Edvard I Moser

Come and join us tomorrow morning to discuss the latest findings from our lab(s)! We have many highlights to share!

1/8
How can the brain create countless unique memories using a single, universal metric of space? We’ve been waiting for the answer to this for two decades!
Read it here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

5/5 Big thanks to the team and collaborators @clykken.bsky.social @beneuroscience.bsky.social @anagelhus.bsky.social @jocarpenter.bsky.social @matteoguardamagna.bsky.social @m-bmoser.bsky.social @kavlintnu.bsky.social
#Neuroscience #GridCells #PlaceCells #EpisodicMemory #Neuropixels #KiloNeurons

4/5 Conclusion: Independent phase changes across grid modules are sufficient to generate a vast array of distinct hippocampal representations.

Why this matters: Such combinatorial flexibility is a key requirement for forming episodic memories, offering a mechanism for high-capacity memory.

3/5 We discovered that when grid cell modules realigned differently between environments, hippocampal place cells remapped. Strikingly, the extent of this remapping was directly predicted by the disparity in phase changes across grid modules.

2/5 After two decades, our hypothesis for this space-to-memory transformation finally met a decisive test.
Led by our outstanding postdoc @clykken.bsky.social, we performed multi-area #Neuropixels recordings simultaneously from hippocampal place cells and multiple MEC grid cells modules in rats 🧠

Functional independence of entorhinal grid cell modules enables remapping in hippocampal place cells A systems-level understanding of cortical computation requires insight into how neural codes are transformed across distinct brain circuits. In the mammalian cortex, one of the few systems where such ...

1/5 How does the brain turn the low-dimensional, universal grid cell metric into the rich, diverse codes needed for memory in hippocampal place cells? 🧵
Preprint link 👇

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A portrait photo of Edvard Moser, next to it the following quote: "I am excited to participate at this conference, a major venue for bridging theory and experiment. Those bridges are vital to the progress of neuroscience."

In case you still need a reason to attend the #BernsteinConference, let us remind you of this year's great speaker line-up 🤩

First up is Nobel laureate @edvardmoser.bsky.social!

Be part of the bridge -- registration is open! 👉 bernstein-network.de/bernstein-co...

BonnBrain 2026 is a go!
March 23–25, Bonn (DZNE, Bonn, Germany).
Apply now: www.bonnbrain.de
Limited slots. Presentations (posters/talks) selected from submitted abstracts.

Keynotes & invited speakers 👇

Excellent work, and very interesting observations - congratulations!

So beautiful up there, only 58 min to the trailhead!

Storskarven 🤩

🧠⏳ This discovery would not be possible without #Neuropixels and the dedication and talent of @beneuroscience.bsky.social @clykken.bsky.social @nachopolti.bsky.social @m-bmoser.bsky.social at the @kavlintnu.bsky.social (2/2)

Event structure sculpts neural population dynamics in the lateral entorhinal cortex Our experience of the world is a continuous stream of events that must be segmented and organized at multiple timescales. The neural mechanisms underlying this process remain unknown. In this work, we...

Your brain doesn’t just passively track time ⏳ - it structures it.
In @Science.org we show that activity in 🧠 memory circuits (LEC) drifts constantly, but makes sharp jumps at key moments, segmenting life into meaningful events. (1/2)

👉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Norway set to scrap mandatory language training for foreign postdocs and PhD students Researchers jubilant over swift ministerial response to rule they say would hamper international recruitment.

Kudos to Minister Sigrun Aasland @kd.regjeringen.no for scrapping the language requirement for international PhD students and postdocs. I was interviewed by @nature.com about this decision that strengthens recruitment in a country where 75% of postdocs are from abroad. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

There is hope! 💃🏻

www.khrono.no/statsrad-aas...

Scientists fight Norway’s language law, warning of talent exodus Mandatory language courses for foreign researchers could harm Norway’s ability to attract the best talent, Nobel laureate says, as rule prompts legal challenge.

I was interviewed by @nature.com about the risk of talent exodus following Norway’s new language law. I hope the new government and science minister will change the internationalisation policy ASAP.
@stortinget.no, @uhrno.bsky.social, @forskningspolitikk.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This could be catastrophic. Consequences for US universities (and the world) may be beyond imagination.

Looking forward - opens so many doors!

Thanks! Not merely expressing future trajectories. The sweeps also extend into spaces not visited, and persist during sleep.

Sweeps represent an efficient mechanism for scanning locations in the ambient environment during navigation. Sweep direction could be explained by an algorithm that maximizes cumulative coverage of surrounding space.

Sweeps in place cells are delayed compared to sweeps in grid cells, pointing to an entorhinal origin. 📍

Sweeps are accompanied by, and aligned with, a similarly alternating directional signal in a discrete population of direction-tuned cells with putative connections to the #gridcells 🗺️

Sweeps extend into never-visited space inaccessible to the animal, and persist during REM sleep, pointing to an intrinsic “hardwired” network mechanism for the phenomenon. 🧹🌋🧹🌊🧹

Sweeps are time-locked to the local theta rhythm. Each theta cycle has one sweep. Sweeps alternate their direction between left and right on successive theta cycles.

Populations of grid cells and place cells encode a position signal that within a 125-ms theta cycle sweeps linearly outwards from the animal’s location into the ambient environment, alternating stereotypically between left and right directions. 🧹🧹🧹

Left–right-alternating theta sweeps in entorhinal–hippocampal maps of space - Nature A study in rats proposes a mechanism for how the brain maps the surrounding environment, including places it has never seen, by alternating left and right forward sweeps in successive theta cycles.

Grid cells have a geometry in time. Thanks to @azvollan.bsky.social l & @rjgardner.bsky.social for this heroic discovery. @ercresearch.bsky.social
#KiloNeurons @m-bmoser.bsky.social @kavlintnu.bsky.social @nature.com
@kavlifoundation.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

If you believe investment in science is needed to solve global challenges, join us in this call to action:

www.febs.org/milan-declar...

@m-bmoser.bsky.social @kavlintnu.bsky.social @kavlifoundation.bsky.social @ercresearch.bsky.social

Exciting opportunity to participate in development of the next generation of neurotechnology! I highly recommend @weijianzong.bsky.social and his lab!

Such a sad loss - of a great person and scientist.