Sheena Josselyn

Josselyn was born in Cleveland, Ohio but grew up in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.[3] Josselyn completed her undergraduate education at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Following her undergraduate degree, Josselyn completed a masters in clinical psychology under the mentorship of Dr. Rick Beninger.[3] In her Masters, Josselyn published two first author papers, the first studying the modulatory effects of adenosine on dopamine in the striatum[4] and the second on the interaction between neuropeptide Y and antipsychotics in the nucleus accumbens.[5]

Josselyn then moved to Toronto to complete her PhD in psychology and neuroscience at the University of Toronto.[3] Under the mentorship of Dr. Franco Vaccarino, Josselyn studied the effects of CCKB and CCKA modulation on associative learning and published multiple first author papers.[6][7][8] Following her PhD, Josselyn completed her postdoctoral work at Yale University in New Haven under the mentorship of Dr. Mike Davis.[9] Shortly after, she moved to LA to complete another postdoc under the mentorship of Dr. Alcino J. Silva at the University of California Los Angeles.[3] Josselyn helped discover the importance of CREB in memory formation and retrieval[10] which led to probing the molecular mechanisms and biological purpose of forgetting.[11]

After finishing her postdoctoral work, Josselyn moved back to Toronto to start her lab at SickKids Hospital at the University of Toronto.[3] Her overall goal is to understand how humans learn and remember such that one day her work can impact translational research at her institute and in her community.[3] Some of Josselyn's early discoveries include discovering that CREB over-expression in the auditory thalamus increases memory and fear,[12] and further, that ablating neurons that highly expressed CREB after fear learning actually ablates fear memories in rodent.[13] These were some of the first findings isolating specific neurons representing a specific memory in the brain.[13] Josselyn's multidisciplinary approach to tackling questions regarding memories led her to several prestigious awards and recognitions including becoming a member of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018 for her research.[14]

• 2018 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada[14]
• Daniel H. Efron Research Award from American College of Neuropsychopharmacology[15]
• Innovations in Psychopharmacology Award from Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology[9]
• Brenda Milner Lecturer (University of Lethbridge)[16]
• Bryan Kolb Lecturer in Behavioural Neuroscience (University of Calgary)
• Canada Research Chair (CRC) in brain circuits and cognition Tier I

• Josselyn, S.A., Köhler, S., Frankland, P.W. (2017). Heroes of the engram. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(18), 4647–4657. Heroes of the Engram
• Rashid, A.S., Yan, C., Mercaldo, V., ... Josselyn, S. (2016). Competition between engrams influences fear memory formation and recall. Science, 22(353), 383–87. Competition between engrams influences fear memory formation and recall
• Hsiang, H.L., Epp, J.R., van den Oever, M.,... Josselyn, S. (2014). Manipulating a “cocaine engram” in mice. Journal of Neuroscience 34(42), 14115–14127. DOI: Manipulating a “Cocaine Engram” in Mice
• Han, J.H., Kushner, S.A., Yiu, A.P.,... Josselyn, S. (2009). Selective erasure of a fear memory. Science, 323(5920), 1492–1496. DOI: Selective Erasure of a Fear Memory
• Han, J.H., Kushner, S.A., Yiu, A.P.,... Josselyn, S. (2007). Neuronal competition and selection during memory formation. Science, 316(5823), 457–60. DOI: Neuronal Competition and Selection During Memory Formation