Somewhere tonight, someone — make that millions of someones — will wake up in desperate terror, reliving the horror of a traumatic event. The someones will range from combat veterans and abuse survivors to witnesses to mass-shootings and victims of natural disasters.

Right now, there’s nothing they can do except let the panic dissipate, like waiting out a summer thunderstorm. But in the near future, a remedy might be literally within reach, thanks to landmark memory research by Ed Meloni ’91.

Picture this: Sitting on the bedstand of that someone is a xenon-gas inhaler. The sufferer breathes deeply from the inhaler. And poof: Not only is the traumatic memory gone, but so is the associated and sometimes debilitating condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ed Meloni ’91 speaks to students in Professor of Neuroscience Nancy Koven’s course on embodied cognition during his mid-March visit as the College Key Distinguished Alumnus in Residence. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

In any given year, more than eight million Americans suffer from PTSD, which develops in some people who have experienced a traumatic personal event. Most people probably know something about PTSD through its depiction in popular culture, particularly war movies. Early on, in 1946, there was the post-World War II movie Best Years of Their Lives, then movies like Coming Home, Born on the Fourth of July, and The Hurt Locker, all of which portray PTSD sufferers.

The nightmares and flashbacks — two — feel very real. In one way, they are, and that’s the key to Meloni’s research on xenon gas as a potential treatment.

at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, where he works alongside , director of the hospital’s Behavioral Genetics Laboratory. During his visit to �ֲ���ý in March as the College Key’s Distinguished Alumnus in Residence, Meloni joined neuroscience classes, met with students, and delivered an evening lecture. He and I spoke for about an hour.

Researchers, Meloni explained, used to believe that “recalling a memory was like reading a file.” It was read, then put back. “We thought memories were immutable.” Meloni and other scientists have shown that’s not the case. “Our memories can be changed; new information can be integrated.”

(In fact, Meloni says, “our memories are probably not faithful representations of what really happened,” which has great implications for the reliability of crime eyewitnesses, a field of research by �ֲ���ý psychology professor Amy Douglass.)

This process of memory retrieval and updating is known as reconsolidation, and Meloni is an expert in the field. In 2014, he and colleagues at McLean showed that xenon gas can block the reconsolidation of fearful memories in lab rats, effectively eliminating the fear. The discovery garnered national attention for its promise to end PTSD suffering.

Now, the promise is getting close to reality.

PTSD can affect military service members who experience a traumatic event in combat. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Nadine Barclay)

For a discovery that could bear directly on human life, the route to finding it was “indirect,” Meloni says. “It was chance and serendipity.” (And, we would add, also some creative thinking on his part.)

As the story goes, a colleague of Meloni’s was presenting research data at a conference, where he learned that a medical gas company was interested in providing a device that would allow scientists to use xenon gas in their rat-model experiments on neurodegenerative diseases.

“You can’t just get a rat to put a mask on.”

The device was needed because “gases are hard to work with” in research that uses a rat model, Meloni explains. “There are a lot of intricacies with gas delivery. It’s not as simple as giving a drug. You can’t just get a rat to put a mask on.”

So the medical gas company funded a research apparatus at McLean, the first of its kind in the world, to test the effects of xenon gas on a rat model.

In terms of its general medical use, xenon is hardly new; though expensive, it’s considered a superior anesthetic and is used in diagnostic imaging. And in recent years, new research indicated that xenon could be “neuroprotective” in the brain, Meloni says, a general term meaning that it might protect nerve cells from the kind of damage found in neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injuries, such as concussion.

The unique research device in place, Meloni was initially part of an unrelated study that yielded “a strong signal” that xenon was indeed neuroprotective. Specifically, xenon is an “NMDA receptor antagonist” that protects the brain from an insult, glutamate excitotoxicity.

That led Meloni to wonder: If xenon is an NMDA receptor antagonist, it should block learning and memory because that’s the outcome when animals are given drugs that block the NMDA receptor. “They don’t learn,” he says. “Or, they stop fearing something they learned.”

“I just wanted to test that,” Meloni says. And among myriad tests involving xenon, rats, and fear, three results proved pivotal. First, they found that giving xenon gas to rats prevented them from developing a certain fear, in this case the fear of a mild shock. “We blocked the learning of fear,” Meloni recalls.

“I was floored,” Meloni says. “That was the home run.”

At this point, Meloni’s expertise in memory reconsolidation kicked in. He thought, “What if the animals are already afraid? Can xenon block a memory that was already there?”

So Meloni decided to pair the administration of gas with the reactivation of a fearful memory (in this case, a mild shock) that the rats had learned by Pavlovian association. When the fear was reactivated, in this case by the sound of a tone previously paired with the shock, the rats were immediately exposed to xenon gas. Tested a few days later — even weeks later —  they did not show fear when the tone was presented.

“I was floored,” Meloni says. “That was the home run.”

Xenon gas fills a discharge tube shaped like the element’s atomic symbol. (Photograph by Pslawinski [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons)

Last summer, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office gave Meloni and fellow researcher Marc Kaufman a — essentially a patent approval — for using xenon gas to treat PTSD. The biotech firm Nobilis Therapeutics has licensed the patent and seeks to develop a hand-held medical device for self-administration of xenon.

The hand-held device “is absolutely critical,” Meloni says. “If a medical professional identifies that you might benefit from xenon therapy, you want to administer it as soon as the traumatic memory is reactivated, which happens “organically, out in the real world,” Meloni notes, in nightmares, flashbacks, or by exposure to cues that remind the patient of the traumatic event, much like when the tone is presented to the fear-conditioned rats. “That’s when we think you’re going to get the most therapeutic effect.”

Of course, FDA approval is still required. “Up until now, there’s been no FDA-approved way to administer xenon gas aside from an elaborate anesthesia machine” in a medical setting, Meloni explains. At the moment, Meloni and colleagues are awaiting the go-ahead from the FDA to begin clinical human trials at McLean.

John Kelsey “activated my brain,” Meloni says.

If Meloni has shown smart and creative thinking in his xenon research, it’s safe to say those abilities were cultivated by his �ֲ���ý professors. A student in the days before �ֲ���ý developed its neuroscience program, Meloni designed his own interdisciplinary major to combine interests in biology and psychology.

Meloni wanted to study the brain, and “psychology alone didn’t quite fit the bill because the brain is a biological organism. Everything of the mind is derived from the biology of the brain — our cognition, how we feel — so I went with biology of the brain plus psychology: biopsychology.”

On the bio side, mentors included Pam Baker ’69, now retired, and Lee Abrahamsen. On the psych side, it was John Kelsey. (Also retired, Kelsey was recently honored with the creation of a new endowed professorship in his name, the John E. Kelsey Professorship in Neuroscience.)

As a faculty mentor, John Kelsey “activated my brain,” says Ed Meloni ’91. Here, at the 2014 Mount David Summit, Kelsey hugs friend and colleague Kathy Low, professor of psychology. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Kelsey “activated my brain,” Meloni says. “He forced you to think constructively and creatively and to problem-solve, to figure it out.”

For Meloni, a common denominator among his professors was “friendliness. �ֲ���ý professors take the time to get to know you personally and make sure you’re absorbing the material. They’re teachers, plus something more.”

Those �ֲ���ý qualities are invoked a lot because they’re valuable.  “For an underclassman, that’s just so big. It’s so inspiring. It just resonates.”

On successive evenings in February, �ֲ���ý College presents two lectures by noted scholars from the law schools at Columbia and Yale universities. Both events are open to the public at no cost.

Alan Schwartz, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School and a member of the �ֲ���ý class of 1961, offers a talk titled The Economic Rationality Assumption and Its Challengers at 7:30 p.m Wednesday, Feb. 1, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave. Sponsored by the College Key Distinguished Alumni in Residence Program, the lecture is part of a three-day residency at �ֲ���ý that will bring Schwartz together with faculty and students in a variety of settings.

Patricia Williams, James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, gives a lecture titled Reconstructing Civil Rights for an Uncertain Future at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in the �ֲ���ý Chapel, College Street. A reception follows. The event is presented by the �ֲ���ý College Lecture Series.

For more information about both events, call 207-786-6255.

In addition to the public lecture, Schwartz’s �ֲ���ý residency will include dinners with students and faculty, participation in classes and consulting with students through the career services office. The residency is made possible by the College Key, which honors �ֲ���ý students and alumni for academic and extracurricular performance, service to the community and strength of character.

Schwartz, who earned a bachelor of science degree in physics at �ֲ���ý, was a member of one of the two �ֲ���ý teams that in 1961 pulled off seven straight victories on television’s “College Bowl” quiz show, retiring without a loss as the winningest undefeated school in the history of the 1959-1970 program.

He earned his law degree at Yale and has taught there since 1987. His scholarly interests include commercial law, corporate finance, contracts, product liability, consumer protection and bankruptcy. He joined the Yale law faculty from the California Institute of Technology, where he was professor of law and social science, and from the University of Southern California Law Center, where he was Maurice Jones, Jr. Professor of Law.

Schwartz’s books include Payment Systems and Credit Instruments (with C. Gillette and R. Scott; Foundation Press, 1996) and Foundations of Contract Law (with R. Craswell; Oxford University Press, 1994).

A member of the Columbia Law School faculty since 1991,Williams centers her teaching and research on issues of race and gender. For the magazine The Nation, she writes the column “Diary of a Mad Law Professor,” covering race, gender, the law and other topics.

Williams’ books include The Alchemy of Race and Rights: A Diary of a Law Professor (Harvard University Press, 1991), The Rooster’s Egg: On the Persistence of Prejudice (Harvard, 1995) and Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998).

A native of Boston and a graduate of Wellesley College and Harvard University Law School, Williams practiced as a deputy city attorney for the city of Los Angeles and as a staff lawyer for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, in California. She has served on the faculties of the law schools at the University of Wisconsin, City University of New York and Golden Gate University. She is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as a “genius award.”

�ֲ���ý College presents a talk by Benjamin E. Robinson III, a member of the college’s class of 1986 and the chief privacy executive for Bank of America Corporation, at 7 p.m. Monday, May 3, in the Muskie Room of the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Avenue.

Presented by �ֲ���ý’ Distinguished Alumni in Residence program, the talk is open to the public at no charge. For more information, please call 207-786-6232.

As a senior vice president and privacy executive for Bank of America, Robinson is responsible for developing, implementing and communicating policies regarding the protection and use of customer information for that financial institution. Robinson was formerly senior vice president and strategy management executive at Bank of America, in charge of public policy issues, national alliances and national programs.

Before going to Bank of America, he was chief privacy officer for MasterCard International and president and CEO of MasterCard Cardholder Solutions. Robinson was recently appointed to the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank and serves on the faculty of the Hagan School of Business at Iona College.

Active in community affairs, Robinson received one of six National Red Cross Star Player awards and was named one of America’s Future Leaders by Ebony magazine. He is listed in Who’s Who Among U.S. Executives, Who’s Who Among International Executives, and Who’s Who Among Black Americans.

At �ֲ���ý, Robinson was a rhetoric major, a debater, vice president of the student government and a three-sport athlete. He holds a doctoral degree in banking and finance from the Union Graduate School, and is the author of Financial Privacy and Electronic Commerce: Who’s in My Business (Writers Club Press, 2000).

Robinson and his family reside in Charlotte, N.C.

The Distinguished Alumni in Residence program at �ֲ���ý is funded by the College Key.

Chantal Berry Dalton ’69, a career diplomat with the U.S. State Department, is the inaugural speaker in the new Distinguished Alumni in Residence program at �ֲ���ý College.

Dalton, who administers public affairs in southern Africa for the State Department, gives a public presentation on U.S. policies in Africa at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Avenue.

Dalton’s talk is open to the public at no charge. Her residency at �ֲ���ý is sponsored by the College Key, an organization of �ֲ���ý alumni.

During her stay at �ֲ���ý, Dalton will also make classroom visits and, through the college’s Office of Career Services, talk to students about her work.

“I’ll be talking about what my experience has been and the culture of the Department of State,” says Dalton, who is pleased to have the opportunity to encourage students from her alma mater to follow in her career footsteps.

Dalton’s public presentation will cover six points of U.S. policy in Africa, including the continent’s economy, environment, its role in the war against global terror, democratic government, AIDS and the need for large-scale efforts at conflict resolution.

“One of the main things, along with AIDS, that impedes development in Africa is this continual context of conflict,” she says, pointing to the recent upheaval in Liberia and the ongoing border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea. “This becomes a really big challenge for the department.”

Based in Washington, D.C., Dalton is the country officer for Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and four other countries in southern Africa. She has represented U.S. foreign policy overseas since 1981, when she joined the U.S. Information Agency, and has held a variety of foreign postings including Pakistan, Costa Rica and Brazil.

She works in the Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the State Department’s African affairs bureau. She and her colleagues in public diplomacy and affairs, she explains, “deal with the public image of American foreign policy and the public image of the embassy itself,” in the case of those serving abroad.

Dalton earned her bachelor’s degree in English at �ֲ���ý and a master’s in American literature at Northwestern University as a Ford Foundation Fellow. She taught at the University College of Rutgers, and hosted a public affairs program for New Jersey public television.

Dalton also speaks Portuguese, Spanish and French. She sings in her church choir at Foundry United Methodist in Washington, and is married to the Brazilian artist Jorge Luis Garcez Rocha, whom she met during her posting in Rio de Janeiro.

Based in Washington since 2001, Dalton’s work nowadays includes dealing with foreign media covering the United States. “For example, we have several groups of people coming to the two political nominating conventions this summer,” she says.

“That’s a big part of the job in an election year. It’s always interesting to see another journalist’s perception of how we run political campaigns in the United States — very interesting. We learn a lot and they learn a lot.”