Related Centers & Initiatives

Center for Memory & Brain

The Boston University Center for Memory & Brain (CMB) was established as a center of excellence in research, training, and teaching in the cognitive neuroscience of memory. The CMB is composed of faculty within the departments of psychology, biology, mathematics, and biomedical engineering. The small core group of neuroscientists that compose the CMB complement each other in technical abilities and share the specific interest of characterizing brain mechanisms of memory. The CMB is unique in its close working relations among faculty who display a continuity of expertise across the levels of analysis of memory. They pursue complementary and collaborative studies aimed at describing the “circuit diagram” for memory in the human brain, and they teach at all levels and train neuroscientists in this field.

Center for Systems Neuroscience

Systems neuroscientists study how the interactions of populations of neurons in brain circuits underlie behavior. This includes studying the brain systems involved in functions such as learning and memory, speech and hearing, perception and attention, decision-making, and movement. Understanding these functional interactions in different brain regions is critical to our understanding of neurological and psychiatric diseases. The broad range of systems neuroscience research at Boston University is facilitated by the Center for Systems Neuroscience, a unified community of investigators from multiple research units on our Charles River and Medical Campuses. The neuroscience mission of Boston University resonates with a shared belief that major discoveries will come from innovative thinking that is the outgrowth of an interdisciplinary community of faculty and students. The director of the Center for Systems Neuroscience is Dr. Michael Hasselmo.

Neurophotonics NSF NRT Program

Boston University proudly announces the start of the National Science Foundation National Research Traineeship Program (NRT) Understanding the Brain: Neurophotonics (NSF NRT UtB: Neurophotonics). This is a university-wide community of doctoral students in biology, neuroscience, biophysics, and biomedical and mechanical engineering with focused professional development and graduate training in neurophotonics. The NRT program in Neurophotonics will include research that uses light and photo-activated materials to study, control, and image neurons and neural circuits with cellular and sub-cellular resolution.

Alzheimer’s Disease Center

The Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center was established in 1996 and is one of 31 Alzheimer’s Disease Centers funded by the National Institute on Aging. Its goal is to help reduce the human and economic costs associated with Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of knowledge. The three primary missions of the center are:

  1. to conduct and facilitate cutting-edge Alzheimer’s disease research;
  2. to enhance clinical care for Alzheimer’s disease patients and their families; and
  3. to provide education regarding Alzheimer’s disease to both professional and lay audiences in the greater Boston area and beyond.

Research themes include genetic and environmental risk factors and risk assessment for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, neuropathological diagnosis and clinicopathological studies, translational methods and advanced technologies, and NIH- and industry-sponsored clinical trials focused on the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders

The Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University (BU CARD) is an internationally known clinical and research center specializing in helping both adults and children address a range of anxiety disorders and related challenges, such as difficulties with sleep, concentration, eating, and mood. We also stand at the forefront of research in providing treatments that work and are dedicated to keeping high standards for the services we provide. Our faculty and staff strive to deliver state-of-the-art clinical services to individuals of all backgrounds.  We also offer assessment and therapy on a sliding scale fee in order to accommodate individuals with limited income.  For more information on who we are and what we do, please explore our website.

Center for Autism Research Excellence

The primary mission of the Center for Autism Research Excellence (CARE) is to advance scientific knowledge about the language and social communication impairments in autism/ASD and related disorders. We carry out studies on all ages using behavioral, brain, and cognitive measures. The goal is to understand the range of abilities, the developmental patterns, and the brain systems that may explain why people with autism have difficulties communicating with spoken language. Our research is aimed at developing new interventions that directly address the communication problems that we discover.