigenetically enhanced neurons that were identified from a different novel environment stimulus. Therefore, when reintroduced back into the original novel environment, a fear response was recorded. I thought this was extremely impressive, but is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of memory implants. The response was a general fear avoidance response recorded. Specific memory traces would still have to be explored in depth before understanding cognitive memory manipulation.

The Yiu team took a more modest approach in their research, and tried to shed some insight into how memories are formed. Their original hypothesis was that CREB played a part in exciting competing neurons to initiate the memory trace. Through a variety of experiments by manipulating excitability in first stage memory neurons in the Lateral Amigdyla, Yiu was able to demonstrate the correlation between CREB excitability and memory formation. The more crucial component to this research was the timing between excitability of first stage neurons and the training. Yiu clearly demonstrated that excitability had to occur during training for the memory to consolidate effectively. Yiu also used a fear conditioned response model.

I greatly enjoyed both papers as a means to begin exploring memory formation. Ramirez didn't really shed any insight onto how memories are chosen, what the mechanism was, but rather a cool way to condition animals on a molecular level. Yiu was much more relateable as a basis for understanding memory consolidation. More research onto how CREB is monitored should give us the next step in this field.