We partnered with the Wellcome Trust to establish this new research centre, where scientists are using state-of-the-art techniques and theoretical models 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 quest is driving the development of new technologies and ways of interrogating the brain at ever greater resolution, techniques that lie at the interface of a variety of traditional scientific disciplines, including computation, physics and chemistry.

By developing a world-class research centre which can host a diverse group of scientists with a common interest in the workings of the brain we hope to achieve significant progress towards this goal. The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at University College London (UCL) was formally opened in 2016.

Professor Thomas Mrsic-Flogel was appointed as the Director in 2016. An ambitious programme of recruitment is well underway and these scientists 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. The Centre is located on the UCL main campus and complements the current strength of UCL's neuroscience research community and its relationships with other medical research organisations in the local area.