15. Kate Jeffery: A brief history of spatial navigation, place cells & grid cells in 3D, and brain evolution

Kate Jeffery is a professor of behavioural neuroscience at University College London, where she works on spatial navigation. In this conversation, we talk about the history of spatial navigation, Kate's work on grid cells and place cells in 3D, and her recent work on entropy and brain evolution. 

Timestamps
0:00:05: Kate's journey from medicine to neuroscience
 0:10:57: A brief history of spatial navigation
0:30:43: PhD applications now and in 1990
0:34:38: Kate recorded grid cells 10 years before their discovery, without realising it
0:52:00: Prizes in science
1:05:20: A brief interlude as Kate gives her cat a treat 
1:05:48: Lessons from working with Richard Morris and John O'Keefe
1:09:28: Spatial navigation in 3D
1:34:54: How many dimensions can the hippocampal formation track?
1:40:50: Kate's collaboration with Carlo Rovelli 

Podcast links

• Website: https://bjks.buzzsprout.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BjksPodcast

Kate's links

• Website: https://jefferylab.com/
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=l1VlIFAAAAAJ
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/drkjjeffery

Ben's links

• Website: www.bjks.blog/
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=-nWNfvcAAAAJ

 
References
Aronov et al 2017. Mapping of a non-spatial dimension by the hippocampal–entorhinal circuit. Nature 
Bliss & Lømo 1973. Long‐lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission in the dentate area of the anaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the perforant path. J Physiol 
Burgess 2014. The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: a spatial model for cognitive neuroscience. Neuron 
Casali et al 2019. Altered neural odometry in the vertical dimension. PNAS 
Fyhn et al 2004. Spatial representation in the entorhinal cortex. Science 
Grieves et al 2020. The place-cell representation of volumetric space in rats. Nat Commun 
Grieves et al 2020. Grid cell firing fields in a volumetric space. bioRxiv
Hafting et al 2005. Microstructure of a spatial map in the entorhinal cortex. Nature
Jeffery et al 1997. Directional control of hippocampal place fields. Exp Brain Res
Jeffery & Morris 1993. Cumulative long-term potentiation in the rat dentate gyrus correlates with, but does not modify, performance in the water maze. Hippocampus
Jeffery & O’Keefe 1999. Learned interaction of visual and idiothetic cues in the control of place field orientation. Exp Brain Res
Jeffery et al 2019. On the statistical mechanics of life: Schrödinger revisited. Entropy
Jeffery & Rovelli 2020. Transitions in brain evolution: space, time and entropy. Trends Neurosci
Morris et al 1982. Place navigation impaired in rats with hippocampal lesions. Nature
O'Keefe & Dostrovsky 1971. The hippocampus as a spatial map: Preliminary evidence from unit activity in the freely-moving rat. Brain Res
Ranck 1984. Head direction cells in the deep layer of dorsal presubiculum in freely moving rats. In Society of Neurosci Abstract
Rovelli 2016. Seven brief lessons on physics
Shannon 1948. The mathematical theory of communication
Stensola et al 2012. The entorhinal grid map is discretized. Nature
Yartsev et al 2011. Grid cells without theta oscillations in the entorhinal cortex of bats. Nature