Inside this issueCover storiesThe big questionsNew Kavli center for neuroscience research will untangle mysteries of the human brain Molecular gambleYale physiologist elected to National Academy of Sciences TrailblazerMagazine innovator celebrates 101 years with gifts for his medical school “family” PeopleLifelines: Expert on gene-swapping joined molecular biology at its very beginningsFor new deputy dean, focus is on top-notch care, service to patientsKidney researchers celebrate a banner yearUnconventional physician-filmmaker receives “genius” grantNew HHMI investigator says appointment liberates his scienceAwards & honorsScienceAnalysis of genome reveals clues to macular degenerationVaccinating wildlife suggests a new strategy in continuing battle against Lyme diseaseAdvances: Salmonella “syringe” ready for its close-up | Possible cancer inhibitor found in worm studyHealthA heart is repaired, the patient grows up: Program helps growing number of adult survivors of congenital diseaseMore integrated care for cancer patients, collaboration of scientists and clinicians are goals of proposed new YNHH buildingAdvances: New test easier for patients to swallow. | Study finds payoff in wider HIV testingPartnershipsPfizer and Yale join forces for research and educationA long, fruitful collaboration: Bristol-Myers Squibb and YaleDrive to cure blindness hits $5 millionClass of 1954 makes a lasting impact with scholarship giftGrants and contracts
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Norwegian-born engineer and philanthropist Fred Kavli at his home in Goleta, Calif. New Kavli center for neuroscience research will untangle mysteries of the human brainA mere 2 millimeters may separate us from other members of the animal kingdom. That’s the approximate thickness of the cerebral cortex, a sinuously folded sheet of tissue on the outermost surface of the brain where the neural machinery resides for many capabilities, such as language and reasoning, that we think of as distinctively human. Pasko Rakic, M.D., Ph.D., the chair and Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Neurobiology, has spent a lifetime deciphering how the nervous system cells present at birth manage to arrange themselves into the highly ordered, densely interconnected and immensely complex circuitry of the adult cortex. Now, thanks to the unique philanthropic vision of the Kavli Foundation, formed by California industrialist Fred Kavli, Rakic and other Yale neuroscientists with a special interest in the cortex have the tools to dig even more deeply into the mysteries of the human brain. Last year, the foundation announced the establishment of the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale, one of only three such centers in the world devoted to brain research.
David Auston, Ph.D., president of the foundation, says that he and Kavli believe that Yale’s “outstanding group of neuroscientists will make important advances in understanding the basic functioning of the brain.” Most organizations that fund biomedical research, whether public or private, have a quite specific mission, often focused on finding treatments for particular diseases. But the Kavli Foundation bears the distinctive stamp of its Norwegian-born founder, a man with a sweeping intellectual interest in the fundamental scientific questions of our age. The foundation has distributed more than $100 million in grants to create 10 Kavli Institutes that embrace science writ both enormously large and exceedingly small. Four institutes dedicated to astrophysics foster study of the origin and structure of the universe, while three others concentrate on nanoscience, a cutting-edge field devoted to the manipulation of matter at the molecular and atomic levels. For Rakic, who serves as director of Yale’s Kavli Institute, it is no accident that the foundation has chosen neuroscience to bridge these extremes. “Fred Kavli understands that only the human brain is capable of grasping both the whole universe and the tiniest particle,” Rakic says, “so it has great intellectual appeal for him to learn how the human brain works.” Kavli also firmly believes that unfettered inquiry is the best route to cracking these great puzzles, and the foundation has won great respect among scientists for its nonintrusive style. “For a typical grant, we must provide a timetable, even specifying what we will do in three years,” Rakic says. “Kavli realizes that in three years you might have changed your mind and decided that you need to do something else.” Often a scientist has an intriguing idea, but not enough data for a full-blown grant proposal. The Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale has provided seed money for exploratory projects, Rakic says, helping scientists do the preliminary work that may lead to new lines of research. The institute has also sponsored lectures and informal brainstorming sessions with leading neuroscientists from around the world. Finally, the institute is planning annual symposia where acclaimed researchers will present the latest thinking in neuroscience.
“We are confident,” says Fred Kavli, “that the expert scientific team at Yale will make important progress in gaining understanding of some of the most complex and baffling secrets in nature hidden in the brain and mind.”
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Medicine@Yale Magazine
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June/July 2005 Volume 1 Issue 1
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