Dr. Irene Agyepong
Health, Public Health
Health
Neurobiology of learning with a particular emphasis on the function of cortico-hippocampal subregions
My vision is to understand the neural basis of psychological phenomena. I have focused my research on spatial navigation and memory because this is a fundamental cognitive function that we share with all animals. Most of my research has been in collaboration with Edvard Moser. Through combining advanced inactivation techniques, anatomical approaches and recording methods, our efforts have resulted in several important discoveries. The most spectacular finding was the discovery of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. The discovery of grid cells was succeeded by the identification of other functional cell types, including head direction cells, conjunctive cells, border cells and speed cells; and collectively the findings point to the entorhinal cortex as a hub for the brain network that makes us able to find our way. The grid cells are thought to provide the brain with information about the metrics of the spatial environment. Our papers have attracted special interest because spatial representation is one of the first functions to be characterized at a mechanistic level in neuronal networks.
Erna Hamburger Prize, EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), 2016
Peer Gynt Prize (Peer Gynt of the Year) (after voting in the Norwegian Parliament), 2015
Trønder of the Year (Adresseavisen and Norwegian Broadcasting Company), 2015
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2014
Name of the Year (Dagbladet, major Norwegian newspaper), 2014
30th Koerber European Science Prize (Koerber Foundation), 2014
59th Karl Spencer Lashley Award (American Philosophical Society), 2014
47th Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry (Columbia University), 2013
13th Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize (Univ. of North Carolina), 2013
‘Best female leader’ award from Trondheim Business Society (Madame Beyer Award), 2013
102nd annual Fridtjof Nansen Award of Outstanding Research in Science and Medicine, Norwegian Academy of Science, 2013
Anders Jahre's Great Nordic Prize for Medical Research (Univ. Oslo), 2011
26th Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (Louis-Jeantet Foundation), 2011
30th Eric K. Fernström's Great Nordic Prize (Fernström Foundation, University of Lund), 2008
14th Betty and David Koetser Award for Brain Research (University of Zürich), 2006
10th Prix "Liliane Bettencourt pour les Sciences du Vivant" (Fondation Bettencourt, Paris), 2006
28th annual W. Alden Spencer Award (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University), 2005
Prize for young scientists awarded by the Royal Norwegian Academy for Sciences and Letters, 1999
Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, 6 M dollar from Braathen, 6 M dollar from Kavli, 2015
Centre of Excellence appointment by Norw. Res. Council. I am Director; Edvard Moser is Co-Director. Thirteen centers from all fields of science were selected, 2012
In its final report, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for the Biology of Memory ranked the Moser group as among the top 0.1% of neuroscience groups worldwide, 2012
National Research Council evaluation of biological disciplines: Rated ‘Undoubtedly excellent’, 2011
Appointed Co-Director of Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience (4th Kavli institute in the field of Neuroscience in the world), 2007
Centre for the Biology of Memory gets top rating (“exceptionally good”) at midterm evaluation by an international group of experts, 2006
Evaluation by Norwegian Research Council Panel for Psychology /Psychiatry. Rated ‘Excellent’, 2003
Centre of Excellence appointment by Norw. Res. Council. The Centre is structured around the research group of May-Britt Moser (Deputy Director) and Edvard Moser (Director). Thirteen centers from all fields of science were selected from 129 proposals through an extensive international review process, 2001 – 2002
English, Norwegian
Lu L, Leutgeb JK, Tsao A, Henriksen EJ, Leutgeb S, Barnes CA, Witter MP, Moser M-B and Moser EI (2013). Impaired hippocampal rate coding after lesions of the lateral entorhinal cortex. Nature Neurosci., 16, 1085-1093.
Moser EI and Moser M-B (2013). Grid cells and neural coding in high-end cortices. Neuron, 80, 765-774.
Giocomo LM, Stensola T, Bonnevie T, van Cauter T, Moser M-B and Moser EI (2014). Topography of head direction cells in medial entorhinal cortex. Current Biology, 24, 1-11.
Rowland, D.C. and Moser, M.-B. (2014). From cortical modules to memory. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol., in press.
Bjerknes TL, Moser EI, Moser, M-B (2014). Representation of geometric borders in the developing rat. Neuron, 82, 71-78.
Igarashi KM, Lu L, Colgin LL, Moser M-B, Moser EI (2014). Coordination of entorhinal-hippocampal ensemble activity during associative learning. Nature, 510, 143-147.
Moser EI, Roudi Y, Witter MP, Kentros C, Bonhoeffer T, Moser M-B (2014). Grid cells and cortical representation. Nature Rev. Neurosci., 15, 466-481.
Alme CB, Miao C, Jezek K, Treves A, Moser EI, Moser M-B (2014). Place cells in the hippocampus: Eleven maps for eleven rooms. Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences USA, 111, 18428-18435.
Bjerknes TL, Langston RF, Kruge IU, Moser EI, Moser M-B (2015). Coherence among head direction cells before eye opening in rat pups. Current Biology, 25, 103-108.
Rowland DC, Moser M-B (2015). A three-dimensional neural compass. Nature, 517, 156-157.
Stensola T, Stensola H, Moser M-B, Moser EI (2015). Shearing-induced asymmetry in entorhinal grid cells. Nature, 518, 207-212 (Article).
Ito HT, Zhang S-J, Witter MP, Moser EI, Moser M-B (2015). A prefrontal-thalamo-hippocampal circuit for goal-directed spatial coding. Nature, 522, 50-55 (Article).
Kropff E, Carmichael JE, Moser M-B, Moser EI (2015). Speed cells in medial entorhinal cortex. Nature, 523, 419-424 (Article).
Lu L, Igarashi KM, Witter MP, Moser EI, Moser M-B (2015). Topography of place maps along the CA3-to-CA2 axis of the hippocampus. Neuron, 87, 1078-1092.
Miao C, Cao Q, Ito HT, Yamahachi H, Witter MP, Moser M-B, Moser EI (2015). Hippocampal remapping after partial inactivation of the medial entorhinal cortex. Neuron, 88, 590-603.
Moser, M.-B., Moser EI (2016). Where am I? Where am I going? Scientific American, 314, 26-33.
Rowland, D.C, Roudi, Y., Moser, M.-B., Moser, E.I. (2016). Ten years of grid cells. Annual Reviews of Neuroscience, 39, 19-40.
Donato, F., Jacobsen, R.I., Moser, M.-B., Moser, E.I. (2017). Stellate cells drive maturation of the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit. Science, 355(6330), pii: eaai8178. (Research Article).
Since 2015 Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Center for Cortical Microcircuits, 6 M dollar from Braathen, 6 M dollar from Kavli, 25% ´gaveforsterkning´via Research Council
2013 – 2022 Centre of Excellence Appointment by Norw. Res. Council: Total budget 175 million NOK (24 mill Euro) over 10 years
2011 – 2015 European Research Council Advanced Investigator Grant; individual grant, total of 20 million NOK over 5 years (2.5 M Euro)
Since 2008 Endowment from Kavli Foundation to establish Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience; total of 7 million NOK per year, including supplementary funding from NTNU. Unlimited in time
2008 – 2012 James McDonnell Foundation: 3 million NOK over 5 years; collaborative grant with Fred Gage, Salk Institute, La Jolla
2008 – 2010 European Commission Framework VII: Collaborative Project: Small or medium-scale focused research project: HEALTH-2007-2.2.1-2: Coding in neuronal assemblies. 22 million NOK (3 mill. Euro; 20% to M/E Moser). Collaboration with 9 leading European neuroscience groups. Coordinator
2008 – 2010 Norwegian Research Council (FRIBIOFYS): 3 million NOK over 3 years
2007 – 2010 Functional Genomics Programme II of the Norwegian Research Council: 10 MNOK
2007 – 2009 Norwegian Research Council (NevroNor): 4.5 million NOK over 3 years
2002 – 2012 Centre of Excellence Appointment by Norw. Res. Council: Total budget 256 million NOK (35.5 mill Euro) over 10 years (100 MNOK from Research Council)
2001 – 2005 Norwegian Research Council (Medicine and Health): "Medicine and Health Group", 12.5 million NOK over 5 years (8.5 mill. to M/E Moser). Joint project with Mustaparta and Biegler
2000 – 2003 Norwegian Research Council (Science and Technology): Strategic University Programme,
7.0 million NOK (3.5 mill. to M/E Moser). Joint project with Mustaparta and Valberg
2000 – 2003 European Commission Framework V "Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Work Program / Research and technological development activities of a generic nature": 15.4 million NOK (1.9 mill. Euro; 20% to M/E Moser). Collaboration with 6 leading European neuroscience groups (Morris, Paulsen, Witter, Frey, Donnett, Bures/Fenton)
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Francis Crick centre in London, since 2017
National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, since 2016
Member of the Louis Jeantet Prize committee, since 2015
International member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA), since 2015
Elected International Member of the American Philosophical Society (USA), since 2015
Elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 2014
Member of programme committee for FENS Forum 2014 in Milan, 2012 – 2013
Elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), since 2012
Member of Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) for the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute, since 2012
Elected member of Academia Europaea, since 2011
European Dana Alliance for Brain Research, since 2010
Elected member of The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences (NTVA), since 2010
Panel Member for European Research Council Starting Grants (panel L S4 Neurosciences), 2007 – 2010
Elected member of The Norwegian Academy of Science, since 2005
Chairman of Board for Physiology and Pharmacology of Medicine and Health Division of the Norwegian Research Council, since 2004
Elected member of The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, since 2003
Member of National Board for neuroscience funding in Norway (NevroNor), since 2002
Member of Medical-Technology management team of NTNU, since 2001
Member of Board for Physiology and Pharmacology of Medicine and Health Division of the Norwegian Research Council, since 2000
Society for Neuroscience, since 1992
Hippocampus, since 2007
Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Journal of Neuroscience, European Journal of Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience, Hippocampus, and other journals
The Wellcome Trust, National Science Foundation, The Norwegian Res. Council
Has appeared in local newspapers and in national television shows, including twice on Scandinavia's most popular talk show: "Skavlan"
Research is frequently quoted in international newspapers and magazines.
Hobbies and interests: ethics, music, literature, travelling, spending time at sea, playing with my dog and run with him
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Health, Public Health
Health, Brain research
Biological and related sciences, Health, Cell Biology, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Vascular Biology, Tumour Biology
Biological and related sciences, Health, Neuroscience
The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes with one half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser, and with another half to John O'Keefe for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.