Michael Hasselmo facts for kids

Michael Hasselmo is an American neuroscientist and a professor at Boston University. He works in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. He is also the director of the Center for Systems Neuroscience. Dr. Hasselmo is the editor-in-chief of a science magazine called Hippocampus.

He studies how our brains remember things and how we find our way around (called spatial navigation). He looks at brain waves and how special chemicals in the brain, called neuromodulators, help with memory. He uses experiments and computer models to understand these complex brain processes. Dr. Hasselmo also wrote a book titled How We Remember: Brain Mechanisms of Episodic Memory.

Early Life and Education

Michael Hasselmo grew up in Golden Valley, Minnesota. His father, Nils Hasselmo, was a professor and later led the University of Minnesota.

In 1984, Michael Hasselmo graduated with top honors from Harvard University. He focused on how the brain affects behavior. He then went to the University of Oxford in England. In 1988, he earned a special degree called a DPhil (like a PhD). His research there involved studying brain cells in monkeys that respond to faces.

Dr. Hasselmo is married to Professor Chantal Stern. They have two children.

Career and Research

From 1988 to 1991, Dr. Hasselmo worked at the California Institute of Technology. He studied how certain brain chemicals affect brain activity.

After that, he became a professor at Harvard University. There, he researched how a brain chemical called acetylcholine helps brain cells communicate. He showed that acetylcholine helps the brain learn and store new information.

Dr. Hasselmo is well-known for his work on neuromodulators. These are chemicals like acetylcholine that change how brain cells work. He also uses computational modeling to understand parts of the brain like the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. He especially studies the role of theta rhythm, which is a type of brain wave.

Today, as the director of the Center for Systems Neuroscience at Boston University, his lab continues to study brain waves. They look at different types of brain cells in areas like the retrosplenial cortex and entorhinal cortex. These cells help us understand where we are and how we move. For example, they study grid cells, head direction cells, and place cells.

His team also creates detailed computer models of brain networks. Their research helps us understand how theta rhythm oscillations in the hippocampus help us remember things. This builds on his earlier work about how acetylcholine helps the brain learn and store memories.

Awards and Honors

Dr. Hasselmo is part of the team that reviews articles for several science magazines. These include Hippocampus, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, and Behavioral Neuroscience. He was also on the editorial board for Science magazine.

Before attending the University of Oxford, he received a special award called a Rhodes Scholarship. This scholarship helps students study at Oxford. In 2003, Dr. Hasselmo was the President of the International Neural Network Society. He also served on its board for many years.

In 2011, he was chosen as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2018, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also received the Hebb Award from the International Neural Network Society for his achievements in understanding how the brain learns. He was also named a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor.