Reach 2024: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Brain, with Help From Visionary Donors
By JP Udo
Humanity’s journey to decipher the complexities of our brain started centuries ago and continues in earnest today. The deeper we probe into the human mind, the more we scrutinize its workings. The further we trace its evolution, the more we realize that our comprehension of this intricate organ is far from complete.
Unlocking the brain’s secrets could revolutionize our approach to mental health treatment, enhance our strat-egies for early intervention in neurological diseases and guide the ethical integration of emerging technologies into our lives.
It could do even more.
However, securing funding for fundamental research is often challenging for researchers. That is because they cannot predict what they will uncover or how these findings may better our natural and social worlds, even though this type of research is the essential foundation needed to make breakthroughs.
FUNDAMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH AT CIFAR
Together, CIFAR researchers across several programs, including Brain, Mind & Consciousness, Child & Brain Development, CIFAR MacMillan Multiscale Human, Future Flourishing, Learning in Machines & Brains and the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, aim to identify the under-lying principles that govern brain function, including our understanding of how neurons communicate, how synaptic plasticity works, the role of various neuro-transmitters and so much more.
Through groundbreaking research, CIFAR researchers have made significant strides in advancing our under-standing of the brain and its complexities. To name a few:
CIFAR MacMillan Multiscale Human Fellow Ed Lein published new cellular maps of human and primate brains based on several fundamental research studies. At the same time, Tanenbaum Fellow Liad Mudrik and collaborators in the Brain, Mind & Consciousness program launched a database that expedites studies and trend analysis in consciousness research. Meanwhile, Learning in Machines & Brains program Co-Director Yoshua Bengio (also a Canada CIFAR AI Chair) clarified the principles hypothesized to guide human and animal intelligence, with the potential to inspire AI research and neuroscience. Compellingly, Child & Brain Development Fellow Daniel Ansari and Program Co-Director Candice Odgers made significant contributions at the intersection of child learning, big data and inequality by analyzing learning loss during COVID.
Our researchers’ progress toward an interdisciplinary understanding of the human brain and its mysteries is impressive and continues unabated. The impressive headway researchers make is only possible because of donor support.
Photo courtesy of Larry Tanenbaum
“The CIFAR community includes exceptional researchers and future-focused donors who share an insatiable curiosity, investing in research that will unlock the brain’s mysteries at an unprecedented rate.”— Larry Tanenbaum
PHILANTHROPY FUELS FUNDAMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH
When asked if fundamental research can unlock new horizons in brain research, Larry Tanenbaum, a long-time CIFAR donor who supports brain research, was unequivocal in his response:
“The CIFAR community includes exceptional researchers and future-focused donors who share an insatiable curiosity, investing in research that will unlock the brain’s mysteries at an unprecedented rate.”
The new knowledge uncovered through Tanenbaum’s philanthropy — and that of so many others — will lay the foundation for researchers to develop targeted treatments and technologies, design drugs and therapeutic strategies for neurological disorders and contribute to our growing understanding of what it means to be human — in ways many of us may not fully understand or appreciate today.
“I am committed to supporting brain science,” explains Tanenbaum. “Flexible, long-term funding for unencumbered fundamental research is hard to come by, yet it’s essential to achieving breakthroughs.”
Together, we will turn the key and unlock the brain’s deepest secrets, paving the way for a future illuminated by understanding and innovation.
Fundamental research at CIFAR gave us the knowledge and insights needed to establish the social determinants of health, detect new and repeating fast radio bursts from deep space and lay the foundations for full-day kindergarten and parenting centres. It could also lead to new discoveries of the brain. Learn how you can support our research: cifar.ca/donatenow
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