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Kate Jeffery

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Kate Jeffery
Alma materUniversity of Otago, University of Edinburgh
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity College London
Academic advisorsJohn O'Keefe

Kathryn Jane Jeffery is a neuroscientist from New Zealand. She is a professor of behavioural neuroscience at University College London. She studies how the brain encodes three-dimensional space and its role in navigation.

Early life and career

Jeffery graduated with a degree of MB ChB from the University of Otago in 1985.[1] After working as a house officer, she returned to the University of Otago to complete a master's degree in 1989 under the supervision of Cliff Abraham.[1][2] She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1993 under the supervision of Richard Morris.[1][2][3] During this time she worked in the same lab as May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser.[4] She went on to work as a postdoctoral researcher with John O'Keefe, who won the 2014 Nobel Prize for his work on place cells, at University College London.[1][4] Jeffery correctly predicted he would win the Nobel Prize in a tweet.[4]

Jeffery stayed at University College London to become a lecturer and later a professor.[1] Here, she founded the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, of which she is also director.[1][5]

Research

Jeffery is particularly interested in the representation of 3D space in our brain.[6][7] Her lab reported in 2011 that place cells and grid cells, special types of cells in the brain that are important for navigation, predominantly represent 3D space as a horizontal plane.[6] However, a later study from her lab showed that place cells can indeed represent 3D place.[8]

Jeffery also studies head direction cells, cells in the brain that represent the direction an animal is facing.[9][7][10]

Science and art

Jeffery has been involved in a number of projects linking neuroscience and art. She collaborated on the piece Spin Glass with Jenny Walsh and Jeremy Keenan, which represents the head direction network in the brain of an animal.[11][12] She consulted on the Off-Broadway play The Nature of Forgetting, about how the brain represents memory.[13][14][15]

Jeffery is also interested in the link between architecture and the representation of location in the brain. She presented at the Conscious Cities conferences on how the design of environments affects the sense of direction.[16]

Environmental activism

Jeffery is a member of Extinction Rebellion, a climate emergency group.[17] She has spoken at Extinction Rebellion events on the science behind the climate emergency.[17][18]

Honours

Jeffery is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation.[19] She is also a Vice-President for the Royal Institute of Navigation.[1][19]

Selected publications

  • Casali, Giulio; Bush, Daniel; Jeffery, Kate (2019-03-05). "Altered neural odometry in the vertical dimension". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (10): 4631–4636. doi:10.1073/pnas.1811867116. ISSN 0027-8424. PMID 30770450.
  • Hayman, Robin; Verriotis, Madeleine A.; Jovalekic, Aleksandar; Fenton, André A.; Jeffery, Kathryn J. (2011). "Anisotropic encoding of three-dimensional space by place cells and grid cells". Nature Neuroscience. 14 (9): 1182–1188. doi:10.1038/nn.2892. ISSN 1546-1726.
  • Barry, Caswell; Hayman, Robin; Burgess, Neil; Jeffery, Kathryn J. (2007). "Experience-dependent rescaling of entorhinal grids". Nature Neuroscience. 10 (6): 682–684. doi:10.1038/nn1905. ISSN 1546-1726.
  • Anderson, Michael I.; Jeffery, Kathryn J. (2003-10-01). "Heterogeneous Modulation of Place Cell Firing by Changes in Context". Journal of Neuroscience. 23 (26): 8827–8835. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-26-08827.2003. ISSN 0270-6474. PMID 14523083.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Office, FENS. "Kate Jeffery". FENS.org. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  2. ^ a b katejeffery (2012-11-21). "About me". Corticalia. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  3. ^ "67 | Kate Jeffery on Entropy, Complexity, and Evolution – Sean Carroll". www.preposterousuniverse.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  4. ^ a b c Woolston, Chris. "Nobel forecasting brings fun to online discussions". Nature News. doi:10.1038/nature.2014.16135.
  5. ^ "Cognitive neuroscience and architecture". The Centre for Conscious Design. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  6. ^ a b Welsh 2011-08-08T18:52:02Z, Jennifer. "Brain Finding May Explain Disoriented Pilots, Astronauts". livescience.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b "Kate Jeffery – Knowledge Quarter". Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  8. ^ "You live in a mostly 2D world, but the map in your brain charts the places you've been in 3D". massivesci.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ Webb, Jonathan (2015-05-13). "Donut-shaped 'compass' in fly brain". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  10. ^ "A Map to Attach Memories to". Losing Myself. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  11. ^ "2018 – Art of Neuroscience". Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  12. ^ Simon, Johnny. "These beautiful works of art illustrate the brain's complexity". Quartz. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  13. ^ BWW News Desk. "London's Theatre Re Explores Dementia Through Physical Theater In THE NATURE OF FORGETTING". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  14. ^ "The Nature of Forgetting in UK tour". Entertainment Focus. 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  15. ^ Lee, Jenny (2018-05-17). "The art of forgetting: Show explores memory, dementia and importance of the here and now". The Irish News. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  16. ^ Bond, Michael. "The hidden ways that architecture affects how you feel". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  17. ^ a b Colgrave, Stephen (2019-09-11). "Beyond Brexit: 44 MPs Rebel to Save our Planet as Parliament is Prorogued". Byline Times. Retrieved 2020-02-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ UCL (2019-07-11). "Extinction Rebellion lectures". UCL Events. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  19. ^ a b "UCL Minds Lunch Hour Lecture: The psychology of climate inaction - London | Events | The British Neuroscience Association". www.bna.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
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