John O'Keefe (neuroscientist)
John O'Keefe | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, New York, U.S. | November 18, 1939
Citizenship | United Kingdom, United States |
Alma mater | City College of New York McGill University |
Known for | Discovering place cells |
Awards | Gruber Prize in Neuroscience (2008) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2014) Kavli Prize (2014) Physiological Society Annual Review Prize Lecture (2016) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Neuroscience, Psychology |
Institutions | University College London |
Thesis | Response properties of amygdalar units in the freely moving cat (1967) |
Doctoral advisor | Ronald Melzack |
Notable students | Neil Burgess (postdoc)[1] |
Website | Website at UCL |
John O'Keefe,
Early life and education
Born in New York City to Irish immigrant parents, O'Keefe attended Regis High School (Manhattan) and received a BA degree from the City College of New York in 1963.[2][3] He went on to study at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he obtained an MA degree in 1964, and a PhD degree in Psychology in 1967, supervised by Ronald Melzack.[4][5][6]
Career and research
O'Keefe went to
Discovery of place cells
O’Keefe and his student Jonathan Dostrovsky discovered place cells by systematically analyzing the environmental factors influencing the firing properties of individual hippocampal neurons.[8][9] His many publications on place cells have been highly cited. In addition, he published an influential book with Lynn Nadel, proposing the functional role of the hippocampus as a cognitive map for spatial memory function.[10] In extensions of his work, place cells have been analyzed experimentally or simulated in models in hundreds of papers.[11][12][13]
Discovery of theta phase precession
In further research on place cells, O’Keefe found evidence for a distinctive variation of
Prediction and discovery of boundary vector cells
In a paper in 1996, O'Keefe and Neil Burgess presented data showing shifts in the position and size of place cell firing fields when the barriers defining the environment were shifted.[1] In this and subsequent papers, they presented a model of this phenomenon predicting the existence of boundary vector cells that would respond at a specific distance from barriers in the environment.[15] Several years later, this explicit theoretical prediction was supported by extensive experimental data demonstrating boundary cells with the predicted properties in the subiculum[16] and the medial entorhinal cortex (where they are sometimes referred to as border cells).
Awards and honours
O'Keefe was elected a
O'Keefe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014, with May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser.[24]
O'Keefe received an
In 2014 he received the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience "for the discovery of specialized brain networks for memory and cognition", together with Brenda Milner and Marcus Raichle.
On March 10, 2015, O'Keefe was the guest on BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific.[28]
References
- ^ S2CID 4345249.
- ^ "2008 Neuroscience Prize. John O'Keefe". Gruber Foundation. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
- ^ "John O'Keefe, Class of '63, Wins Nobel Prize". The City College of New York. October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
- ^ "John O'Keefe". Kavli Prize. Kavli Foundation. Retrieved October 11, 2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "McGill grad John O'Keefe wins Nobel Prize in medicine". Media Relations Office of McGill University. October 6, 2014. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
- OCLC 894987156.
- ^ "NTNU ansetter nobelprisvinner O'Keefe". December 8, 2014.
- PMID 5124915.
- S2CID 1113367.
- ^ O'Keefe, J.; Nadel, L. (1978). The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
- S2CID 8022838.
- S2CID 18096970.
- PMID 18284371.
- S2CID 6539236.
- S2CID 2861080.
- PMID 19657030.
- ^ "UCL neuroscientist receives international prize for 'pioneering work'". Ucl.ac.uk. June 23, 2008. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
- ^ "2008 Neuroscience Prize. John O'Keefe. Laureate Profile". Gruber Foundation. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
- ^ "Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour". Gatsby. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
- ^ Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize 2013. cumc.columbia.edu
- ^ Bhattacharjee, Yudhijit (May 29, 2014). "Nine Scientists Share Three Kavli Prizes". news.sciencemag.org.
- ^ National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected, News from the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, May 3, 2016, archived from the original on May 6, 2016, retrieved May 14, 2016.
- ^ "27 New Members elected to the Academy". Royal Irish Academy. May 24, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014". www.nobelprize.org.
- ^ Roche, Barry, "UCC to honour Nobel Laureate", The Irish Times, October 7, 2014
- ^ Admin, Website (July 25, 2015). "CCNY Names Top Three for 2015 Commencement Honors – The City College of New York". www.ccny.cuny.edu.
- ^ "McGill to award 16 honorary degrees : McGill Reporter". publications.mcgill.ca.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "John O'Keefe on memory, The Life Scientific – BBC Radio 4". BBC.
External links
- Official website at University College London
- John O'Keefe on Nobelprize.org