Initiative on Brain Function Across the Lifespan
 New tools, including state of the art imaging techniques, have transformed our ability to begin to understand how the normal brain develops, as well as what can go wrong with the brain throughout the lifespan. This field, also called development cognitive neuroscience, is advancing rapidly and holds great promise for better health and quality of life for millions of people.
The University's core academic fields that support this initiative are highly recognized and productive. This expanded interdisciplinary initiative will create new synergies and expand our capacity to bring together the many research strengths of the University of Minnesota, from basic neuroscience to education, to contribute to our understanding of how changes in the brain during development, adulthood, and aging influence the way we think and feel.
Developmental cognitive neuroscience has the potential to help us understand everything from when infants and children are ready to learn and how best to teach them to understanding the decrements and declines that accompany aging with the potential for helping us to diminish the ravages of Alzheimer's and other age-related disorders of the brain. The working group is developing a proposal for a Center for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience modeled after the Cancer Center.
Initiative leaders: Dr. Frank Cerra,
Senior Vice President, Academic Health Center, (cerra001@umn.edu or 612-626-3700), Prof. Charles A. Nelson, Inst. of Child Development, (canelson@umn.edu or 612-624-3878 ), Prof. Timothy Ebner, Dept. of Neuroscience (ebner001@umn.edu or 612-626-6800)
and Prof. Apostolos P. Georgopoulos, Department of Neuroscience (omega@umn.edu or 612 725-2282). |
