Boyer Winters, Professor, Principle Investigator
I was first exposed to behavioural neuroscience as an undergraduate student at Dalhousie University while taking Richard Brown’s second-year Hormones and Behaviour course. After completing my undergrad thesis with Richard, I jetted off to Cambridge, UK, to do my PhD on the role of acetylcholine in various learning and memory tasks with Steve Dunnett, Barry Everitt, and Trevor Robbins. After graduation, I stayed in Cambridge to work with Tim Bussey and Lisa Saksida for several more years, studying brain systems involved in object memory and perception. In 2007, I accepted a faculty position at the University of Guelph, where I continue to investigate neural mechanisms of cognition in rodent models.
Ethan Huff
I am investigating the role of acetylcholine in modulating spatial memory engram dynamics. To accomplish this, we are utilizing miniaturized microscopes, which enable real-time visualization of neuronal activity while mice perform behavioural tasks. The goal is to assess what happens to memory engram cells over time and possibly observe changes to the engram as a result of behavioural and neurochemical manipulations.
Heather Collett
PhD candidate assessing the role of GABAergic signalling in object memory and categorization.
Siobhon-Elora Weber
PhD candidate investigating the effects of early life enrichment on multisensory integration functions in Alzheimer’s disease model mice.
Kristen Jardine
I am a PhD student in the Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Sciences graduate program in the Department of Psychology. Before starting my PhD, I completed a BA.H. in Psychology and a MSc in Psychology (Neuroscience) at the University of Guelph. I have a particular research interest in learning and memory topics. For my PhD, I want to investigate the neurological mechanisms that permit modifications to long-term memories over time. More specifically, I aim to characterize the role of the cholinergic system in mediating reactivation-based object memory updating.
Emily Minard
I am an MSc student interested in the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the ability for our memories to change. Using rodent models, my research specifically investigates how AMPA receptors and their transient exchange from calcium-impermeable to calcium-permeable receptors in perirhinal cortex are involved in the modification of object memories.
Olivia O’Neill
I am a MSc student in the Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Sciences graduate program. My research explores the functional role of dopamine in adaptive memory malleability using rodent models of human declarative memory and pharmacological manipulations.
Karim Abouelnaga
I’m an MSc student interested in uncovering the nature of destabilization-resistant strongly encoded fear memories. My aim is to utilize the cholinergic system to target the mechanism that leads to the creation of strong maladaptive memories in conditions such as phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). My research focuses on inducing destabilization of those resistant fear memories through pharmacological and contextual manipulation.