Did you ever wonder about your earliest memories? Likely these did not start till several years after your birth. How come? What does it take to make memories and be able to retrieve these even many years past the events? What retains certain memories whereas from many other moments in life we hardly remember anything? Even memories that were ones very vivid can fade as we age: as a result of harmless ‘forgetfulness’ or more severely due to a degenerative disease of our neurological circuit. In this Science Café we explore the state-of-the art knowledge on memory making and breaking. We dive into the human brain to explore how memories are being made and lost which can enable improved diagnostics and treatment of brain degenerative disorders. Our first speaker, Dr. Abdel Rayan, will explain how memories are formed, retained and retrieved in the human brain. Our second speaker, Dr. Evgenia Salta, will discuss how brain functioning gets impaired and memories lost upon neurodegradation and how this process can be slowed down or potentially even be reversed.     

Dr. Abdel Rayan is researcher at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior-Neuroinformatics. After completing his PhD in Germany, he came to the Netherlands, where he works on examining the mechanisms of memory formation and tell us more about the importance of sleep.

Dr. Evgenia Salta is group leader at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience. The Salta group focuses on Neurogenesis, neurodegeneration & Alzheimer’s Disease. She investigates a new approach in Alzheimer’s disease, to research whether lost neurons can be replaced.