Neuroscience
"To support world-class experimental and computational research."
Summary of Neuroscience programmes
List of grants paid during 2006 - 2007
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
Trustees together with the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome) have agreed to collaborate 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. International-level scientists working within the Centre will use state-of-the-art molecular and cellular biology, imaging, electrophysiology and behavioural techniques, supported by relevant computational modelling, to identify the determinants of information processing in the brain. There will be a sharp focus to its scientific goals, and novel types of infrastructure support to stay abreast of an exciting and fast moving field. The primary goal will be to support research that focuses on elucidating exactly how neural circuits of the brain carry out information processing that directly underlies behaviour.
PLEASE NOTE TRUSTEES ARE NOT ACCEPTING UNSOLICITED APPLICATIONS FOR FUNDING IN THIS AREA.
List of grants paid during 2006 - 2007
| 2006-2007 | |
| Total | £3,332,661 |
| Total payments made in 2006 - 2007 (from new and previous grants) | |
| Columbia University | £633,795 |
| Towards the Gatsby Initiative in Brain Circuitry research. | |
| Imperial College School of Medicine | £51,060 |
| Towards Dr Mark Ungless’s research into ‘Investigating phasic activity in neuromechanically-identified dorsal raphe serotonin neurons’. | |
| Neuroscience Specialist Meetings | £51,551 |
| Towards specialist meetings. | |
| University College London | £2,130,334 |
| Towards Dr Michael Häusser’s research
programme to study the cellular basis of neural computation. Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit - Towards core funding. Towards Dr Linden’s research programme entitled ‘Physiological characteristics of auditory cortex in CBA/CaJ mice. Towards supporting research staff and costs of Dr Li’s laboratory of natural intelligence in the Department of Psychology. | |
| University of Cambridge – Dept. of Experimental Psychology | £185,584 |
| Towards research in the field of perpetual genetics. | |
| University of Cambridge – Cavendish Laboratory | £142,883 |
| Towards Dr David Mackay’s fellowship and the Dasher project. | |
| The beneficiaries below received grant payments totalling less than £50,000 | |
| European Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience | £40,000 |
| Imperial College London | £15,000 |
| University of Bristol | £17,500 |
| University of Manchester | £24,954 |
| University of Sheffield | £39,000 |
| Small grants were paid to other organisations in this category totalling £1,000 | |