The Challenge

During the past decade, exciting technological developments have led to dramatic advancements in the brain and cognitive sciences. For the first time, understanding how the human brain works has become a scientifically achievable goal. Profound opportunities lie beyond that goal, but to continue to yield important advances, we must also create new approaches and begin to bridge the fundamental gaps that remain.

One of the critical challenges is relating mechanism to behavior, understanding precisely what the relationship is between the cellular machinery that collectively makes up the brain and the resulting behaviors that we call "the mind". How does the human brain endow us with our minds? Such a profound and complex question must be addressed from many different levels of analysis. How can we integrate these levels in order to understand, for example, how activity at one level affects behavior at another?

The Mission

The Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind (KIBM) at UCSD is a virtual environment unhampered by disciplinary boundaries, providing scientists with opportunities for effective interdisciplinary integration of research and knowledge. KIBM will transcend traditional disciplinary barriers to foster new discourse among top scientists, accelerating discoveries about the connections between mechanism and behavior.

KIBM's mission is to support research that furthers our 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. KIBM will leverage UC San Diego's preeminence in such fields as neuroscience, biology, cognitive science, psychology and medicine, along with the extensive resources of the broader La Jolla scientific community, to extend its position as the pacesetter in brain-mind research and education, and as a vibrant hub for dissemination of its discoveries to advance science and benefit humankind.

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