Prof. Dr. Ana M.M. Oliveira is a researcher at the Central Institute of Mental Health. She was successful in the highly competitive Heisenberg Program of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and heads the newly established department “Molecular and Cellular Cognition Research”. 

How memory is formed

Oliveira and her research group are primarily concerned with how memory is formed in the brain and how memories are stored over time. The goal of the effort is to uncover the molecular and cellular processes involved in the formation and persistence of memory. The researchers are studying the molecular signaling pathways as well as the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation that takes place in response to learning and that underlie the formation of memory.

Oliveira’s research group hopes that this approach will lead to a better understanding of neurodegenerative processes, such as those that play a role in dementia, and of entrenched, self-damaging memory patterns, such as those that occur in addictive behavior or traumatizing experiences, and thus open the way for new approaches and therapeutic options.