We are partnering with the Wellcome Trust to establish this new research centre, where scientists will use state-of-the-art techniques to investigate how circuits in the brain process information to create neural representations and guide behaviour.

Impressive progress has been made over the last 20 years in understanding the organisation and function of the brain.  The challenge now is to understand exactly how the brain’s neural circuits carry out the information processing that directly underlies behaviour.  This will require applying new techniques that lie at the interface of a number of traditional scientific disciplines, including computation, physics and chemistry.

We believe this can best be achieved by developing a world-class research centre hosting a diverse group of scientists with a common interest in the workings of the brain.  We are partnering with the Wellcome Trust to create the Sainsbury-Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, which will open at University College London (UCL) in 2014.

Scientists recruited to the Centre will use state-of-the-art molecular, cellular, imaging, electrophysiology and behavioural techniques, supported by theoretical modelling, to investigate how circuits in the brain process information to create neural representations and guide behaviour.

Professor John O’Keefe has been appointed as Interim Director, while the award-winning firm Ian Ritchie Architects and a team of specialist consultants have been selected to develop the vision of all three stakeholders.  They are now designing the new centre, which recently received planning approval from London Borough of Camden.  The new building will form part of the UCL main campus and will complement the current strength of UCL’s neuroscience research community and its relationships with other medical research organisations in the local area.