This webinars focuses on the concept of dendritic spines as learning hubs presented by two outstanding speakers Prof. Javier DeFelipe (ES) and Prof. Valentin Nägerl (FR).

Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the Spanish founder of modern neuroscience, was the first researcher to identify dendritic spines as important neuronal structures and the role that spines play in learning and memory. Before, these tiny structures were considered mere artefacts.

More than a century after Cajal’s discovery, neuroscientists know that spines play an important role in memory acquisition and consolidation, and are the topic of cutting-edge research combining structural, physiological, and modelling studies.

The FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET) and History Committee have organised a new series of online webinars, “How concepts and techniques emerged in neuroscience: a historical perspective”, which aims to pair current trends in neuroscience, from revolutionary techniques or neuroscience concepts, with their historical roots and relevant historical figures in the field.

Dr John Lidwell-Durin (History Faculty, University of Oxford) on “John Hughlings Jackson, Nerve-Genesis and Language”, at the FENS History Seminar on “History of Understanding of the Cerebral Cortex”, organised at St John’s College, University of Oxford, on 12 May 2015, by Prof. Zoltan Molnar.

Dr Tom Quick (Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford), on “Stories of histological slides in the Sherrington Box”, at the FENS History Seminar on “History of Understanding of the Cerebral Cortex”, organised at St John’s College, University of Oxford, on 12 May 2015, by Prof. Zoltan Molnar.

Dr Damion Young (Medical Sciences Division Learning Technologies (MSDLT) on “Historic digital repositories for the 21st Century, Developing and using the https://history.medsci.ox.ac.uk/​ – site. Using historical material in neuroscience teaching”, at the FENS History Seminar on “History of Understanding of the Cerebral Cortex”, organised at St John’s College, University of Oxford, on 12 May 2015, by Prof. Zoltan Molnar.

Professor Colin Blakemore (Professor of Neuroscience & Philosophy, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Senses School of Advanced Study, University of London) on “Two Eyes, One World: A Brief History of Binocular Vision”, at the FENS History Seminar on “History of Understanding of the Cerebral Cortex”, organised at St John’s College, University of Oxford, on 12 May 2015, by Prof. Zoltan Molnar.

Professor Marco Piccolino (Italian Institute of Neurosciences University of Ferrara, Italy) on “Vision and the senses in the work of Galileo Galilei”, at the FENS History Seminar on “History of Understanding of the Cerebral Cortex”, organised at St John’s College, University of Oxford, on 12 May 2015, by Prof. Zoltan Molnar.

Professor Richard Brown (Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie, University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) on “Le Gros Clark versus Zuckerman: what were their disagreements?”, at the FENS History Seminar on “History of Understanding of the Cerebral Cortex”, organised at St John’s College, University of Oxford, on 12 May 2015, by Prof. Zoltan Molnar.