McNaughton, Bruce
Faculty
Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN)
- Phone
- (403) 394-3909
- bruce.mcnaughton@uleth.ca
Lab
- Phone
- (403) 394-3959
Biography
Biosketch
McNaughton received a M.Sc. in Biology, and Ph.D. in Psychology in Canada. His Ph.D. thesis constituted the first demonstration of associative synaptic plasticity in the brain. His postdoctoral studies included cellular biophysics with Per Andersen in Oslo, and multineuron recording in behaving animals with John O'Keefe in London. At the Univ. Arizona, he served as Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Program. He is now Professor of Neuroscience at U. Lethbridge, AB, Canada. He is author of over 220 research publications on brain dynamics, neural mechanisms of learning and memory, spatial information coding, brain aging, neural computation, and the neural activity-based control of gene expression in the brain. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards for research excellence, including the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (USA), MERIT Award from National Institute of Mental Health (USA), the Bass Award for Excellence in Science from The Society of Neurological Surgeons (USA) and the AHFMR Polaris Award from Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions. He is an elected lifetime member of the The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters.
The main focus of Dr. McNaughton's research is the physiological and computational basis of cognition, with particular focus on memory and memory disorders, and the dynamic interactions among neuronal populations and synaptic plasticity mechanisms that underlie these phenomena. He has made significant contributions to the understanding of central synaptic plasticity mechanisms, spatial information processing in the hippocampal formation and cortex, cortico-hippocampal interactions and memory consolidation, and the aging of the nervous system. His current activities focus on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying spatial orientation ('head-direction', 'place', and 'grid' cells in the hippocampal formation and associated networks), the interaction between hippocampal outflow and neocortical signal processing, the reactivation of memory traces during rest periods following learning and the role of this process in memory consolidation, and the self organization of synaptic networks during early post-natal development of the temporal lobe memory system. He is also engaged in preclinical studies involving altered signal processing in animal models of sporadic Alzheimer's disease and early detection of seizures in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. His work emphasizes the development and application of advanced technologies in neuroscience including high density electrophysiological recording and optical imaging of neural activity at cellular and network levels.
McNaughton received a M.Sc. in Biology, and Ph.D. in Psychology in Canada. His Ph.D. thesis constituted the first demonstration of associative synaptic plasticity in the brain. His postdoctoral studies included cellular biophysics with Per Andersen in Oslo, and multineuron recording in behaving animals with John O'Keefe in London. At the Univ. Arizona, he served as Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Program. He is now Professor of Neuroscience at U. Lethbridge, AB, Canada. He is author of over 220 research publications on brain dynamics, neural mechanisms of learning and memory, spatial information coding, brain aging, neural computation, and the neural activity-based control of gene expression in the brain. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards for research excellence, including the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (USA), MERIT Award from National Institute of Mental Health (USA), the Bass Award for Excellence in Science from The Society of Neurological Surgeons (USA) and the AHFMR Polaris Award from Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions. He is an elected lifetime member of the The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters.
The main focus of Dr. McNaughton's research is the physiological and computational basis of cognition, with particular focus on memory and memory disorders, and the dynamic interactions among neuronal populations and synaptic plasticity mechanisms that underlie these phenomena. He has made significant contributions to the understanding of central synaptic plasticity mechanisms, spatial information processing in the hippocampal formation and cortex, cortico-hippocampal interactions and memory consolidation, and the aging of the nervous system. His current activities focus on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying spatial orientation ('head-direction', 'place', and 'grid' cells in the hippocampal formation and associated networks), the interaction between hippocampal outflow and neocortical signal processing, the reactivation of memory traces during rest periods following learning and the role of this process in memory consolidation, and the self organization of synaptic networks during early post-natal development of the temporal lobe memory system. He is also engaged in preclinical studies involving altered signal processing in animal models of sporadic Alzheimer's disease and early detection of seizures in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. His work emphasizes the development and application of advanced technologies in neuroscience including high density electrophysiological recording and optical imaging of neural activity at cellular and network levels.