The Center for Neurobehavioral Development (CNBD) is a research center that houses over thirty studies about children's cognitive and neurobehavioral functioning.   Our research projects are supported by major granting agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

The mission of the Center for Neurobehavioral Development is to engage in basic and clinical research in the general field of Neurobehavioral Development.   The CNBD accomplishes this goal by providing administrative, educational and physical space to support faculty and students.   The CNBD is comprised of three thematic cores.   The first core focuses primarily on research investigating the neural underpinnings of cognitive and emotional development in typically developing children.   The focus of the second core is to examine the neurobiologic effects of early adversity (e.g. perinatal complications, malnutrition, institutionalization) on the developing brain in at risk children.   The third core is undertaking a clinical neuroscience approach to intervention and prevention in children diagnosed with or are at risk for developing frank neuro- or psychopathology.

The CNBD was constructed in 2000 with financial support from within the University of Minnesota and from external resources.  Ms. Allison Coulter Sedgwick made a generous individual donation to the CNBD that afforded the purchase of an audio/visual system, which is integral to collecting data and training researchers. Ms. Sedgwick's family has a long history of involvement in the University. Her husband, Dr. Frederick Paul Sedgwick, attended the University of Minnesota Medical School, and in 1914, his father, Dr. Julius P. Sedgwick, then an associate professor of medicine at the University, introduced a course in child neurology called "Nervous Diseases of Children."
The Minnesota Medical Foundation awarded two equipment grants to benefit the CNBD.   These grants enabled us to install equipment in the autonomic and electrophysiological laboratories.   Annual fiscal responsibilities are equally supported by the College of Education and Human Development and the Medical School, both of the University of Minnesota.

The CNBD accommodates eight subject examination rooms, a family waiting room with an adjoining playroom, research suites that are used for scientific and administrative meetings, a computer lab for data analysis, and a conference room used for education and the facilitation and collaboration of research.   Collaborative work allows us to understand the brain more fully.

University departments involved in the CNBD include the Departments of Pediatrics, Neuroscience, Psychology, Psychiatry, Radiology, Educational Psychology, Kinesiology, the Medical School, the School of Nursing, and the Institute of Child Development.  

Membership Information

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Center for Neurobehavioral Development, please see the CNBD Membership page.

Annual Report

More information about the CNBD can be found in our fiscal year 2005-2006 Annual Report.

Newsletter

The CNBD Connection is our regular newsletter intended for interested members of the Center and the community.