James B. Ranck, Jr. MD is distinguished teaching professor emeritus of physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, where he taught from 1975 until his retirement in 2014. In 1968, he was one of the first to record electrical activity in single neurons, opening up a new direction of brain study. In 1984, he discovered head-direction cells in the brain, which, along with place cells and grid cells, underlie the neural basis of navigation and spatial behavior. Dr. Ranck founded the hippocampal laboratory at Downstate, which became widely known in neuroscience circles as "The Brooklyn Group," working on memory and navigation.
John O'Keefe's discovery of hippocampal "place cells" launched the notion that the hippocampus was the brain's “cognitive map” (O'Keefe and Nadel, 1978). Starting in the early days Jim Ranck made fundamental contributions including the discovery of “head-direction cells” — cells that are the basis of a “sense of direction”. The field grew rapidly and flourished. There are now dozens of labs and broad recognition that this line of research is yielding fundamental insights into the neuronal mechanisms that produce cognition. The symposium will summarize Jim Ranck's contributions and survey current work that begins to reveal how mind is produced in the brain.
This Symposium is sponsored by:
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine
SUNY Downstate School of Graduate Studies
The Chandler McCuskey Brooks - Gertrude Lange Endowment
