Yadin Dudai (born December 8, 1944) is a

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and glial ...

, Professor (emeritus) of

Neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

at the

Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli unive ...

in Rehovot,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and the Albert and Blanche Willner Family Global Distinguished Professor of Neural Science at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

(NYU).

Life

Dudai was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

to a family most of which was murdered in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

in Lithuania and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. After working as a professional journalist and news editor for a leading Israeli daily, and reading philosophy and middle eastern studies at Tel-Aviv University, he switched to study

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

and

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

, with supplements in modern history, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received his B.Sc. (with honor) from the Hebrew University and his Ph.D. from the

, where he studied

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

chemistry and

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

, and conducted his postdoctoral studies at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, where he was on Seymour Benzer's team that pioneered the neurogenetic analysis of

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

mechanisms. Over the years he has been a Scholar in Residence at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, and a Visiting Professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

, and

(NYU). He served in a number of academic and public positions, including an advisor to the President of the State of Israel and to the National Council of R&D, a member of the Planning and Grants Committee of the Universities in Israel, Dean of the Faculty of Biology and Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and head of the Brain Research Centers at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is also the Scientific Director of the Israel Center of Research Excellence (I-CORE) in the cognitive sciences.

Research

Yadin Dudai's research interests encompass the neurobiology of learning and memory, memory as a concept and as a brain faculty, and the interrelationships among the two. He is also interested in collective memory, and in the evolution of 'cultural organs', such as the cinema. He has contributed to our understanding of

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

and behavioral mechanisms of learning and

, particularly those related to the consolidation and persistence of the

memory trace Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

, and of the evolution and role of concepts of memory in science and culture at large. Among the contributions made by Yadin Dudai and his coworkers: identification of the first learning mutant, using

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many speci ...

, which was a critical proof of concept for the neurogenetic analysis of memory; discovery of consolidation in the fruit fly, rendering it amenable to genetic analysis and demonstrating the universality of consolidation; dissociation of the effect of single gene mutations on encoding vs. consolidation; elucidation of the molecular machinery of memory encoding, memory consolidation and experimental extinction in the mammalian neocortex, using taste associations as a model; discovery of the rule that guides stability of associative memories after their retrieval (the "dominant trace" model); and the data-driven hypothesis that consolidations linger long after they have been considered to end, accounting for ongoing changes in the stability and veracity of memory. He has over 210 professional publications in the field of

and

. While he is mostly known for his work on learning and memory, he is also one of the founders of the field of neurogenetics of behavioural plasticity when he was in the group of Seymour Benzer.

Awards and honors

Dudai received the IPSEN Prize 2013 for outstanding achievements in memory research, together with Richard Morris and

Timothy Bliss Timothy Vivian Pelham Bliss FRS (born 27 July 1940) is a British neuroscientist. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, and a group leader emeritus at the Francis Crick Institute, London. In 2016 Professor Tim Bliss shared ...

. He was elected member of EMBO in 2014 and the same year became a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, of which he is chairing the Science Division since 2019. In 2013, Dudai became a

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS) is an honor accorded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to distinguished persons who are members of the Association. Fellows are elected ...

Selected books

*Dudai, Y (1989) ''The Neurobiology of Memory: Concepts, Findings, Trends''. Oxford: Oxford University Press *Dudai, Y (2002) ''Memory from A to Z, keywords, concepts and beyond''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *Kandel, ER, Dudai, Y and Mayford, MR (eds.) (2016) "Learning and Memory". NY: Cold Spring Harbor Press.

Notes

External links