CAREER: Hippocampal and prefrontal mechanisms underlying the temporal context of episodic memory

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Across the animal kingdom, episodic memory is a remarkable and highly adaptive ability. Episodic memory refers to the capacity to remember the events in one's life, including details about the specific location and time in which each experience occurred. Although it has been extensively studied, the brain basis of episodic memory remains poorly understood. This project addresses this important issue using a rodent model of episodic memory that focuses on the capacity to remember "when" specific events occurred (i.e., the order of events in a sequence and the time elapsed since an event occurred). More specifically, this project focuses on characterizing the role of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex using high-precision techniques, such as localized brain inactivation and recording the electrical properties of single brain cells while rats are engaged in memory tasks. This project will identify the distinct roles that the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex play in remembering when specific events occurred. Furthermore, the results will also likely shed light on how the two brain structures interact during information processing. A concurrent objective of this project is to develop effective educational practices and materials to promote early science training and awareness in groups underrepresented in science, and to support the development of young scientists in the laboratory and classroom. All developed educational tools will be openly shared on the lab website (http://fortinlab.bio.uci.edu) as well as online repositories of educational information such as Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (merlot.org) and OER Commons (oercommons.org).