Overview

The incidence and complexity of mental illnesses and cognitive impairments associated with ageing and Alzheimer’s disease underscores the need to develop novel treatments.  Our mission is to generate fundamental insights into the contributions of circuit- and plasticity mechanisms in the  dentate gyrus (DG)-CA3 circuit  in hippocampal  memory processing and modulation of mood.  By integrating cellular, circuit, systems and behavioral interrogation of DG-CA3 circuitry, inhibitory microcircuits and adult hippocampal neurogenesis, we aspire to rejuvenate and re-engineer hippocampal circuitry to optimize circuit performance and memory processing.  We predict that these efforts will edify strategies to improve cognition in not only Age-related cognitive decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI, Alzheimer’s disease) but also social cognition impairments in Autism spectrum disorders and overgeneralization of traumatic memories in PTSD.  Take a look at our Research Page.

              News

Thank you The Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain on funding exciting new directions in the lab

Congrats Travis on NARSAD YI 2020!

Congrats Travis on our Perspective on Engrams and Memory Indexing (Neuron August 6 2020) 

Watch Amar share recent work from lab on how the hippocampus communicates with subcortical circuits via lateral septum to calibrate defensive behaviors (webinar link).

Excited to share our study in Cell Reports "Distinct Dorsal and Ventral Hippocampal CA3 Outputs Govern Contextual Fear Discrimination"

Excited to share our Review on "Communication, Cross Talk, and Signal Integration in the Adult Hippocampal Neurogenic Niche" in Neuron

Excited to share our Review on the"Functions of Adult-born neurons in Hippocampal Memory Interference and Indexing" in Nature Neuroscience

Amar is named James and Audrey Foster   MGH Research Scholar thanks to the generous philanthropy of James and Audrey Foster.  Thank you very much for supporting our science!

Booyah!  Congrats Antoine on your study  identifying how a class of SST cells in the dorsolateral septum act as threat sensors and gate motion to calibrate behavioral responses to threats in the environment. Nature Neuroscience 2019.  MGH EurekaAlertPress Release. HSCI Press Release

Exciting to see the NIH Director discuss and share our recent paper (Nature Medicine 2018) on how FFI maintains hippocampal indexes and remote memory precision in his monthly blog post on recent advances in science and medicine.

Congrats Antoine on leading the study identifying a stress sensitive TF that protects against stress-induced impairments in dendritic spines & fear responses (Cell Reports, May 2018)

Congrats Nannan on identifying neural mechanisms underlying remote memory generalization in adulthood and aging

(March  12, 2018 Nature Medicine). Press release

Congrats Tara and Kate on edifying the role of Hippocampal Oxytocin receptors in social memory (Raam et al, Nature Communications). Check out Press release.

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Lab is awarded Ro1 from NIMH to support investigations into social memory circuits. 

Congrats Cinzia on 2017 NARSAD YI Award!

Our paper on Neurogenesis, neuronal competition, memory, remapping and aging is in Press at Neuron.   Check out blurb. Congrats Kate!

Lab receives NIA R01 giving our research program traction with NIMH and NIA.

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Amar talks about  strategies for setting up lab and funding with Cell Stem Cell. 

Congrats Antoine on Tosteson Fellowship!

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Sahay lab receives Inscopix Decode Award to combine optical imaging and behavior

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Get in touch

Our laboratory is embedded in the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and is part of a matrix that includes the Harvard Stem Cell Institute  and the Department of Psychiatry at MGH. 

We are members of the PhD program in the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School.  

We are committed to mentoring and training the next generation of scientists to understand the workings of the brain and tackle brain disorders.  The laboratory hosts individuals at all stages of their careers and I aspire to continuously evolve as a mentor. 

If you are interested in joining this team or supporting our science, email Amar (asahay@mgh.harvard.edu).

Twitter @AmarSahay_

BIO