Virtually every one of us has had a family member or friend who has been affected by Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, depression or a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The costs of these—and hundreds of other conditions affecting the brain—are enormous in terms human suffering and economics. What makes these conditions even more challenging is that, until recently, treatment has been little more than a guessing game. We fundamentally have not understood the brain, why things go wrong, or what to do to prevent and treat these disorders.

Addressing these challenges has been a fundamental charge of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, announced by President Obama in April of 2013. This initiative has brought together parts of the federal government—from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—with private philanthropy, research institutes and businesses.

Having played an early role in the development of the BRAIN Initiative, The Kavli Foundation, a California based philanthropy dedicated to science (and Burness client), pledged $40 million towards the BRAIN Initiative in 2013. (Read a new Chronicle of Philanthropy op-ed by Kavli Foundation President and CEO Robert Conn, PhD, on the role of philanthropy in supporting basic science here.)

On October 1, leaders from The Kavli Foundation and university partners announced more than $100 million in new funding for brain research. As part of that commitment, Kavli is partnering with Johns Hopkins University, the Rockefeller University and University of California, San Francisco to launch three new Kavli Institutes focused on neuroscience.

Conn explained in a Capitol Hill briefing that this type of funding, which comes without restrictions or limits, is “the most precious money any scientist can have” because it enables innovative, interdisciplinary research that allows scientists to “explore far-reaching new ideas that will advance our basic knowledge of the brain and mind.”

You can watch the bipartisan Capitol Hill briefing, “Bolstering the Investment in Brain Research,” which included remarks by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Representatives Andy Harris, MD (R-MD1), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY12), Chaka Fattah (D-PA2), NSF Director France A. Córdova, Thomas A. Kalil, Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Thomas R. Insel, MD, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Leaders from The Kavli Foundation, the three new Kavli Institutes and their home Universities spoke as well. You can see more on the briefing on the Kavli website (http://www.kavlifoundation.org/live-webcast-bolstering-investment-brain-research).

Related coverage:

Associated Press: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NEUROSCIENCE_RESEARCH

Science: http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2015/10/more-100-million-new-brain-funds

Baltimore Sun: http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/blog/bal-hopkins-brain-initiative-story.html