Welcome to the Gillespie lab!
We are a research group at the University of Washington focused on using hippocampal spatial representations as a window into cognitive decline during aging and neurodegenerative disease.
To do this, we record the spiking activity of large ensembles of neurons from the hippocampus of rats while they learn and perform challenging spatial memory tasks. We use computational models to understand how the spiking activity we observe relates to the subject’s behavior. By comparing such recordings from young, healthy animals to those of much older animals, and even rat strains that have been designed to recapitulate some aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, we can ask how the patterns of neural activity change and drive age and disease-related impairments in cognition. For more details about our ongoing projects, see Research).
We believe in doing rigorous, exciting science in a supportive and fun environment. We welcome colleagues of all backgrounds and identities, and are committed to their well-being and success. We strive to advance scientific knowledge while also pushing to improve academic culture in all the scientific communities we are part of.
We are grateful for funding from the University of Washington, the NIH BRAIN Initiative, the National Institute on Aging, and the Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain.
News
March 2027
Anna, Josiah, and Gabby are excited to attend the FIRST Entorhinal-Hippocampal Memory Circuits GRC
Oct 2026
Anna, Josiah, and Pascha attend the SCPAB annual meeting in NYC
Aug 2026
The lab’s first paper is officially out in eNeuro!
July 2026
Anna attended iNAV in Banff
March 2026
Gabby and Tao will attend and present posters at CNS in Vancouver!
Dec 2025
Anna presented at iSCAN in Magedeburg, Germany!
July 2025
The lab’s first preprint is posted!
Jan 2025
New neurofeedback paper from the Frank lab officially out!
October 2024
Gabby and Anna attend their first conference together - the SCPAB annual meeting in NYC!