Page 22 - Establishing the Institute for Brain and Neural Sciences

Neurodegenerative diseases result in chronic, long lasting, and debilitating problems that are extremely costly—to individuals, families, and economies. Research toward preventing and repairing neurodegeneration is of seminal importance to reduce the burden of such su ering.
7 CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON NEURODEGENERATION
What are the causes
and trajectories of neurodegenerative diseases? What are the earliest hallmarks we can identify? How can we prevent, delay, or even cure these diseases?
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T he brain is the control-and- command center of the
body, and its abnormal deterioration presents itself in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and Huntington’s disease, among others. These diseases are characterized
by inexorable loss of cognition and memory, changes in behavior, and an inability to control bodily functions.
This center will serve as a platform for the discovery of basic mechanisms
of brain integrity, their failure in neurodegeneration, and potential means of amelioration. The Weizmann Institute has an impressive track record of nurturing discovery
from the seeds of basic research, going back to the development of groundbreaking therapies for multiple sclerosis. More recently, scientists have made pioneering discoveries into the role of the immune system
in Alzheimer’s disease, and into the genetic risks factors linking pediatric neurodegeneration (in Tay-Sachs and Gaucher diseases) and adult-onset neurodegeneration.
This center will leverage the
advances in developmental biology, sensorimotor research, memory, and aging of its sister centers, and pursue key insights into the molecular, cellular, genetic, and systems-level mechanisms involved in neurodegeneration.