Welcome to the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind

KIBM researchers bridge disciplinary boundaries to further our understanding of the origins, evolution and mechanisms of human cognition, from the brain's physical and biochemical machinery to the experiences and behaviors we call the mind.

We support innovative research in the La Jolla area through grants to teams of investigators working on problems at the boundaries of our current knowledge about brain and mind. In the past three years we have granted nearly a million dollars to investigators at UCSD, the Salk Institute of Biological Studies, the Neurosciences Research Institute, and the Scripps Research Institute. Pilot data from the first two years of our innovative research grants have led to several large awards to labs at UCSD and Salk to further investigate autism spectrum disorders, cystinosis, neurogenesis, and learning.

We have hosted and co-sponsored several events, workshops and seminars in La Jolla to increase connections between investigators in various disciplines, disseminate interesting science to the public, and enhance our efforts to bridge brain and mind research in the scientific community. We also continue to support hands-on training for a graduate course series on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the brain.

Jeff Elman and Nick Spitzer

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News & Events

Register for KIBM Town Hall

January 31, 2012

http://kibmtownhall12.eventbrite.com One of the major goals of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind is to support interdisciplinary research among people who do research in brain and mind. We are particularly eager to help foster new connections between individuals and groups that may not currently be in close contact. We invite you to a Town Hall at 8:30am on January 31st, in the Atkinson Pavilion at the Faculty Club to begin this brainstorming process. We look forward very much to meeting with you.

Kavli Foundation Interviews KIBM Faculty

October 11, 2011
Diseases in a dish: Modeling mental disorders
Using skin cells from patients with mental disorders, scientists are creating brain cells that are now providing extraordinary insights into afflictions like schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease more...

Wired Science

July 19, 2011
Why Brains Get Creeped Out by Androids
[The uncanny valley is] that uneasy feeling you get when viewing a realistic humanoid or CGI person that’s so close to looking human that it seems almost spooky. more...

Press Release

July 14, 2011
Your Brain on Androids
[The "uncanny valley"] phenomenon has been described anecdotally for years, but how and why this happens is still a subject of debate in robotics, computer graphics and neuroscience. Now an international team of researchers, led by Ayse Pinar Saygin of the University of California, San Diego... more...

See videos of the talks from the 2009 Cognitive Neuroscience Annual Spring Retreat and Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind Symposium