Studying the brain—how it works, how we can keep it healthy, and what can go wrong when we get sick—is a rapidly expanding area of interest with tremendous relevance to human health and well-being. Two years ago, the University made a Grand Challenges research investment of more than $75 million in an interdisciplinary endeavor to pioneer life-changing advances in neuroscience while also mapping the workings of the human brain. This effort is already leading to a better understanding of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, pain, epilepsy, and autism as well as how the brain functions over a lifespan.

The University of Virginia launched the Brain Institute as a testament to UVA’s commitment to collaborative research in the neurosciences. This is one of the priority research areas outlined in UVA’s 2030 Strategic Plan. The Brain Institute serves as the hub of UVA’s interdisciplinary network, fostering connections across Grounds and uniting the neuroscience-related work of faculty members, students, and staff in various schools, including medicine, engineering, arts & sciences, nursing, data science, leadership and public policy, and education.

Under the visionary leadership of Jaideep Kapur, the Eugene Meyer III Professor of Neuroscience, and Sarah Kucenas, the Owen R. Cheatham Professor of the Sciences and professor of biology, the Brain Institute is at the forefront of pioneering brain and neuroscience research. Its comprehensive programming supports over 250 faculty members in their exploration of brain development and decline, marking a significant leap forward in our understanding of the brain.

The Grand Challenges investment has been a game-changer, propelling our neuroscience community forward. “This is an investment in the UVA neuroscience community writ large,” Kapur said when the Grand Challenge support was announced. He founded the Brain Institute in 2016 and was involved with Kucenas and others on the Grand Challenges proposal process. “All the ideas people gave us, we captured,” Kucenas said. “We had something like a 40- to 50-page document at the end, and we sought to find the common threads throughout.”

Though there are specific areas of emphasis, the Grand Challenges are all about “encouraging wide interdisciplinary connections,” Kucenas said. “In addition to fostering collaborative research and clinical care, one of our other core missions is training and empowering the next generation of scientists and clinicians who will make new discoveries about the brain and advance research approaches and techniques for the benefit of patients.”

The University’s investment in this initiative has generated exciting opportunities to support leading-edge neuroscience research that will benefit patients down the road and advance our understanding of neurological disease. Philanthropic support is critical for scientific research, allowing investigators to explore high-risk, high-reward ideas before they are ready for large-scale funding.

Major support has been received from the Harrison family, most recently with the creation of the Harrison Family Translational Research Center in Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases as well as from The Owens Family Foundation and the Rick Sharp Alzheimer’s Foundation. Dr. Ken Botsford (Col ’75, Med ’79) and Nina Botsford provided generous support for the future of neuroscience research through a provision in their bequest. They also recently created the Nina and Ken Botsford Bicentennial Professorship in Neurology at the School of Medicine.

Exploring the Brain

The collaborations across Grounds have resulted in many pioneering research initiatives, including the following:

• Discovering a molecule in the brain that orchestrates the immune system’s responses to Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis, a finding that could allow doctors to supercharge the body’s ability to fight those and other neurological diseases
  John Lukens, director of the Harrison Family Translational Research Center in Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases
   
• Furthering the Baby Brain Initiative Project, which tracks premature infants to study their development and assess for autism risk (higher in premature babies)
  Dr. Karen Fairchild, chief of the Division of Neonatology and principal investigator for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
   
• Defining the treatment of prolonged, life-threatening seizures, called status epilepticus
  Dr. Jaideep Kapur leads the NIH-funded 60-site Phase 3 Established Status Epilepticus Treatment Trial and soon-to-be-launched ketamine add-on therapy for established status epilepticus
   
• Novel gene therapies for epilepsies
  Dr. Ed Perez-Reyes, professor of pharmacology, is developing more effective ways to modify genes, and Dr. Manoj Patel, professor of anesthesiology, is developing novel gene editing techniques to cure genetic epilepsies
   
• Exploring low-intensity focused ultrasound treatment for drug addiction
  Dr. Nassima Ait-Daoud Tiouririne, director of the Center for Leading Edge Addiction Research and professor of psychiatry
   
• Pioneering the use of focused soundwaves to improve treatment of a debilitating brain condition called cerebral cavernous malformations, or CCMs
  Richard J. Price, Nancy and Neal Wade Professor of Engineering and Applied Science and co-director of the Focused Ultrasound Cancer Immunotherapy Center, and Petr Tvrdik, assistant professor of neurosurgery

• Testing the viability of a deep brain implant to both study and potentially treat Alzheimer’s disease
  Harald Sontheimer, Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of Neuroscience and chair of the Department of Neuroscience
   
• Discovering increased inflammation and structural changes by analyzing brains that have been repeatedly exposed to blasts
  Dr. James Stone, vice chairman of clinical research and professor of radiology and medical imaging
   
• Learning about autistic gender differences that might help pinpoint the underlying causes of the autism and develop treatments or interventions  
  Kevin Pelphrey, Harrison-Wood Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished Professor of Neurology in the School of Medicine
   
• Discovering how Lactobacillus, a bacterium found in fermented foods and yogurt, helps the body manage stress and may help prevent depression and anxiety
  Alban Gaultier, associate professor of neuroscience
   
• Uncovering how harmful tau proteins damage the essential operating instructions for brain cells, a finding that could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions
  George Bloom, professor in the Departments of Biology, Cell Biology, and Neuroscience
   
• Using focused ultrasound technology to treat chronic pain, such as neuropathic pain that comes from nerve injuries and pain associated with cancer
  Dr. Jeffrey Elias, director of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery department and professor of neurosurgery