Sylvain Williams, PhD

Sylvain Williams, PhD

Contact

 sylvain.williams@douglas.mcgill.ca

 

6875 Boulevard LaSalle
Montréal, QC
H4H 1R3

 Office:E-2106, Perry Pavilion

 Office phone: (514) 761-6131 x5937

  Lab website: http://sylvainwilliams.ca/

  ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2511-0631

Canada Research Chair, Neural circuits of learning and memory – Tier 1

Researcher, Douglas Research Centre
Full Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University

Lab name: Williams Hippocampal Rhythm Lab

Theme-Based Group: Aging, Cognition, and Alzheimer’s Disease
Division: Basic Neuroscience

 

My laboratory is using a combination of techniques to understand how neurons of the hippocampus play a role a role in memory encoding and recall in freely behaving mice.  We are also interested in how neurons of the the medial septum, a region well known to project massively to hippocampus, can enhance learning and memory. We perform the experiments using electrophysiology to determine brain-states, optogenetics to manipulate brain circuits and miniature epifluorescent microscope (also named UCLA miniscopes) to understand neuronal dynamics at the population level during memory tasks.  We also have an interest in revealing how sleep, and especially REM sleep, enhances memory consolidation (Boyce et al., 2016). The overarching goal of my laboratory is to understand the neuronal mechanisms underlying memory function in normal and in Alzheimer’s disease.

Understanding how cell assemblies code for memory encoding and recall. 

We are interested in determining how neurons in the hippocampus and its sub-regions can code and recall memory events. Why do the neural circuits in the CA1 and subiculum have such a distinct role than other hippocampal areas? These investigations are done using calcium imaging, electrophysiology and optogenetics in freely behaving mice performing cognitive tasks.

What is the neural mechanism of memory consolidation during sleep?

The hippocampus and other brain regions play important role in enhancing the conversion of memory to long-term memory during sleep. However, there are at least two different states in sleep; slow-wave and rapid-eye movement (REM)-sleep. How do these two sleep states contribute to memory consolidation? We are interested in identifying the mechanisms underlying these two states in memory consolidation.

Investigating the role of the septum in memory

The septum is divided into the medial and the lateral septum. The medial septum provides a powerful input to the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex and has been shown to play a critical role in memory-related hippocampal oscillations while the lateral part receives a massive input from the hippocampus and provide a circuit important for the association between spatial contextual cues and reward. We are interested in understanding how the different cell types of the medial and lateral septum contribute to memory encoding and recall in freely behaving mice.

Developing new methods to visualize and manipulate memory- related neurons  during behaviour.

There is a revolution going on in neuroscience concerning the recent developments of research tools for observing and manipulating neurons during cognition. My laboratory as invested a great deal of efforts to develop the latest methods of optogenetics, electrophysiology, and, more recently, calcium imaging of neuronal populations using miniature microscopes in freely behaving mice.

How circuits are altered in Alzheimer’s disease and finding approaches to reverse memory deficits in AD.

While there is ample evidence of how individual neurons are affected in AD, we poorly understand how neuronal dynamics at the population level are affected. One important goal we have is to use optogenetics to re-establish normal population dynamics and memory function in AD mice models.

 

Link to lab website

Following a PhD at Université de Montréal in the neurological sciences with Dr Jean-Claude Lacaille (1989-94), I was a postdoctoral fellow with Drs Michel Muhlethaler and Laurent Bernheim at Geneva University in Switzerland (1994-97). There I explored the role of physiological properties of septal and basal forebrain cells in producing network activity. I also did a one year postdoc at the University of Calgary with Brian MacVicar to study cytokines, imaging and neuromodulation. In February 1999, I moved to the Douglas Hospital to set-up my own laboratory. I was named assistant professor of psychiatry at McGill in 1999, associate professor in 2007, and full professor in 2015.

  • Frédéric Manseau, Research Associate
  • Jean-Bastien Bott, Research Associate
  • Lorène Penazzi, Research Associate
  • Coralie-Anne Mosser, postdoctoral fellow
  • James “Eric” Carmichael, postdoctoral fellow
  • Jisu Choi, Ph.D. student
  • Ingrid Inema, Ph.D. student
  • Zeeshan Haqqee, Ph.D. student
  • Bryan Alexis Contreras Mercado, M.Sc. student
  • Salodin Al-Achkar, M.Sc. student

Key publications

Full publication record

 

Selected publications

  • Etter, G., van der Veldt, S., Choi, J. and Williams, S., 2021. Optogenetic scrambling of hippocampal theta oscillations alters working memory retrieval but not hippocampal spatiotemporal codes. bioRxiv. In press 2022 Nat Comm
  • Bott JB, Robinson J, Manseau F, Gauthier-Lafrenière E, Williams S. Medial septum glutamate neurons are essential for spatial goal-directed memory. bioRxiv. 2022 Jan 1.
  • van der Veldt S, Etter G, Mosser CA, Manseau F, Williams S. Conjunctive spatial and self-motion codes are topographically organized in the GABAergic cells of the lateral septum. PLoS biology. 2021 Aug 30;19(8):e3001383.
  • Etter G, van der Veldt S, Manseau F, Zarrinkoub I, Trillaud-Doppia E, Williams S. Optogenetic gamma stimulation rescues memory impairments in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Nat Commun. 2019 Nov 22;10(1):5322. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13260-9. PMID: 31757962; PMCID: PMC6876640.
  • Boyce R, Glasgow SD, Williams S, Adamantidis A. Causal evidence for the role of REM sleep theta rhythm in contextual memory consolidation. Science. 2016 May 13;352(6287):812-6. doi: 10.1126/science.aad5252. PMID: 27174984.

News

  • Several researchers receive NSERC funding

    The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has announced the results for the year 2026. Drs Mark Brandon, Mallar Chakravarty, Bruno Giros, Majid Mohajerani, Patricia Silveira, Nicolas Tritsch, Sylvain Williams and Tak Pan Wong are among the winners of the Discovery-Oriented Research Programme competition. The Discovery Grants Program supports long-term research programmes.…


  • Le Dr Sylvain Williams : Do we really need to “exercise” our memory?

    Working on your memory can be an effective way of preserving your cognitive abilities. In this article from La Presse, Dr Sylvain Williams discusses various ways of reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. He points out that several protective factors exist, starting with cardiovascular exercise. “What’s good for our heart is good for our…


  • CIHR funds 11 Douglas researchers through the Fall 2022 Project Grant Competition

    CIHR results for the Fall 2022 Project Grant competition were published on February 1, 2023. We are pleased to report that in this latest competition, Douglas researchers have collectively secured over $6.77M – congratulations to all successful applicants (see below). A sincere thanks goes to Dr. Dominique Walker, who chairs the Douglas Internal Grant Review…


  • Dr. James Carmichael awarded the Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship

      Congratulations to James Carmichael, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Sylvain Williams' lab, on being awarded the Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship, for his project entitled "From Space to Memory Under Pathological Tau." This is one of five research projects funded by the Alzheimer’s Association and Brain Canada to develop preliminary data and apply knowledge to the fields of Alzheimer’s…


  • The CIC and M3 platforms obtain HBHL Core Facility Funding

    The Douglas’ Cerebral Imaging Centre (CIC) and McGill-Mouse-Miniscope (M3) Platforms were recently awarded funding through the 2nd Core Facility Funding Competiition from Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives (HBHL). Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives (HBHL) is an interdisciplinary program, built on McGill’s global leadership in interdisciplinary neuroscience, that uses big data analysis to reveal the fundamental mechanisms underlying normal brain function and…


  • Mark Brandon and Sylvain Williams awarded Canada Research Chairs

      Congratulations to both Mark Brandon and Sylvain Williams!   Today, the Canada Research Chairs announced that Mark Brandon's Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Neural Circuits of Memory was renewed, and awarded Sylvain Williams a brand new Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Neural circuits of learning and memory!    


  • Drs. El Mestikawy, Silveira, and Williams obtain HBHL’s Neuro Commercialization IGNITE grants

    Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives has announced the projects selected to receive this year's Neuro Commercialization Ignite Grants. These grants aim to support small-scale validation/proof-of-principle efforts in the development of a neuroscience-related technology. We are pleased to announce that three of our researchers, Drs. Salah El Mestikawy, Patrícia Pelufo Silveira, and Sylvain Williams, received the $50,000 award to move their exciting…


  • Dr. Sylvain Williams on his most recent Alzheimer’s disease research

    By Nicola Di-Narzo A new study led by Dr. Sylvain Williams, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and his postdoc Dr. Guillaume Etter suggests that even at advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, there are possibilities for therapeutic treatments. Deep brain stimulation, a method that uses electrical stimulations of neurons and brain circuits to treat some…


  • Alzheimer : retrouver la mémoire en stimulant le cerveau

    Entrevue avec Sylvain Williams, PhD. Par Alain Labelle, de Radio-Canada Le recours à la stimulation cérébrale profonde (Deep Brain Stimulation) a permis à des souris atteintes de la maladie d’Alzheimer (MA) de retrouver la mémoire, montrent les travaux du Dr Sylvain Williams et de ses collègues du Centre de recherche Douglas associé à l’Université McGill.


  • Alain Brunet receives an inaugural Principal’s Prizes in Public Outreach Through Media

    Congratulations to Alain Brunet, who received an inaugural Principal’s Prizes in Public Outreach Through Media, which recognizes the efforts made by professors, post-doctoral fellows, research associates and graduate students who have engaged with the media over the course of the previous year. VP Goldstein noted that, “it’s much more than research excellence that earns accolades – it’s…


Publications

2026

Yaghoubi, Mohammad; Kumar, M Ganesh; Nieto-Posadas, Andres; Mosser, Coralie-Anne; Gisiger, Thomas; Wilson, Émmanuel; Pehlevan, Cengiz; Williams, Sylvain; Brandon, Mark P

Author Correction: Predictive coding of reward in the hippocampus Miscellaneous

2026, ISSN: 1476-4687.

Links | BibTeX

Yaghoubi, Mohammad; Kumar, M Ganesh; Nieto-Posadas, Andres; Mosser, Coralie-Anne; Gisiger, Thomas; Wilson, Émmanuel; Pehlevan, Cengiz; Williams, Sylvain; Brandon, Mark P

Predictive coding of reward in the hippocampus Journal Article

In: Nature, vol. 651, no. 8105, pp. 414–420, 2026, ISSN: 1476-4687.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

2024

Etter, Guillaume; van der Veldt, Suzanne; Mosser, Coralie-Anne; Hasselmo, Michael E; Williams, Sylvain

Idiothetic representations are modulated by availability of sensory inputs and task demands in the hippocampal-septal circuit Journal Article

In: Cell Rep, vol. 43, no. 11, pp. 114980, 2024, ISSN: 2211-1247.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

2023

Lévesque, Maxime; Wang, Siyan; Etter, Guillaume; Williams, Sylvain; Avoli, Massimo

Optogenetic activation of septal inhibitory cells abates focal seizures Journal Article

In: J Neurophysiol, vol. 129, no. 5, pp. 1218–1223, 2023, ISSN: 1522-1598.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Etter, Guillaume; van der Veldt, Suzanne; Choi, Jisoo; Williams, Sylvain

Optogenetic frequency scrambling of hippocampal theta oscillations dissociates working memory retrieval from hippocampal spatiotemporal codes Journal Article

In: Nat Commun, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 410, 2023, ISSN: 2041-1723.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Etter, Guillaume; Carmichael, James E; Williams, Sylvain

Linking temporal coordination of hippocampal activity to memory function Journal Article

In: Front Cell Neurosci, vol. 17, pp. 1233849, 2023, ISSN: 1662-5102.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

2022

Lévesque, Maxime; Wang, Siyan; Etter, Guillaume; Williams, Sylvain; Avoli, Massimo

Bilateral optogenetic activation of inhibitory cells favors ictogenesis Journal Article

In: Neurobiol Dis, vol. 171, pp. 105794, 2022, ISSN: 1095-953X.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

2021

van der Veldt, Suzanne; Etter, Guillaume; Mosser, Coralie-Anne; Manseau, Frédéric; Williams, Sylvain

Conjunctive spatial and self-motion codes are topographically organized in the GABAergic cells of the lateral septum Journal Article

In: PLoS Biol, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. e3001383, 2021, ISSN: 1545-7885.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Mosser, Coralie-Anne; Haqqee, Zeeshan; Nieto-Posadas, Andrés; Murai, Keith K; Stifani, Stefano; Williams, Sylvain; Brandon, Mark P

The McGill-Mouse-Miniscope platform: A standardized approach for high-throughput imaging of neuronal dynamics during behavior Journal Article

In: Genes Brain Behav, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. e12686, 2021, ISSN: 1601-183X.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Badrinarayanan, Saishree; Manseau, Frédéric; Williams, Sylvain; Brandon, Mark P

A Characterization of the Electrophysiological and Morphological Properties of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) Interneurons in the Medial Entorhinal Cortex (MEC) Journal Article

In: Front Neural Circuits, vol. 15, pp. 653116, 2021, ISSN: 1662-5110.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

2020

Etter, Guillaume; Manseau, Frederic; Williams, Sylvain

A Probabilistic Framework for Decoding Behavior From Calcium Imaging Data Journal Article

In: Front Neural Circuits, vol. 14, pp. 19, 2020, ISSN: 1662-5110.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Gulli, Roberto A; Duong, Lyndon R; Corrigan, Benjamin W; Doucet, Guillaume; Williams, Sylvain; Fusi, Stefano; Martinez-Trujillo, Julio C

Context-dependent representations of objects and space in the primate hippocampus during virtual navigation Journal Article

In: Nat Neurosci, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 103–112, 2020, ISSN: 1546-1726.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Etter, Guillaume; Manseau, Frederic; Williams, Sylvain

Corrigendum: A Probabilistic Framework for Decoding Behavior From Calcium Imaging Data Miscellaneous

2020, ISSN: 1662-5110.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

2019

Etter, Guillaume; van der Veldt, Suzanne; Manseau, Frédéric; Zarrinkoub, Iman; Trillaud-Doppia, Emilie; Williams, Sylvain

Optogenetic gamma stimulation rescues memory impairments in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model Journal Article

In: Nat Commun, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 5322, 2019, ISSN: 2041-1723.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Lévesque, Maxime; Chen, Li-Yuan; Etter, Guillaume; Shiri, Zahra; Wang, Siyan; Williams, Sylvain; Avoli, Massimo

Paradoxical effects of optogenetic stimulation in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy Journal Article

In: Ann Neurol, vol. 86, no. 5, pp. 714–728, 2019, ISSN: 1531-8249.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Varela, Eva Vico; Etter, Guillaume; Williams, Sylvain

Excitatory-inhibitory imbalance in Alzheimer's disease and therapeutic significance Journal Article

In: Neurobiol Dis, vol. 127, pp. 605–615, 2019, ISSN: 1095-953X.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Mondragón-Rodríguez, Siddhartha; Gu, Ning; Fasano, Caroline; Peña-Ortega, Fernando; Williams, Sylvain

Functional Connectivity between Hippocampus and Lateral Septum is Affected in Very Young Alzheimer's Transgenic Mouse Model Journal Article

In: Neuroscience, vol. 401, pp. 96–105, 2019, ISSN: 1873-7544.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX