2014 Nobel Laureate John O’Keefe visits CUNY Advanced Science Research Center

Nobel Prize Laureate John O’Keefe, graduate of The City College of New York, visited the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center in advance of the 2015 commencement ceremonies for CCNY.

CUNY Vice Chancellor for Research and ASRC Executive Director Gillian Small also attended a breakfast at the ASRC on Friday, May 29, with a group that included the acclaimed neuroscientist.

O’Keefe, who received an honorary degree from the college during the commencement exercises, is the tenth graduate of CCNY honored by the Nobel Prize Committee. O’Keefe is one of the most influential neuroscientists today. The Harlem-born son of Irish immigrants was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his co¬discovery of cells “that constitute a positioning system in the brain. It has been dubbed an “inner GPS” in the brain and it could play a role in Alzheimer’s research.

O’Keefe is currently Professor at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at University College London (UCL). He also serves as the Director of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre in Neural Circuits and Behaviour at University College London (UCL) in England.

###

About the ASRC: The new CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) is a University-wide venture that elevates CUNY’s legacy of scientific research and education through initiatives in five distinctive, but increasingly interconnected disciplines: Nanoscience, Photonics, Structural Biology, Neuroscience and Environmental Science. Led by Dr. Gillian Small, Vice Chancellor for Research and the ASRC’s executive director, the center is designed to promote a unique, interdisciplinary research culture. Researchers from each of the initiatives work side by side in the ASRC’s core facilities, sharing equipment that is among the most advanced available. Funding for the ASRC from New York State is gratefully acknowledged.

###