Peter Christian Hvidberg Petersen

Project title

How our brain navigates using its cognitive mapand place cells sequences – unraveling thebrain’s fundamental spatial memory units

What is your project about?

The hippocampus, a key brain structure for spatial navigation and memory, contains specialized neurons known as place cells, which selectively fire when an animal occupies specific locations within its environment. These place cells, together with other spatially encoding cells, form the neural basis of a "cognitive map" that enables animals, including humans, to navigate and remember spatial information. Recent studies have also implicated place cells in the generation of sequential activity patterns, reflecting the animal's trajectory through its environment. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the formation and use of cognitive maps and sequence generation remain elusive. This project aims to unravel the neural mechanisms of spatial navigation, focusing on the role of place cells in cognitive map formation and sequence generation. This could be crucial for understanding how imbalances in the circuits can lead to pathological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

How did you become interested in your particular field of research?

I became interested in neuroscience during my biophysics studies at DTU, where I first encountered neural networks, which later became the foundation for AI. My interest deepened during a study abroad program at the University of Maryland, near Washington D.C., at a time when neuroscience courses were scarcely available in Denmark. The complexity of the brain captivated me, and I realized that, as a physicist, I could significantly contribute to understanding it. This field allows me to merge my background in physics engineering and systems neuroscience, and my passion for coding and data analysis, making it the perfect interdisciplinary research area for me.

What are the scientific challenges and perspectives in your project?

My project focuses on the brain's cognitive maps and how so-called place cells collectively form representations of our surroundings. There are several challenges involved. We need to develop a mathematical model that can describe how different modalities (sensory impressions) are represented in the cognitive map and to what extent sequences play a role. We also need to design behavioral spaces that allow us to perturb these impressions. We will leverage our collaborators here and build on the experience of myself and my group. Additionally, we need to develop advanced experimental techniques to record and analyze neural data under natural and controlled conditions. It is crucial to understand how the brain's networks dynamically adapt to different tasks and environments and how neurological diseases can affect these processes. The perspectives of the project include the potential for new treatments for cognitive disorders and a deeper understanding of the brain's functional architecture.

What is your estimate of the impact, which your project may have to society in the long term?

Neuroscience is still a relatively young field of study. However, it has enormous potential to help with the prevention and treatment of brain diseases, which are becoming an increasingly larger economic burden on our healthcare system. More and more people are being affected by Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, and we are not able to help them very much. In the long term, my research can first contribute to understanding why we are affected by dementia, and then form the basis for new treatment strategies.

Which impact do you expect the Sapere Aude programme will have on your career as a researcher?

The Sapere Aude: DFF-Starting Grant will help establish my field of research in Denmark and at the University of Copenhagen. It is a recognition of my research and a significant personal milestone. It will enable me to build a strong research group in cognition and brain oscillations. This is a fascinating project that we are about to begin, and I am very much looking forward to finding the involved partners whom I can hire through the project and doing some truly important research together. If our results support our current hypotheses, it will be fascinating to see how they are received in my research field and what long-term impact they will have.

Background and personal life

I live in Copenhagen with my wife and two children, aged 5 and 9. I spend most of my free time with my family. During my postdoc at NYU, we lived in New York for 5 years. I loved being a part of a very international environment in the lab, among colleagues, and in my free time and daily life with friends and family. Daily life has become easier since we returned to Copenhagen, but we miss the metropolitan atmosphere, so maybe one day we will go abroad again. My focus is on building my research group at the University of Copenhagen.