The range of our users – from Nobel prizewinners to students – reflects the HVS Image focus on enabling ground breaking work via deep insights and ease of use. The needs and suggestions of our users, such as those listed below, feed our ongoing development, and in turn our systems contribute to cutting-edge research.
HVS Image systems have been used by every one of the world’s top 10 universities as well as by numerous government departments, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and by four Nobel prize winners. We’re in the process of adding examples of users, past and present, to this page – let us know of others you would like to see included!
- Eric Kandel – Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine 2000 for “discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system”
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2000/kandel/facts/
Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist and HVS Image user Professor Eric Kandel discusses memory, individuality and the biology of cognition at the Royal Society Kandel showed how short-term and long-term memories are formed by different signals.
You can see some of his papers, citing use of HVS Image systems, including those showing how cAMP, MAPK, CREB, and other signaling molecules differentiate the processes of short-term memory (transient synaptic changes) and long-term memory (requiring gene expression and protein synthesis): Eric Kandel research papers using HVS Image - John O’Keefe – Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine 2014 with May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser (see below), for “discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain” https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2014/okeefe/facts/
In a moment of shock and joy following the announcement of his Nobel Prize, neuroscientist John O’Keefe speaks about his discovery of place cells in the hippocampus, which revolutionized understanding of navigation and spatial memory. O’Keefe discovered that when a rat was in a certain location, certain cells were activated, and when the rat moved to another location, other cells became activated, with the hippocampus containing a cognitive map of the environment and these ‘place cells’ representing specific locations.
Here are some of his papers involving place cells and place fields, citing use of HVS Image systems: John O’Keefe research papers using HVS Image - May-Britt Moser – Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine 2014 with John O’Keefe (above) and Edvard I. Moser (below), for “discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain” https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2014/may-britt-moser/facts/
Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist and HVS Image user May-Britt Moser presents her lecture, ‘Space, Time, and Memory in the Brain,’ detailing her discovery of grid cells and the neural mechanisms behind spatial navigation and memory. May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser discovered ‘grid cells’ in the medial entorhinal cortex, a region of the brain close to the hippocampus, working with other space-representing cells to provide the brain with an internal coordinate system essential for navigation.
Here are some of their papers relating to the neural basis of spatial location and memory, citing use of HVS Image systems:
May-Britt Moser research papers using HVS Image - Edvard I. Moser – Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine 2014 with John O’Keefe and May Britt Moser (see above), for “discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”
Nobel laureate Edvard Moser presents ‘Grid Cells and the Brain’s Spatial Mapping System,’ exploring how the brain represents distances and spaces through grid cells. A pioneering neuroscientist and HVS Image user, Moser reveals insights into spatial navigation, place cells and grid cells. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2014/edvard-moser/facts/
Edvard and May Britt Moser discovered that cells in the entorhinal cortex, a brain region close to the hippocampus, fired at regular intervals as an animal moved through its environment. These cells are arranged in a hexagonal grid-like pattern, hence the name ‘grid cells’, and form a coordinate system for navigation.
You can see some of the Mosers’ papers relating to spatial memory and learning, citing use of HVS Image systems, at
Edvard Moser research papers using HVS Image
- Richard Morris – originator of the Morris Water Maze
Neuroscientist Richard Morris reflects on the development of the Morris Water Maze, his groundbreaking research on spatial learning and memory, and his collaborations with John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser, and Edvard Moser.
Developments of a water-maze procedure for studying spatial learning in the rat The spatial location of the rat was automatically tracked with HVS Image, giving improved precision in measuring animal movements compared to manual observation, reducing human error and observer bias, and leading to more reliable and reproducible data. This paved the way for a wide variety of behavioural investigations (there are over 9000 citations of the above paper), including many involving place learning, hippocampal function and aging.
More Richard Morris’ papers using HVS Image
- Carol Barnes – originator of the Barnes Maze
Neuroscientist Carol Barnes delivers her lecture, ‘Memory and the Aging Brain,’ at the National Academy of Sciences, sharing insights into hippocampal function, spatial learning and brain aging. Carol Barnes has significantly advanced the understanding of how aging affects cognitive functions and the underlying neural mechanisms, with extensive research on the aging brain, particularly the hippocampus and its role in learning and memory.
Carol Barnes’ papers using HVS Image
- Users of HVS Image’s fully immersive Virtual Reality Morris Water Maze and HVS 6D VR systems include Vanderbilt University Medical School, Harvard University Medical School / Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary, Niigata University, Jeonbuk University, US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Probe trial path plots showing differences in spatial memory performance, from Vanderbilt University study using HVS Image VR Morris Water Maze. Left: better navigation with efficient path to the learnt target; right: poorer navigation with scattered search and thigmotaxis. Virtual Reality Water Maze Navigation in Children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and Reading Disability: an Exploratory Study – 2022, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University.
Vestibular damage affects the precision and accuracy of navigation in a virtual visual environment – 2023, Department of Otolaryngolgy-Head and Neck Surgery, Massachusetts Eye and Ear; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School; Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School.
- You can see hundreds of other users’ publications from institutions worldwide: HVS Image papers listed in Google Scholar, including University of Oxford, Harvard University, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, McGill University, Princeton University, Imperial College London, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, US Environmental Protection Agency, California Institute of Technology and many others.
Learn how HVS Image can support your research:
Contact us now to tell us about your aims and see what we can do for you, or take a look at the following first:
Morris Water Maze | Barnes Maze | Open Field Test | Novel Object Recognition | Multi-arm Mazes | Zebrafish Larvae Monitoring | Other Tasks
Virtual Reality Morris Water Maze for Humans|Other VR Behavioral Neuroscience Tasks for Humans
Rehabilitation in HVS 6D VR Fully Immersive Virtual Reality