William T. Greenough

William Tallant Greenough (October 11, 1944 – December 18, 2013) was a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Greenough was a pioneer in studies of neural development and brain plasticity. He studied learning and memory and the brain's responses to environmental enrichment, exercise, injury, and aging. He demonstrated that the brain continues to form new synaptic connections between nerve cells throughout life in response to environmental enrichment and learning.[1] This mechanism is fundamental to learning and memory storage in the brain.[1][2][3][4] Greenough is regarded as the predominant researcher in this area[1] and has been described as "one of the towering figures in neuroscience".[4]

William T. Greenough
Born(1944-10-11)October 11, 1944
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
DiedDecember 8, 2013(2013-12-08) (aged 69)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Scientific career
FieldsSystems neuroscience
InstitutionsUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Early life and education

William Greenough was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 10, 1944.[5] He later lived in Gearhart, Oregon and Seaside, Oregon.[6]

In 1964,[7] at age 19,[6] he completed an undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Oregon. He earned his master's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1966[7] and his Ph.D. in psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1969.[7] His thesis title was Pharmacological and Biochemical Studies on Learning Performance as a Function of Post-Weaning Environment in Rats.[3]

Career

Greenough then joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor in 1978.[3] He chaired the psychology committee that helped to form the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois and became one of the Beckman Institute's first two half-time associate directors in the fall of 1987.[8]:6–7,71 He served as director of the Beckman Institute's Neuroscience Program from 1997–2000.[9]

In 1998, Greenough was appointed to the Swanlund Endowed Chair in psychology.[7] During his career, Greenough held a broad range of faculty appointments including psychology, psychiatry, bioengineering, cell and structural biology, and molecular and integrative physiology.[10] He became interim director of the Center for Advanced Study in 2000, and was appointed its director in 2001.[7] He retired in 2009, becoming professor emeritus.[6]

Greenough was also active nationally,[3] and lobbied the United States Congress to support academic research.[6] In 2007, he co-edited Defining values for research and technology : the university's changing role, based on a lecture series that began at Illinois in 2000.[11] The book examines the history of research funding at American universities and the ways in which federal policy had changed. A shift from public to private sources of funding caused new challenges for universities, financially, strategically, and ethically.[12][13][14]

Research

Prior to Greenough's work, the prevalent belief was that the structure of the brain was determined very early in life and did not change substantially other than to degenerate as a result of damage due to injury, illness, or aging.[15] It was believed that synapses were formed early in brain development, and that once the initial structure of the brain was formed, no further synapse formation occurred.[3] The brain was believed to be an anatomically static structure and memories were believed to result from synaptic activity within a fixed nervous system.[2][3] According to this view, what you were born with determined your potential for the rest of your life.[15]

This view of brain structure, neural activity, and learning was completely overturned by Greenough's research.[2] Greenough initially worked with mice and rat models, later studying primates and humans.[10] His studies demonstrated that fundamental physical changes occurred in neurons in the brain in response to stimulating environments. At the most basic cellular level, the brains of rats that lived in stimulating environments developed more synapses than those that did not.[6] He went on to demonstrate that new synapses were formed as a result of activities that involved learning, not just increased activity.[16] Moreover, changes occurred in areas of the brain that were associated with the performance of specific learned tasks.[3] Observed changes in learning, memory, and synapse formation persisted after training.[3][17] Learning and memory formation were therefore fundamentally related to ongoing synapse formation.[2][3] The result of Greenough's work has been a new model of brain 'plasticity' in which long-term memories are formed at a structural level in the brain as part of lifelong processes of learning.[3][2]

"The most general conclusion that can be made confidently is that the brain is an extremely plastic organ, the structure of which is exquisitely sensitive to experience. A major function of the brain is thus to continuously re-organize itself, and it does so in a way that is specifically tailored to result in behavior that is adaptive in the context of the individual’s own unique environment."[17]

Greenough went on to study the mechanisms by which such changes occur. He has carried out pioneering studies of synaptic mechanisms in the developing brain and endocrine modulation during brain development. He has integrated theories of developmental and adult learning into a unified model. According to this model, synapses are produced early in development that are experience-expectant. They are believed to incorporate environmental aspects that have been encountered reliably as the species has evolved. Such synapses have developed to collect types of information relevant to the ordinary experience of creatures of a species. In contrast, synapses developing later in life are described as experience-dependent, and are believed to form in response to experiences that result in memories.[3][18]

In addition to neurons, Greenough has reported sensitivity to experience in astrocytes and vasculature, studying processes within the brain including angiogenesis, myelination, the hypertrophy of astrocytic glial cells and the astrocyte ensheathment of neurons.[17][19][3] Another researcher describes these processes as "cellular transactions that drive coordinated structural changes in neurons, glia, and blood vessels", essential to understanding the working of long-term memory.[20]

"Synapses when made seem to stay there for a long time in the development process," he said. "If you put an animal in a complex environment and take the animal out of it, you don't quickly take the complex environment out of the animal. There are limits, of course, but changes do stick around. Blood vessel changes, however, are very short lived. Synapses carry information that you may have had only one opportunity in life to acquire, whereas new blood vessels can be made in a few days."[10]

By studying Fragile X syndrome, which is the most common form of mental retardation to be genetically inherited, as well as other genetic conditions, Greenough has learned about how the brain can malfunction as well as function.[6] Studies of mice with Fragile X syndrome link the condition to the absence of the protein FMRP. Greenough's lab identifies FMRP as a regulator protein affecting between 80 and 200 other proteins in the brain.[21][22][23]

In summary, Greenough's central contribution was the demonstration that brain development is influenced throughout life by factors such as the environment, exercise and lifelong learning.[6] Greenough used and sometimes introduced a variety of techniques to study neuroanatomy and neural plasticity, including light microscopy,[24] electron microscopy,[25] electrophysiological studies[26] and molecular approaches.[27] Greenough's work is influential in developmental psychology, studies of brain aging and brain damage, learning and memory, neurology, psychiatry, and audiology.[6]

Awards and honors

Death

Greenough suffered from Lewy body dementia and died on December 18, 2013, in Seattle, Washington.[4]

gollark: What? They can't just set prices to anything they want, it depends on the unfathomable machinations of the market.
gollark: RFC 1149 is the very useful standard for Internet Protocol over Avian Carriers, of course.
gollark: I don't think any existing cryptocurrency uses RFC 1149, so there are not any relevant birds.
gollark: You can set the bird on fire, too.
gollark: But actually focusing it and whatever to make it cut cleanly is hard. Setting the lawn on fire is easy.

References
  1. Craighead, W. Edward; Nemeroff, Charles B. (2004). The concise Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioral science. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. p. 1056. ISBN 978-0-471-22036-7.
  2. "William James Fellow Award 1996 William T. Greenough". Association for Psychological Science. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  3. "Nomination of William T. Greenough". University of Illinois. Archives. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  4. Yates, Diana (January 8, 2014). "William T. Greenough, an early explorer of brain plasticity, dies at 69". Illinois News Bureau. Retrieved 13 January 2017. 'Bill was one of the towering figures in neuroscience, not only on this campus but around the world', said Neal J. Cohen, a professor of psychology at Illinois and the director of the Neuroscience Program once led by Greenough.
  5. "William T. Greenough". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  6. Wurth, Julie (January 10, 2014). "Life Remembered: Greenough 'a towering figure in neuroscience'". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  7. Forrest, Sharita (November 21, 2001). "Greenough appointed director of the Center for Advanced Study". Illinois News Bureau. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  8. Brown, Theodore L. (2009). Bridging divides : the origins of the Beckman Institute at Illinois. Urbana: University of Illinois. ISBN 978-0252034848. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  9. Schultz, Steven (October 14, 1999). "Scientists Discover Addition of New Brain Cells in Highest Brain Area Finding reverses long-held beliefs and has implications for designing therapies". News from PRINCETON UNIVERSITY. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  10. "How postnatal experience influences brain development and brain function". Eureka Alert. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. February 15, 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  11. Mitchell, Melissa (Oct 10, 2000). "'Defining Values for Research and Technology' to be topic of yearlong analysis". Illinois News Bureau.
  12. Greenough, William T.; McConnaughay, Philip J.; Kesan, Jay P., eds. (2007). Defining values for research and technology : the university's changing role. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0742550261.
  13. "Collaborative Science". Illinois Institute of Technology. Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  14. Defining Values for Research and Technology: The University's Changing Role. ERIC. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2006-09-30. ISBN 9780742550254. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  15. Kotulak, Ronald (1997). Inside the brain : revolutionary discoveries of how the mind works (Rev. and updated ed.). Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews and McMeel. pp. 50–52. ISBN 978-0836232899. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  16. Black, James E.; Isaacs, Krystyna R. Isaacs; Anderson, Brenda J.; Alcantara, Adriana A.; Greenough, William T. (July 1990). "Neurobiology Learning causes synaptogenesis, whereas motor activity causes angiogenesis, in cerebellar cortex of adult rats (paramedian lobule/neural plasticity/exercise)". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87 (14): 5568–5572. doi:10.1073/pnas.87.14.5568. PMC 54366. PMID 1695380.
  17. Markham, Julie A.; Greenough, William T. (29 July 2005). "Experience-driven brain plasticity: beyond the synapse". Neuron Glia Biology. 1 (4): 351–363. doi:10.1017/s1740925x05000219. PMC 1550735. PMID 16921405.
  18. Kolb, Bryan; Gibb, Robbin (November 2011). "Brain Plasticity and Behaviour in the Developing Brain". Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 20 (4): 265–276. PMC 3222570. PMID 22114608.
  19. Schore, Allan N. (1994). Affect regulation and the origin of the self : the neurobiology of emotional development. Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-0805834598. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  20. Wallace, Christopher S.; Withers, Ginger S.; Farnand, Alex; Lobingier, Braden T.; McCleery, Ellen J. (July 2011). "Evidence that angiogenesis lags behind neuron and astrocyte growth in experience-dependent plasticity". Developmental Psychobiology. 53 (5): 435–442. doi:10.1002/dev.20559. PMID 21678391.
  21. "Greenough lab: Understanding Fragile X Mental Retardation". Beckman Institute. July 19, 2005.
  22. Bagni, Claudia; Greenough, William T. (May 2005). "From mRNP trafficking to spine dysmorphogenesis: the roots of fragile X syndrome". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 6 (5): 376–387. doi:10.1038/nrn1667. PMID 15861180.
  23. Irwin, SA; Galvez, R; Greenough, WT (October 2000). "Dendritic spine structural anomalies in fragile-X mental retardation syndrome". Cerebral Cortex. 10 (10): 1038–44. doi:10.1093/cercor/10.10.1038. PMID 11007554.
  24. Greenough, William T.; Schwank, Harris D. (1984). "Age-related Aspects of Experience Effects upon Brain Structure". In Emde, Robert N.; Harmon, Robert J. (eds.). Continuities and discontinuities in development. New York: Plenum Press. p. 72. ISBN 9780306415630.
  25. Martinez, Joe L.; Kesner, Raymond P. (2007). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. Amsterdam [etc.]: Elsevier Academic Press. p. 72. ISBN 9780123725400.
  26. Sun, Maio-Kun (2008). Research progress in Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Nova Biomedical. p. 306. ISBN 9781600219603.
  27. Beckel-Mitchener, Andrea; Greenough, William T. (February 2004). "Correlates across the structural, functional, and molecular phenotypes of fragile X syndrome". Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews. 10 (1): 53–59. doi:10.1002/mrdd.20009. PMID 14994289.
  28. "Member Obituaries: William T Greenough". Society for Neuroscience. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  29. National Research Council (US) Committee for Monitoring the Nation's Changing Needs for Biomedical, Behavioral, and Clinical Personnel (2005). "Appendix A, Biographical Sketches of Committee and Panel Members". Advancing the Nation's Health Needs: NIH Research Training Programs. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US).CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. "Past Professor William T Greenough CAS Professor of Psychology". Center for Advanced Study. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  31. "APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions". American Psychological Association. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  32. Committee for Monitoring the Nation's Changing Needs for Biomedical, Behavioral, and Clinical Personal, Board on Higher Education and Workforce, Policy and Global Affairs (2005). Advancing the nation's health needs. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-09427-6.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. "Previous Recipients of Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction". University of Illinois. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
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