Professor Ron Davis discusses exciting future directions in memory research.

The future for memory research, I believe, is going to be just phenomenally exciting. We are at the point now, that we are just beginning to understand all of the genes, or many of the genes, important for how memories are formed. We are just starting to understand all the neurons that are required for how memories are formed – not only in model systems like fruit flies, but in other model systems like rodents and humans. During this next period there will be increased focus on genes and also on defining the cells. But in this period as well there’s going to be an emphasis, a shift, in trying to understand how diseases of human learning occur, and whether what we’ve learned about memory formation in model systems applies to diseases of human memory. I predict that for many of the diseases of human learning, including Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia, we will be able to obtain really phenomenal insights from the basic research we’ve accomplished over the last few decades.

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