title: What is memory? The present state of the engram.
abstract: The mechanism of memory remains one of the great unsolved problems of biology. Grappling with the question more than a hundred years ago, the German zoologist Richard Semon formulated the concept of the engram, lasting connections in the brain that result from simultaneous "excitations", whose precise physical nature and consequences were out of reach of the biology of his day. Neuroscientists now have the knowledge and tools to tackle this question, however, and this Forum brings together leading contemporary views on the mechanisms of memory and what the engram means today.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. mpoo@ion.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Mu-Ming
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Poo
authors.affiliation: RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pignatelli
authors.affiliation: RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Tomás J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tonegawa
authors.affiliation: MPI of Neurobiology, Munich-Martinsried, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bonhoeffer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Studies, David Geffen School of Medicine, BSRB 390B, 615 Charles E. Young Dr. South, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Kelsey C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Andrii
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rudenko
authors.affiliation: Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Li-Huei
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: The Neuroscience Institute, School of Medicine and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Tsien
authors.affiliation: The Neuroscience Institute, School of Medicine and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Gord
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fishell
authors.affiliation: The Neuroscience Institute, School of Medicine and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Caitlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.affiliation: Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Laboratory of Genetics, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
authors.forename: J Tiago
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Laboratory of Genetics, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shtrahman
authors.affiliation: Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Laboratory of Genetics, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Laboratory of Genetics, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Fred H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Gage
authors.affiliation: HHMI, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dan
authors.affiliation: The Neuroscience Institute, School of Medicine and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: The Neuroscience Institute, School of Medicine and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: György
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Buzsáki
authors.affiliation: Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Laboratory of Genetics, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stevens
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D057890:Epigenomics; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D023421:Models, Animal; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D013131:Spine / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology