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A key figure in the field of neuroscience at the time, Grahamwas a UK-born scientist who left Dalhousie University in Canada to become Professor and Head of Psychology at the University of Otago in 1981. Goddard famously showed that abnormal neural activity can produce lasting physiological changes in the brain that underpins epilepsy development – a phenomenon he termed “kindling”. He then became a pioneer in the study of memory mechanisms, which is what drew Cliff to his lab. “We studied neurons and their connections – synapses – and how they change. The brain’s fundamental feature is that it’s changeable. Such plasticity, when driven by experience, is howwe formmemories and learn new things.” Later, Cliff’s lab discovered another layer: not just that synapses change, but that their ability to change can, itself, be modified. He called this metaplasticity. Simply put, it’s how past experience shapes the brain’s ability to change and learn in the future – just as plastics can be moulded and adapted. Cliff would spend much of his career exploring how those changes happen. The plastic brain Metaplasticity helps explain why learning is sometimes easy while at other times our brains resist it. It shows that past experience can make learning easier, or more difficult, the next time around. Metaplasticity provides a deeper understanding of how learning can happen effectively. It also has important implications for disease. If the brain’s ability to change becomes too rigid or too unstable, it may contribute to conditions such as dementia, epilepsy, or other neurological disorders. About 20 years ago Cliff’s focus shifted from understanding memory mechanisms to investigating how they can help us understand memory loss in disease. This is now the major focus of his lab’s work. “There has been an evolution, and it’s not because we’ve solved all the basic science, but because the issues are pressing.” With a rapidly ageing population, understanding how memory works, and why it breaks down in dementia, has never been more urgent. Fortunately, Cliff says, neurotechnologies have advanced in a way that will continue to generate new discoveries. “The biggest change is that the range of techniques available now is massively different fromwhen I started,” he says. “For example, we can manipulate specific genes and proteins, record activity frommultitudes of cells at one time, and generate massive datasets from biochemical screens of tissues as well as MRI scans, so researchers can address questions that we could only dream of answering before.” Uniting New Zealand to tackle brain disease While Cliff has made significant contributions to brain research, one of his most important roles has been helping turn the fight against brain disease into a national effort. In 2007, he led the establishment of Otago’s Brain Health Research Centre, a network to bring neuroscientists within the university together, fostering closer collaboration and the sharing of knowledge. He took this a step further in 2015 when he helped set up the government-funded Brain Research New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence, co-directing alongside Distinguished Professor Sir Richard Faull and later Professor Peter Thorne. This united Auckland and Otago Universities, along with Canterbury and AUT. “It was an amazing centre in the way it brought national neurosciences together, collaborating much more than they ever had before. There was an immense impact once people saw each other and realised how they could work together.” Earlier, Cliff helped create one of the first opportunities for New Zealand’s neuroscientists to meet face to face, serving on the founding committee of the Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research (AWCBR) in the early 1980s to bring researchers fromAustralia and New Zealand together. His role later included a 12-year term as its chair, overseeing a period of significant growth. More than four decades later, the AWCBR conference remains a fixture in the neuroscience calendar. He holds New Zealand’s highest scientific honour, the RutherfordMedal. But his story begins far from the lab, in a mid-18th century farmhouse in Maryland in the United States. “I grew up in a pretty unusual environment. There were seven of us siblings – I was fifth, with three older brothers – which probably drove a certain competitive spirit in me,” Cliff recalls. “The house needed a lot of work when we first moved in, but it was a great place to grow up – lots of space to run around, and plenty of chores. We had a huge vegetable garden, big enough to plough with a tractor, so there was always planting, weeding, harvesting, mowing. I guess it built a strong work ethic.” Cliff’s parents encouraged their children to follow their interests when it came to choosing a career. “I have a lot to thank them for. They gave us the freedom to do whatever we wanted to do, without pushing us in any particular direction.” Cliff’s interest in the workings of the mind led him to pursue psychology. In 1981, Cliff gained a BA in Psychology with highest distinction from the University of Virginia, then shifted to the University of Florida to complete his PhD in its new neuroscience department within the medical school. “At the time there were plenty of neuroscientists around the country, but they were scattered across different departments. In Florida they had a centre that was all about neuroscience. There, experts in pharmacology, anatomy, biochemistry, neurology and physiology were all in one place,” he says. “You could more easily combine forces to tackle problems that required a multidisciplinary approach. So that was a great training ground for me.” Cliff’s move to New Zealand was not part of any grand plan. He had been preparing to take up a position in Canada when the opportunity shifted to the other side of the world. “I like to equate it with Bilbo Baggins’ unexpected journey,” he says. “For me, though, it wasn’t really about the place. It was about the person I was going to work with.” What followed was a step into the unknown: a young neuroscientist leaving the United States for a country many of his colleagues had barely heard of, unsure where it might lead. He treated it as an adventure and his mentor, Professor GrahamGoddard, was his Gandalf. PhD candidate Shadrina Assegaf works alongside Cliff and Dr Bruce Mockett. Cliff has played a central role in growing brain research at the University of Otago. Memories: Cliff at age 13. Cliff (4th from left) photographed with his family for their 1968 Christmas card. 4 Headlines 5 Headlines