Tulane Launches University-wide Brain Institute

Tulane University researchers are teaming up to learn more about the brain in a new collaboration called the Brain Institute. Tulane Vice President for Research, Dr. Laura Levy, says understanding the brain is one of the true frontiers of the life sciences. She says scientists don’t know much about the brain, and they hope this university-wide collaboration will help them learn more.

“How it functions normally to encode memory, cognition, emotion. How its function is impaired by disease states,” Levy said.

Levy says the purpose of the Brain Institute is to bring together people from across the university who may not even know each other to collaborate and share ideas. She says graduate and undergraduate students will also be a part of the discussions.

“Students will work with faculty across the university who are all working together collaboratively to make progress,” Levy said.

Levy says they received a $3.7 million donation to jumpstart the initiative, and the donors Marta and Bill Marko, set a fundraising goal of $50 million. She says the National Institute of Health is also expected to contribute grants to help with the cost of their research.

“This is a major priority for the National Institutes of Health, and we believe Tulane scholars have a lot to contribute to this national objective,” Levy said.