About Us

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.

Read our Diversity Statement.

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 Neuro Infographic

 

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

Our new state-of-the-art research center for Wu Tsai Neuro & ChEM-H is approaching completion, and will soon serve as a focal point for our community. It will be 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. With move-in scheduled for fall 2019, we will soon be opening our doors to the entire community.