Bisan Center for Research and Development, in partnership with Scientists for Palestine, cordially invites to attend its next lecture in Bisan Lecture Series 2025-2026, titled "Neural Network Dynamics in the Entorhinal Cortex: Space and Time," presented by Professor Edward I. Moser, a neuroscientist, on Wednesday, October 8, at 7:00 PM Palestine time, via Zoom.

Abstract: The ability to track space and time relies on neural networks in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. These networks contain specialized position-coding cell types, including place cells in the hippocampus and grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex. I will show how recent technological developments allow the dynamics of thousands of place cells and grid cells to be monitored during behavior. Based on experiments with these new technologies, I will show how the dynamics of grid cells arises in large neural populations. We find that the joint activity of grid cells from a single grid module operates on a low-dimensional manifold with the topology of a torus, i.e. a periodic internal map. The toroidal topology emerges early in postnatal development, before the onset of spatial experience, and before opening of ear canals and eyes. Network dynamics in grid cells is strongly related to the dynamics of place cells, and changes in the coordination of grid cells may the formation of independent place cell maps in the hippocampus. Finally, I will show how time is encoded across seconds to hours in the population state space of neural networks in the lateral entorhinal cortex and how specialized dynamics in this region provides the brain with a neural code that segments the passage of cumulative experience into discrete time chunks that may serve as building blocks for reconstructive temporal memory.

Bio: Edvard Moser is a Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at NTNU in Trondheim. Together with his colleague and long-time collaborator May-Britt Moser, he discovered grid cells, a key component of the brain’s internal GPS that helps us understand how we navigate and remember places.

His research explores how networks of brain cells work together to represent space, time, and memory. Using advanced tools such as Neuropixels probes and miniature microscopes, his team studies how these circuits function in healthy brains and how they are affected in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.

Moser trained in Oslo, Edinburgh, and London, working with pioneers such as Richard Morris and John O’Keefe. At NTNU, he and May-Britt Moser have founded several world-leading research centers, all supported by Norway’s Centre of Excellence scheme.

In recognition of their discoveries, the Mosers were awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

To register: https://bit.ly/46pVC5Y