Understanding the brain is one of the great challenges in modern science. It is a prerequisite and a necessity if we are to diagnose, treat and cure brain disorders that now constitute a huge burden on modern society, including in developing countries. The Neuroscience Research Centre (NRC) was established in 2009 with the goal of pursuing research towards understanding the structure, function and development of the brain in health and disease. This requires studying the brain across different levels of organization using molecular, cellular, systems, behavioral and computational approaches. The diversity of these approaches is also reflected in the varied academic backgrounds of the researchers at NRCs, many of whom have their undergraduate training in areas such as Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Psychology. We anticipate that such diversity is not only critical if we are to understand brain function but also provides a stimulating research environment for our trainees, who we anticipate, will imbibe the interdisciplinary ethos essential to neuroscience research. In keeping with this vision, the primary staff perform cutting edge investigator driven research at different scales using different approaches and model systems ranging from invertebrates such as C. elegans, to rodents, to non-human primates as well as human subjects and patients.

In the next 5 years the Centre hopes to build on this tradition and recruit scholars with diverse expertise across the broad discipline of neuroscience. In addition to investigator driven research, the project team also leverage the expertise of researchers in other departments both within and beyond the centre to address highly complex problems and interdisciplinary questions in neuroscience that lie at the interface of clinical research, engineering and other areas of biology. In summary, the Centre is a relatively young initiative that is still in its growing years and has still many paths to traverse. One can certainly hope that with such a vibrant interdisciplinary and collaborative effort, research at the Neuroscience Research Centre will contribute in a meaningful way to brain research in the years ahead.