The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine to three scientists for discovering the brain’s “inner GPS” – the system of cells that helps the brain figure out where it is and how to get from A to B, and then stores that information for future reference.
Dr. John O’Keefe – who holds British and American citizenships and is currently director of University College London’s Neural Circuits and Behavior center in the UK – receives one half of the prize, while the other half is shared by Drs. Edvard I. Moser and May-Britt Moser – both Norwegian citizens currently based in neuroscience institutes in Trondheim and who also happen to be husband and wife.
Between them, this year’s Nobel Laureates have solved a problem that has puzzled philosophers and scientists for centuries: how does the brain map our surroundings and how does it help us navigate our complex environment?
Their discovery of the brain’s “inner GPS” shows that higher cognitive function has a cellular basis.
The team’s research stems from a study in 1971 when Dr. O’Keefe discovered the first component of the positioning system. He found that a type of nerve cell in a part of the brain called the hippocampus was always activated when a rat was in a certain place in a room. When the rat was in other parts of the room, other nerve cells became active. Dr. O’Keefe concluded these “place cells” constituted a “map” of the room.
The next vital component of the brain’s inner GPS came to light more than three decades later in 2005, when Drs. Edvard and May-Britt Moser identified another type of nerve cell – which they called “grid cells” – located in the entorhinal cortex that act as a coordinate system that enables precise positioning and pathfinding.
Following this discovery, they then showed that between them, place cells and grid cells – linked through circuits in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex – help the brain determine position in a space and to navigate it.
Although their discoveries occurred while working with rats in the laboratory, more recent research with brain imaging techniques, as well as studies of patients who have brain surgery, have shown that the human brain also has place and grid cells.
Discoveries signal key step in understanding cognitive processes
The contribution that the three Noble Laureates have made to this field represents a huge step forward in our understanding of how groups of specialized cells work together to execute higher cognitive functions. While their research focuses on spatial navigation, the findings have helped to open new avenues for understanding other cognitive processes such as memory, thinking and planning, as well as disorders involving these same processes.
For instance, the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex are often affected during the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and patients with the disease often lose their way and have difficulty recognizing their environment. Understanding the brain’s inner GPS may help us better investigate the mechanisms behind the devastating loss of spatial memory that affects people with Alzheimer’s.
Dr. O’Keefe was working at his home in London when he learned he had been awarded the Nobel Prize. He says when he got the phone call, he thought, “Oh this couldn’t possibly be, this couldn’t possibly be what I think it is,” and then realized, “but of course it was.”
When the awards were announced, Dr. Edvard Moser was on a plane to Munich. He says he didn’t find out until he came off the plane, and saw “a representative of the airport who came with flowers and picked me up in a car.”
Play the video below to watch the Nobel Prize announcement:
Dr. May-Britt Moser cried when she learned her news – which happened as she went between meetings at work. She told a representative of NobelPrize.org in a telephone interview, “I was in shock and I’m still in shock. This is so great.”
Dr. O’Keefe has been something of a mentor to the Mosers at some points. Dr. Edvard Moser said in his telephone interview with NobelPrize.org that in 1996, while they were working in his lab, Dr. O’Keefe trained them in techniques they have been using since:
“The 3 months I spent in his lab are the most efficient learning period I ever had. I learnt so much, and he took so much care of me and spent so much personal time on me, which even, I got a desk in his office and I shared the same lab with him. So he has been a fantastic mentor and it’s extremely nice that we can now share the prize together.”
When he died in 1895, the wealthy Swedish businessman, engineer and inventor Alfred Nobel left most of his fortune – about $265m in today’s money – to fund the Nobel Prizes, to be given out each year without distinction of nationality.
Five annual Nobel Prizes have been awarded since 1901 for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. In 1969 a sixth was added, for economic sciences. Up to 2013, the prizes have been awarded 561 times to 876 people and organizations.
In 2013, three US-based scientists won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for unraveling the way that cells transport materials, such as hormones and nerve transmitters. Their work offers insights into Alzheimer’s, autism, diabetes and other diseases.