The Salk Institute announced today that The Kavli Foundation committed $3 million to support ongoing neuroscience research at Salk as part of the joint UCSD-Salk Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind (KIBM).
The gift—matched by an additional $3 million from Salk—will add $6 million to the KIBM Endowment, to enable faculty in neuroscience to work on the most impactful questions in the field. The Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind was established through a $15.5 million endowment commitment from The Kavli Foundation, shared between Salk and UC San Diego.
KIBM’s mission aims to support research that furthers an understanding of the origins, evolution, and mechanisms of human cognition, from the brain’s physical and biochemical machinery to the experiences and behaviors called the mind.
“We are deeply grateful to the Kavli Institute for this generous gift, which will allow our scientists to continue their promising research into the mysteries of the brain,” says Salk President Rusty Gage, Ph.D., who also serves as co-director of KIBM.
“Gifts such as this allow us to take on the biggest questions in neuroscience and could potentially lead to new therapies for neurologic diseases or injuries.”
The Salk Institute is home to many of the world’s leaders within the field of neuroscience, including computational neuroscience, spinal circuitry, pain, movement, learning, vision, psychiatric and development disorders, and age-related decline.
In addition to this gift, The Kavli Foundation has also gifted $300,000 to Salk Professor and new KIBM member Kay Tye, Ph.D., holder of the Wylie Vale Chair. Tye’s lab uses cutting-edge techniques and approaches to better understand the brain’s circuitry underlying emotion and motivation. Her discoveries are helping to pave the way for more targeted and efficient treatments for brain disorders, such as addiction, anxiety, depression and impairments in social behavior.
“The Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind is a nexus for neuroscience research, helping to facilitate collaborations across two world-renowned institutes—Salk and UC San Diego—as well as other neuroscience research centers around the world,” says Stephanie Albin, PhD, science program officer at The Kavli Foundation. “We believe collaborations are essential to accelerate basic scientific research. It is exciting to see the collective power of these institutes, including how they work across scientific disciplines, such as molecular and cellular biology, and cognitive and computational neuroscience, to bridge the gap between the brain and the mind.”
In recognition of the $3 million matching gift, Salk has named the laboratory space the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind Laboratories for Neurobiology for up-and-coming neuroscientists. A conference center has also been designated for these Kavli faculty.
For more information, visit kavlifoundation.org.
