Professor
Sangyoon Ko
- Learning and memory
- memory engram
- neurodevelopmental disorders
- intellectual disability
- autism
- neurodegenerative disorders
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Education
Ph.D. in Physiology, University of Toronto (2023)
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Location
W13
- Phone
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Laboratory
Memory and Cognition Lab
Biosketch
- Dr. Sangyoon Ko is a neuroscientist who studies the neurobiological principles of memory formation and storage in the brain. He joined the Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences as an Assistant Professor in Spring 2026.
- He received his Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Toronto, where he conducted research on learning and memory under the supervision of Dr. Paul Frankland. He subsequently completed his postdoctoral training and served as a Research Associate at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), focusing on human brain disorders under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Scherer.
- He has published extensively in leading international journals, including Nature and Science, and his work has contributed to advancing circuit-level understanding of memory and brain disorders.
- Dr. Ko’s research program investigates the neural mechanisms by which memories are encoded, reorganized, and maintained, and explores how memory and cognitive functions are altered—and potentially restored—in neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Key Papers
- Memory engram
- Ko, Sangyoon Y., et al. "Systems consolidation reorganizes hippocampal engram circuitry." Nature 643.8072 (2025): 735-743.
- Ramsaran, Adam I., et al. "A shift in the mechanisms controlling hippocampal engram formation during brain maturation." Science 380.6644 (2023): 543-551.
- Ko, Sangyoon Y., and Paul W. Frankland. "Neurogenesis-dependent transformation of hippocampal engrams.” Neuroscience Letters 762 (2021): 136176.
- Brain-related disorders
- Gall-Duncan, Terence*, Ko, Sangyoon Y.*, Quick, Isabelle*, et al. "Interventionally targeting somatic CAG expansions can be a rapid disease-modifying therapeutic avenue: Preclinical evidence." bioRxiv preprint, (2025). Manuscript under revision.
- Ko, Sangyoon Y., et al. “Disruption of major Ptchd1 isoforms causes autistic traits in social behavior and communication.” Manuscript under revision.
- Bradley, Clarrisa A., Ko, Sangyoon Y., et al. “Deletions within the X-linked long non-coding RNA, PTCHD1-AS, lead to autism and autism-like behaviours in mice.” Research Square preprint, (2025). Manuscript under revision.