Nearly 300 community members, alumni, UCI faculty and staff attended the special Dean’s Distinguished Lecture on March 30 featuring Nobel Laureate John O’Keefe, Ph.D., University College London. Dr. O’Keefe, who was awarded half of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, spoke about his Nobel-winning, pioneering research characterizing how the brain creates a map of the space surrounding us and how this map can be used to navigate complex environments. He also shared about the path to reaching his seminal discoveries, which have provided critical insight into the mechanisms by which our brains are capable of thinking, planning, and remembering information. Dr. O’Keefe is the Director of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behavior and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at University College London.

Join us for the next Dean’s Distinguished Lecture on May 7, 2015 featuring Professor John C. Avise, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.