Brain Science Foundation
Barbara Hopewell - Chairman
Patti Gunderson, Committee Member
Bethany Dickert, Committee Member
The Brain Sciences Center (BSC), located at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, is an interdisciplinary research institute that aims to understand the mechanisms underlying healthy brain function and brain disease.
Brain Science Center staff collaborate on a variety of research topics. Current BSC staff represent a cross section of academic disciplines including neuroscience, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, biophysics, physics, neurology, and neurophysiology.
The BSC utilizes advanced neuroimaging methods, including magnetoencephalography, to assess brain function and neural network activity, as well as magnetic resonance imaging to study brain structure and function. Additionally, the BSC employs various laboratory techniques such as genotyping, in-vitro cell experiments, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.
Studies include:
Gulf War Illness: Examines genetics and foreign antigens and their relation to GWI symptoms, inflammatory markers, autoantibodies, brain communication patterns, and MRI-based measurements of brain structure.
Healthy Brain Aging: Examines how women's brains change with age.
Human Connectome Project: Currently utilizing open access, neuroimaging data to examine various topics including heritability of functional brain connectivity, age-related brain changes, and sex differences in brain aging.
Immunogenetics: Focused on immunogenetics and the protective role that certain Human Leukocyte Antigen genes play in disease outcomes.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Focuses on the origin of PTSD and the neural mechanisms underlying its development, as well as biomarkers of PTSD and resilience in women Veterans.
Brain Science Website: brain.umn.edu
