Neuroscience
"To support world-class research in the area of neural circuits and behaviour, and in the area of theoretical neuroscience; and to support activities which enhance our understanding in this field."
Summary of Neuroscience programmes
List of grants paid during 2008 - 2009
Links to beneficiaries
Summary of Neuroscience programmes
Over the last 10 years, Trustees have funded research, meetings and courses in the field of neuroscience and focused their support in three major areas: 1) the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit at University College London, which was established in 1997; 2) a large research programme in the laboratory of Professor Häusser at the Wolfson Institute, University College London, and 3)The Gatsby Initiative in Brain Circuitry at Columbia University, New York, USA.
In May 2007, Trustees confirmed their intent to increase Gatsby’s investment in neuroscience and appointed Dr. Sarah Caddick to oversee the Foundation’s activities.
Future Plans
The Trustees, after seeking expert advice, have decided to focus on the area of Neural Circuits and Behaviour. There has been impressive progress over the last 20 years in understanding the organisation and function of the brain. The challenge that now faces the neurosciences is to understand the relationship between gene activity, neural circuit function, and behaviour. It is widely accepted that progress will come from the application of new techniques that lie at the interface of a number of traditional scientific disciplines including computation, physics and chemistry. The Trustees believe that this can be achieved through the creation of a world-class Research Centre that hosts a diverse group of scientists with a common interest in the workings of the brain, integrated effectively within a first-class university. The Centre will generate a culture of innovation and collaboration, and provide resources that protect the pursuit of ambitious and long-term scientific goals. Trustees are confident that this will have a major impact on the direction of UK neuroscience research, for decades to come.
Sainsbury-Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation (Gatsby) and the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome) are collaborating for the purpose of developing a new Research Centre in Neural Circuits and Behaviour, to be called the Sainsbury-Wellcome Centre, and to support individual researchers in the field of Neural Circuits and Behaviour elsewhere in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Gatsby and Wellcome, advised by an international panel of eminent neuroscientists, have selected University College London (UCL) as the host for the Centre.
Further information about the Centre will be available at a future date.
PLEASE NOTE TRUSTEES ARE NOT ACCEPTING UNSOLICITED APPLICATIONS FOR FUNDING IN THIS AREA..
List of grants paid during 2008 - 2009
| 2008 - 2009 | |
| Total | £5,354,503 |
| Total payments made this year (from new and previous grants) | |
| Columbia University | £1,024,258 |
| Towards the Gatsby Initiative in Brain Circuitry research and Professor Oliver Sacks’s research as Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Arts. | |
| Harvard University | £680,755 |
| Towards the Connectomic Consortium (Harvard, Stanford and MIT). | |
| London Centre for Nanotechnology | £225,000 |
| Towards support for the Häusser Laboratory microscope. | |
| Sainsbury-Wellcome Centre for Brain Circuitry | £50,600 |
| Towards the costs of the university selection process in relation to the creation of the Sainsbury-Wellcome Centre for Brain Circuitry. | |
| University College London | £2,643,590 |
| Towards: core costs of the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit; Professor Michael Häusser’s research into cellular basis of neural computation; supporting Dr Li’s laboratory of natural intelligence in the Department of Psychology; Dr Linden’s research programme entitled “Physiological characteristics of auditory cortex in CBA/CaJ mice”; and support for the Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience in 2008. | |
| University of Cambridge | £398,730 |
| Towards: the establishment of the research field of perceptual genetics, and to identify strong initial effects in areas where the applicants have expertise; and support for Professor David Berry’s sabbatical leave at the Department of Physiology. | |
| University of Cambridge Development Office | £110,577 |
| Toward Professor David MacKay’s proposed work on Distributed Phase Codes and ‘Beyond Dasher’. | |
| University of Manchester | £131,530 |
| Towards Professor Matthew Lambon Ralph’s neuroscience research programme into understanding the nature of plasticity in the reading system. | |
| The beneficiaries below received grant payments totalling £50,000 or less | |
| Neuroscience Specialist Meetings | £10,944 |
| Imperial College London | £18,100 |
| Imperial College School of Medicine | £45,294 |
| University of Bristol | £13,125 |
| Small grants were paid to other organisations in this category totalling £2,000 | |