15. Kate Jeffery: A brief history of spatial navigation, place cells & grid cells in 3D, and brain evolution

Kate Jeffery is a professor of behavioural neuroscience at University College London, where she works on spatial navigation. In this conversation, we talk about the history of spatial navigation, Kate's work on grid cells and place cells in 3D, and her recent work on entropy and brain evolution.  Timestamps0:00:05: Kate's journey from medicine to neuroscience 0:10:57: A brief history of spatial navigation0:30:43: PhD applications now and in 19900:34:38: Kate recorded grid cells 10 years before their discovery, without realising it0:52:00: Prizes in science1:05:20: A brief interlude as Kate gives her cat a treat 1:05:48: Lessons from working with Richard Morris and John O'Keefe1:09:28: Spatial navigation in 3D1:34:54: How many dimensions can the hippocampal formation track?1:40:50: Kate's collaboration with Carlo Rovelli  Podcast linksWebsite: https://bjks.buzzsprout.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BjksPodcastKate's linksWebsite: https://jefferylab.com/Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=l1VlIFAAAAAJTwitter: https://twitter.com/drkjjefferyBen's linksWebsite: www.bjks.blog/Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=-nWNfvcAAAAJ  ReferencesAronov et al 2017. Mapping of a non-spatial dimension by the hippocampal–entorhinal circuit. Nature  Bliss & Lømo 1973. Long‐lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission in the dentate area of the anaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the perforant path. J Physiol  Burgess 2014. The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: a spatial model for cognitive neuroscience. Neuron  Casali et al 2019. Altered neural odometry in the vertical dimension. PNAS  Fyhn et al 2004. Spatial representation in the entorhinal cortex. Science  Grieves et al 2020. The place-cell representation of volumetric space in rats. Nat Commun  Grieves et al 2020. Grid cell firing fields in a volumetric space. bioRxiv Hafting et al 2005. Microstructure of a spatial map in the entorhinal cortex. NatureJeffery et al 1997. Directional control of hippocampal place fields. Exp Brain ResJeffery & Morris 1993. Cumulative long-term potentiation in the rat dentate gyrus correlates with, but does not modify, performance in the water maze. HippocampusJeffery & O’Keefe 1999. Learned interaction of visual and idiothetic cues in the control of place field orientation. Exp Brain ResJeffery et al 2019. On the statistical mechanics of life: Schrödinger revisited. EntropyJeffery & Rovelli 2020. Transitions in brain evolution: space, time and entropy. Trends NeurosciMorris et al 1982. Place navigation impaired in rats with hippocampal lesions. NatureO'Keefe & Dostrovsky 1971. The hippocampus as a spatial map: Preliminary evidence from unit activity in the freely-moving rat. Brain ResRanck 1984. Head direction cells in the deep layer of dorsal presubiculum in freely moving rats. In Society of Neurosci AbstractRovelli 2016. Seven brief lessons on physicsShannon 1948. The mathematical theory of communicationStensola et al 2012. The entorhinal grid map is discretized. NatureYartsev et al 2011. Grid cells without theta oscillations in the entorhinal cortex of bats. Nature