Sheena Josselyn

Sheena Josselyn is a Canadian neuroscientist and a full professor of psychology and physiology at Hospital for Sick Children and The University of Toronto.[1][2] Josselyn studies the neural basis of memory, specifically how the brain forms and stores memories in rodent models. She has made critical contributions to the field of Neuronal Memory Allocation and the study of engrams.

Sheena Josselyn
Born
Cleveland, Ohio
NationalityCanadian
Alma materQueens University, University of Toronto
Known forEngrams
AwardsDaniel H. Efron Research Award from American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Innovations in Psychopharmacology Award from Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Brenda Milner Lecturer (University of Lethbridge), Bryan Kolb Lecturer in Behavioural Neuroscience (University of Calgary), Canada Research Chair (CRC) in brain circuits and cognition Tier I
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience
InstitutionsSickKids at the University of Toronto

Early life and education

Josselyn was born in Cleveland, Ohio but grew up in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.[3] Josselyn completed her undergraduate education at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Following her undergraduate degree, Josselyn completed a masters in clinical psychology under the mentorship of Dr. Rick Beninger.[3] In her Masters, Josselyn published two first author papers, the first studying the modulatory effects of adenosine on dopamine in the striatum[4] and the second on the interaction between neuropeptide Y and antipsychotics in the nucleus accumbens.[5]

Josselyn then moved to Toronto to complete her PhD in psychology and neuroscience at the University of Toronto.[3] Under the mentorship of Dr. Franco Vaccarino, Josselyn studied the effects of CCKB and CCKA modulation on associative learning and published multiple first author papers.[6][7][8] Following her PhD, Josselyn completed her postdoctoral work at Yale University in New Haven under the mentorship of Dr. Mike Davis.[9] Shortly after, she moved to LA to complete another postdoc under the mentorship of Dr. Alcino J. Silva at the University of California Los Angeles.[3] Josselyn helped discover the importance of CREB in memory formation and retrieval[10] which led to probing the molecular mechanisms and biological purpose of forgetting.[11]

Career and research

After finishing her postdoctoral work, Josselyn moved back to Toronto to start her lab at SickKids Hospital at the University of Toronto.[3] Her overall goal is to understand how humans learn and remember such that one day her work can impact translational research at her institute and in her community.[3] Some of Josselyn's early discoveries include discovering that CREB over-expression in the auditory thalamus increases memory and fear,[12] and further, that ablating neurons that highly expressed CREB after fear learning actually ablates fear memories in rodent.[13] These were some of the first findings isolating specific neurons representing a specific memory in the brain.[13] Josselyn's multidisciplinary approach to tackling questions regarding memories led her to several prestigious awards and recognitions including becoming a member of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018 for her research.[14]

Awards
  • 2018 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada[14]
  • Daniel H. Efron Research Award from American College of Neuropsychopharmacology[15]
  • Innovations in Psychopharmacology Award from Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology[9]
  • Brenda Milner Lecturer (University of Lethbridge)[16]
  • Bryan Kolb Lecturer in Behavioural Neuroscience (University of Calgary)
  • Canada Research Chair (CRC) in brain circuits and cognition Tier I

Publications

References
  1. "Department of Physiology". www.physiology.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  2. "Sheena Josselyn*". www.neuroscience.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  3. Children, The Hospital for Sick. "Profile of Sheena Josselyn". www.sickkids.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  4. Josselyn, Sheena A.; Beninger, Richard J. (1991-05-01). "Behavioral effects of intrastriatal caffeine mediated by adenosinergic modulation of dopamine". Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 39 (1): 97–103. doi:10.1016/0091-3057(91)90403-O. ISSN 0091-3057. PMID 1924519.
  5. Josselyn, Sheena A.; Beninger, Richard J. (1993-11-01). "Neuropeptide Y: Intraaccumbens injections produce a place preference that is blocked by cis-flupenthixol". Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 46 (3): 543–552. doi:10.1016/0091-3057(93)90542-2. ISSN 0091-3057. PMID 8278431.
  6. Josselyn, Sheena A.; Vaccarino, Franco J. (1995-01-01). "Interaction of CCKB receptors with amphetamine in responding for conditioned rewards". Peptides. 16 (5): 959–964. doi:10.1016/0196-9781(95)00066-S. ISSN 0196-9781. PMID 7479342.
  7. Josselyn, S. A.; Frankland, P. W.; Petrisano, S.; Bush, D. E. A.; Yeomans, J. S.; Vaccarino, F. J. (1995-01-01). "The CCKB antagonist, L-365,260, attenuates fear-potentiated startle". Peptides. 16 (7): 1313–1315. doi:10.1016/0196-9781(95)02013-M. ISSN 0196-9781. PMID 8545257.
  8. Josselyn, S. A.; Franco, V. P.; Vaccarino, F. J. (1996-01-01). "Devazepide, a CCKA receptor antagonist, impairs the acquisition of conditioned reward and conditioned activity". Psychopharmacology. 123 (2): 131–143. doi:10.1007/bf02246170. ISSN 0033-3158. PMID 8741936.
  9. "SC Talks: "How Memories Are Formed", Sheena Josselyn, November 20, 2019". Senior College. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  10. Kida, Satoshi; Josselyn, Sheena A.; de Ortiz, Sandra Peña; Kogan, Jeffrey H.; Chevere, Itzamarie; Masushige, Shoichi; Silva, Alcino J. (2002-04-01). "CREB required for the stability of new and reactivated fear memories". Nature Neuroscience. 5 (4): 348–355. doi:10.1038/nn819. ISSN 1546-1726. PMID 11889468.
  11. Silva, Alcino J.; Josselyn, Sheena A. (2002-08-01). "The molecules of forgetfulness". Nature. 418 (6901): 929–930. doi:10.1038/418929a. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 12198533.
  12. Han, Jin-Hee; Yiu, Adelaide P.; Cole, Christina J.; Hsiang, Hwa-Lin; Neve, Rachael L.; Josselyn, Sheena A. (2008-06-01). "Increasing CREB in the auditory thalamus enhances memory and generalization of auditory conditioned fear". Learning & Memory. 15 (6): 443–453. doi:10.1101/lm.993608. ISSN 1072-0502. PMC 2414255. PMID 18519545.
  13. Han, Jin-Hee; Kushner, Steven A.; Yiu, Adelaide P.; Hsiang, Hwa-Lin (Liz); Buch, Thorsten; Waisman, Ari; Bontempi, Bruno; Neve, Rachael L.; Frankland, Paul W.; Josselyn, Sheena A. (2009-03-13). "Selective Erasure of a Fear Memory". Science. 323 (5920): 1492–1496. Bibcode:2009Sci...323.1492H. doi:10.1126/science.1164139. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 19286560.
  14. "Congratulations to newly elected fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, and to the incoming class of the college of new scientists – Canadian Association for Neuroscience". Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  15. "Daniel H. Efron Research Previous Award Winners". ACNP. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  16. "Sheena Josselyn | University of Lethbridge". www.uleth.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
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