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About Us

Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Our Mission

The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute is dedicated to understanding how the brain gives rise to mental life and behavior, both in health and in disease. Our research community draws from and informs multiple disciplines, including neuroscience, medicine, engineering, psychology, education and law. The discoveries that arise from these collaborations will transform our understanding of the human brain, provide novel treatments for brain disorders, and promote brain health throughout the lifespan.

Neuroscience is at an inflection point in its history. New technologies are transforming scientists’ abilities to explore the brain — yielding more detailed images of its cells, more accurate measurements of its activity, and more precise ability to mimic its functions than ever before. With these new approaches have come astounding new insights about the exquisite complexity of the brain.

The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute is at the forefront of this exploration.

Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, Equity and Justice

The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute believes diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging are essential to the advancement of science and to the development of a vibrant intellectual community. Research conducted in the absence of diversity and inclusion of all people and their ideas slows the pace of science and our ability to treat diseases and improve lives.
 
For more information, read our full Diversity Statement or visit our Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, Equity and Justice page.

Land Acknowledgement

Stanford sits on the ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe (how to pronounce). This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Ohlone people. Consistent with our values of community and inclusion, we have a responsibility to acknowledge, honor, and make visible the University’s relationship to Native people.

Celebrating five years of transforming neuroscience

In fall of 2018, we celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Institute, the community we have built and the achievements of our researchers and trainees. 
 
Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at 5 years. For more information, download Wu Tsai Neuro Infographic PDF or email neuroscience@stanford.edu.
 
 
Our success, both now and in the future, springs from three foundational Institute commitments—to outstanding people, to innovative research and to state-of-the-art facilities.  

Engaging Extraordinary People

The future of neuroscience is profoundly interdisciplinary, and our community includes more than 400 Stanford faculty affiliates. We have hired five exceptional interdisciplinary faculty scholars whose work transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries, and over the next few years, we will double the number of our institute’s faculty.
 
We are developing the next generation of interdisciplinary neuroscience leaders. The Institute supports fellowships for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, and we are rapidly expanding the graduate training programs of the Center for Mind, Brain, Computation and Technology.

Fostering Interdisciplinary Research

By supporting faculty as they explore their bold and transformational new research ideas, we aim to advance the neurosciences and, in doing so, to better understand our own brains, thoughts, emotions, creativity and morality. We support the broad areas of innovation and discovery in NeuroDiscovery, NeuroEngineering and NeuroHealth through grant programs that include our flagship Big Ideas in Neuroscience, Seed Grants and Research Accelerator awards. In partnership with Stanford Biodesign, we are piloting a new Neuroscience:Translate grant program.

Creating Vital Infrastructure

In 2020, we opened our new state-of-the-art research center for Wu Tsai Neuro & ChEM-H, which serves as a focal point for our community. It is a uniquely beautiful and functional space—an expression of the values and intellectual goals of both institutes. This intellectual hub will be home to more than 40 laboratories and new and existing Neuroscience Community Labs to serve the Stanford neuroscience community.