The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute (HWNI) at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

was created in 1997, through a bequest from eight-time Wimbledon champion

Helen Wills Moody Helen Newington Wills (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known by her married names Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) d ...

, an alumna of UC Berkeley.

History

The Berkeley Neuroscience Center (BNC) was created in 1997 under the leadership of Professors Carla Shatz and Corey Goodman, who served as the first two Directors from 1997-2001. Neuroscience professors in departments across campus were invited to become faculty in the Center to help recruit new core faculty and to accept graduate students into their labs for training. A $10 million bequest from Olympic gold medalist and 8-time Wimbledon champion Helen Wills Moody endowed the graduate program and provided cash support to grow the Center. On July 1, 2000, it was formally renamed the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute (HWNI) in honor of this bequest. The Neuroscience PhD Program accepted its first class in Fall 2001. At any time there are approximately 60 graduate students in the department. The institute now encompasses over 70 research faculty from many departments including: Molecular &

Cellular Biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

, Integrative Biology,

Vision Science Vision science is the scientific study of visual perception. Researchers in vision science can be called vision scientists, especially if their research spans some of the science's many disciplines. Vision science encompasses all studies of vision ...

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

, Electrical Engineering &

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, and Environmental Science, Policy & Management,

Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as Berkeley Haas, is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a public university i ...

, College of Chemistry, School of Public Health, Department of Bioengineering. The institute supports four general subdivisions within neuroscience:

Cellular Cellular may refer to: *Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics * Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more * ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie *Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands *Cell ...

, Cognitive,

Developmental Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through mitosi ...

, Molecular, and Systems.

Research centers

The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute currently houses four research centers each with a unique focus on elucidating the functions of the brain.

Brain Imaging Center

The Henry H. "Sam" Wheeler Jr. Brain Imaging Center (BIC) is led by Jack Gallant and Chunlei Liu. This facility houses one of the most powerful (and the most powerful at the time of its installation) human research functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) system in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The 3 tesla

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nicke ...

provides an opportunity for research collaboration in

functional neuroimaging Functional neuroimaging is the use of neuroimaging technology to measure an aspect of brain function, often with a view to understanding the relationship between activity in certain brain areas and specific mental functions. It is primarily used a ...

among diverse fields.

Data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...

are analyzed at the Judy & John Webb Neuroimaging Computational Facility also housed on the Berkeley campus.

Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience

The Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience became a part of the HWNI on July 1, 2005 after the dissolution of the nonprofit scientific research facility, the Redwood Neuroscience Institute (RNI), once housed in Menlo Park,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The RNI was established by

Jeff Hawkins Jeffrey Hawkins is a co-founder of the companies Palm Computing, where he co-created the PalmPilot, and Handspring, where he was one of the creators of the Treo.Jeff Hawkins, ''On Intelligence'', p.28 He subsequently turned to work on neurosc ...

in August, 2002. Many of the researchers from the RNI joined the University as faculty or staff, and the institute was renamed the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. Through the use of various electro- and magnetophysiological techniques, this group hopes to discover an underlying biological mathematics model of

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

and cognition.

Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences

The Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences (ICBS) became part of the HWNI in September 2009. The ICBS supports research exploring the study of the mind and the biological basis of behavior and mental function. Founded as the Institute for Cognitive Studies in 1984, ICBS adopted its current name in 2000 in recognition of the emergence of cognitive neuroscience as a field for the bi-directional study of mind-brain relationships.

Center for Neural Engineering & Prostheses

CNEP, led by co-directors Jose Carmena (UCB) and Edward Chang (UCSF) brings together neuroscientists, neurologists, and engineers from UC Berkeley and UCSF to develop breakthrough technologies to restore neural function. CNEP is a non-profit, research-based organization with the ultimate goal of transferring its innovations into common medical practice.

Directors

* 1997–1999: Carla Shatz * 1999–2001: * 2001–2011: Robert T. Knight * 2011–2013: John Ngai * 2013–present: Ehud Isacoff

External links

Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute homepage
{{Coord, 37.874157, -122.263925, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title Neuroscience research centers in California University of California, Berkeley 1999 establishments in California Research institutes in the San Francisco Bay Area