Tromso (Norway), Jan 26 (IANS): Norway's Nobel-winning scientist couple May-Britt and Edvard Moser said they have separated but they will continue to work as colleagues on their successful brain research.

"This is not something we want to share with people, but we know that the rumour goes. Therefore it is important to say it clearly and notify everyone that this will not negatively affect the centre," Xinhua news agency quoted May-Britt Moser as telling newspaper Adresseavisen.

"In isolation, this is a private matter, but we want to reassure all those who feel unsafe for the institute and our research," she added.

Edvard Moser also confirmed that their separation would not affect the work of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and the Centre for Neural Computation at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in the city of Trondheim.

The Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, led by Edvard Moser, coexists with the Centre for Neural Computation, led by May-Britt Moser, but the scope of the institute is broader and more long-term than that of the centre.

"No, not in the foreseeable future. It is unthinkable to leave the department in such an important phase," Edvard said when he was asked if it is appropriate that one of them leaves the centre and NTNU.

"This is an institute we have engaged heavily in building. Many talented people from abroad have chosen to travel from their usual environment and come here because they want to cooperate with us," Edvard said.

"We cannot fail them. It's impossible to go away now," he added.

The couple jointly won the 2014 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine along with John O'Keefe, a researcher at University College London, for their discovery of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.