Steve Ramirez

Ramirez was born in Massachusetts to Salvadoran immigrants and grew up in Everett, Massachusetts. His parents, older brother, and sister escaped wartime El Salvador towards the end of the 1970s and came to the United States.{{Cite news |title=The 30 Top Thinkers Under 30: Steve Ramirez, 26, Neuroscience |language=en |work=Pacific Standard |url=https://psmag.com/social-justice/30-top-thinkers-30-neuroscience-hollywood-professor-wants-erase-memories-76417 |access-date=2023-11-06}} In his early teens, Ramirez's cousin experienced atrophy and coma during childbirth, which influenced Ramirez's curiosity on the topic of neuroscience, and the ability to physically manipulate brain chemistry. He later attended high school in Massachusetts.

Ramirez attended college at Boston University in Massachusetts where he was trying to find an academic field that suited him. His girlfriend at the time suggested to Ramirez that he should seek guidance from the head of department of the neuroscience program at Boston University. Ramirez agreed, and began to be mentored by the head of department, where he developed a passion for the field of work and found a community among the members of the program. When Ramirez and his girlfriend broke up, he was inspired to see if he could change the feelings behind those memories while keeping the memory intact.{{Cite web |title=Steve Ramirez: If We Could Erase Memories ... Should We? |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/557428061 |website=TED RADIO HOUR |publisher=NPR |publication-date=October 13, 2017}}

Throughout the rest of his education, Ramirez decided to focus his studies on the neuroscience of memory, which began the path of his career and achievements. After graduating from college in 2010, Ramirez joined the lab of Susumu Tonegawa where he continued his studies, and eventually earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience. Ramirez's earliest scientific work occurred with the help of his mentor, Xu Liu, who Ramirez attributes much of his achievements to, and claims that Liu taught him many skills necessary for their work.

Steve Ramirez is known for his studies on memory where he went on to publish six research articles under Tonegawa Susumu's lab. In 2013, Ramirez collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which studied how false memories can be formed in the hippocampus.{{Cite journal |last=Ramirez |first=Steve |last2=Liu |first2=Xu |last3=Lin |first3=Pei-Ann |last4=Suh |first4=Junghyup |last5=Pignatelli |first5=Michele |last6=Redondo |first6=Roger L. |last7=Ryan |first7=Tomás J. |last8=Tonegawa |first8=Susumu |date=2013-07-26 |title=Creating a False Memory in the Hippocampus |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1239073 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=341 |issue=6144 |pages=387–391 |doi=10.1126/science.1239073 |issn=0036-8075|hdl=1721.1/85964 |hdl-access=free }} Ramirez and Liu also gave a TED Talk in which they discussed their research. Ramirez expressed how he was manipulating the brain cells of mice to respond to pulses of light and manipulate their memories. He was aiming to make this process accessible to humans as well to treat mental illness.

• 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity award along with his associate Xu Liu, PhD., for their work on artificial reaction and creation of memories{{Cite web |date=2014-10-27 |title=Xu Liu and Steve Ramirez win 2014 American Ingenuity Award |url=https://news.mit.edu/2014/xu-liu-and-steve-ramirez-win-2014-american-ingenuity-award-1027 |access-date=2023-10-26 |website=MIT News {{!}} Massachusetts Institute of Technology |language=en}}
• Featured in Forbes' 30 under 30 in 2015, being recognized among young influential scientists{{Cite web |title=Steve Ramirez |url=https://explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org/steve-ramirez |access-date=2023-10-26 |website=explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org}}
• 2019 National Institutes of Health Director's Transformative Research Award alongside Christine Ann Denny, Ph.D.{{Cite web |last=National Institutes of Health |title=2019 Awardees {{!}} NIH Common Fund |url=https://commonfund.nih.gov/TRA/recipients19 |url-status=live |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=commonfund.nih.gov}}
• 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).{{Cite web |last=The White House |title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers – The White House |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-announces-recipients-presidential-early-career-award-scientists-engineers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208223555/https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-announces-recipients-presidential-early-career-award-scientists-engineers/ |archive-date=2019-12-08 |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov}}

1. {{Cite journal|pmid=22441246 |date=2012 |last1=Liu |first1=X. |last2=Ramirez |first2=S. |last3=Pang |first3=P. T. |last4=Puryear |first4=C. B. |last5=Govindarajan |first5=A. |last6=Deisseroth |first6=K. |last7=Tonegawa |first7=S. |title=Optogenetic stimulation of a hippocampal engram activates fear memory recall |journal=Nature |volume=484 |issue=7394 |pages=381–385 |doi=10.1038/nature11028 |pmc=3331914 }}
2. {{Cite journal|pmid=23888038 |date=2013 |last1=Ramirez |first1=S. |last2=Liu |first2=X. |last3=Lin |first3=P. A. |last4=Suh |first4=J. |last5=Pignatelli |first5=M. |last6=Redondo |first6=R. L. |last7=Ryan |first7=T. J. |last8=Tonegawa |first8=S. |title=Creating a false memory in the hippocampus |journal=Science |volume=341 |issue=6144 |pages=387–391 |doi=10.1126/science.1239073 |hdl=1721.1/85964 |hdl-access=free }}
3. {{cite journal|pmid=25162525 |date=2014 |last1=Redondo |first1=R. L. |last2=Kim |first2=J. |last3=Arons |first3=A. L. |last4=Ramirez |first4=S. |last5=Liu |first5=X. |last6=Tonegawa |first6=S. |title=Bidirectional switch of the valence associated with a hippocampal contextual memory engram |journal=Nature |volume=513 |issue=7518 |pages=426–430 |doi=10.1038/nature13725 |pmc=4169316 }}
4. {{Cite journal|pmid=26085274 |date=2015 |last1=Ramirez |first1=S. |last2=Liu |first2=X. |last3=MacDonald |first3=C. J. |last4=Moffa |first4=A. |last5=Zhou |first5=J. |last6=Redondo |first6=R. L. |last7=Tonegawa |first7=S. |title=Activating positive memory engrams suppresses depression-like behaviour |journal=Nature |volume=522 |issue=7556 |pages=335–339 |doi=10.1038/nature14514 |pmc=5583720 }}
5. {{Cite journal|pmid=29903960 |date=2018 |last1=Ramirez |first1=S. |title=Crystallizing a memory |journal=Science |volume=360 |issue=6394 |pages=1182–1183 |doi=10.1126/science.aau0043 }}
6. {{Cite journal|pmid=36163262 |date=2022 |last1=Shpokayte |first1=M. |last2=McKissick |first2=O. |last3=Guan |first3=X. |last4=Yuan |first4=B. |last5=Rahsepar |first5=B. |last6=Fernandez |first6=F. R. |last7=Ruesch |first7=E. |last8=Grella |first8=S. L. |last9=White |first9=J. A. |last10=Liu |first10=X. S. |last11=Ramirez |first11=S. |title=Hippocampal cells segregate positive and negative engrams |journal=Communications Biology |volume=5 |issue=1 |page=1009 |doi=10.1038/s42003-022-03906-8 |pmc=9512908 }}

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