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Dr Oliver Hardt

Cellular mechanisms and brains systems underpinning natural and dysregulated forgetting.

Dr Oliver Hardt

Research Fellow

  • Hugh Robson Building
  • 15 George Square
  • Edinburgh, EH8 9XD

Contact details

Personal profile

  • Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh since 2016  
  • Chancellors Fellow at the University of Edinburgh from 2013-2016
  • Post-doctoral work at McGill in Behavioural Neuroscience.
  • PhD in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) at the University of Arizona

Research Theme

Research

Although most memories are eventually forgotten, we are just beginning to understand how and why the brain forgets.  My research therefore investigates mechanisms responsible for the natural loss of memory from a cellular and systems perspective, and how the dysregulation of these processes can contribute to neuropathology in autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer’s disease.  As I use rats as model organisms, I am developing methods that allow them to express their full behavioural repertoire, addressing animal welfare issues while increasing the validity of our research outcomes.  I am collaborating closely with Dr Peter Kind and Dr Emma Wood to pursue these goals at the University of Edinburgh.

Funding

Team members

Collaborations

Selected Publications

Hardt, O., & Sossin, W. S. (2020). Terminological and Epistemological Issues in Current Memory Research. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 12.

Tulloch, J., Netsyk, O., Pickett, E. K., Herrmann, A. G., Jain, P., Stevenson, A. J. et al. (2020). Maintained memory and long-term potentiation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease with both amyloid pathology and human tau. Eur J Neurosci, 53, 637-648.

Anstey, N. J., Kapgal, V., Tiwari, S., Watson, T. C., Toft, A. K. H., Dando, O. R. et al. (2020). Imbalance of flight-freeze responses and their cellular correlates in the Nlgn3-/y rat model of autism.

Migues, P. V., Wong, J., Lyu, J., & Hardt, O. (2019). NMDA receptor activity bidirectionally controls active decay of long-term spatial memory in the dorsal hippocampus. Hippocampus, 29(9), 883-888.

Pickett, E. K., Herrmann, A. G., McQueen, J., Abt, K., Dando, O., Tulloch, J. et al. (2019). Amyloid Beta and Tau Cooperate to Cause Reversible Behavioral and Transcriptional Deficits in a Model of Alzheimer’s Disease. Cell Rep, 29(11), 3592-3604.e5.

Hardt, O., & Nadel, L. (2018). Systems consolidation revisited, but not revised: The promise and limits of optogenetics in the study of memory. Neurosci Lett, 680, 54-59.

 

 

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