Sheena A. Josselyn

Sheena Josselyn is a Canadian neuroscientist and a full professor of psychology and physiology at Hospital for Sick Children and The University of Toronto. Josselyn studies the neural basis of memory, specifically how the brain forms and stores memories in rodent models.

Early life and education Josselyn was born in Cleveland, Ohio but grew up in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She identifies as Metis. Josselyn completed her undergraduate education at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Following her undergraduate degree, Josselyn completed a master's degree in clinical psychology under the mentorship of Dr. Rick Beninger. and the second on the interaction between neuropeptide Y and antipsychotics in the nucleus accumbens.

Josselyn then moved to Toronto to complete her PhD in psychology and neuroscience at the University of Toronto. Following her PhD, Josselyn completed her postdoctoral work at Yale University in New Haven under the mentorship of Dr. Mike Davis. Shortly after, she moved to LA to complete another postdoc under the mentorship of Dr. Alcino J. Silva at the University of California Los Angeles. which led to probing the molecular mechanisms and biological purpose of forgetting.

Career and research After finishing her postdoctoral work, Josselyn moved back to Toronto to start her lab at SickKids Hospital at the University of Toronto. and further, that ablating neurons that highly expressed CREB after fear learning actually ablates fear memories in rodent. These were some of the first findings isolating specific neurons representing a specific memory in the brain.

Awards

2023 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 2018 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Innovations in Psychopharmacology Award from Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology Bryan Kolb Lecturer in Behavioural Neuroscience (University of Calgary) Canada Research Chair (CRC) in brain circuits and cognition Tier I

Publications

Josselyn, S.A., Köhler, S., Frankland, P.W. (2017). Heroes of the engram. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(18), 4647–4657. Heroes of the Engram Rashid, A.S., Yan, C., Mercaldo, V.... Josselyn, S. (2016). Competition between engrams influences fear memory formation and recall. Science, 22(353), 383–87. Competition between engrams influences fear memory formation and recall Hsiang, H.L., Epp, J.R., van den Oever, M.... Josselyn, S. (2014). Manipulating a “cocaine engram” in mice. Journal of Neuroscience 34(42), 14115–14127. DOI: Manipulating a “Cocaine Engram” in Mice Han, J.H., Kushner, S.A., Yiu, A.P.... Josselyn, S. (2009). Selective erasure of a fear memory. Science, 323(5920), 1492–1496. DOI: Selective Erasure of a Fear Memory Han, J.H., Kushner, S.A., Yiu, A.P.... Josselyn, S. (2007). Neuronal competition and selection during memory formation. Science, 316(5823), 457–60. DOI: Neuronal Competition and Selection During Memory Formation