Memory aids on the chromatin

Speaker: Johannes Gräff

Host: Florencia Calderon

Johannes Gräff is a laboratory leader and professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne’s Brain Mind Institute. He is a pioneering scientist in the study of the epigenetic mechanisms that are triggered during memory formation and consolidation. His research has had a particular focus in understanding these processes in engram cells—the cellular assemblies believed to be essential for the storage and recall of memories. Through the study of epigenetic regulation in these cells, Gräff has made important advances in understanding how memories can produce long-lasting changes in the cellular transcriptome. Thu, his research addresses a fundamental gap in our understanding of memory: how an experience that occurs at a particular moment can lead to persistent molecular and cellular changes that ultimately shape the neural networks responsible for storing memories over the long term. By connecting memory formation with durable epigenetic and transcriptional changes in engram cells, his work provides important insights into how transient experiences can become enduring biological traces.