Connecting brain science & business

The Norwegian Consortium on Brain Development assembles a uniquely interdisciplinary network of Norwegian research groups and clinicians studying brain development, from its earliest stages in the womb to formative events during childhood and early adulthood.

 Its members include neurobiologists with expertise in molecular, cellular and systems neuroscience, nutritional scientists studying the developing brain’s dependence on prenatal and childhood nutrition, pediatricians with expertise in pre-and perinatal brain development and disease, and psychologists studying the development of cognitive abilities and the role of brain development in psychiatric and behavioral disorders. These research groups bring an arsenal of methodological approaches to one of the major scientific questions of our time: How the most complex organ of the body, the origin of all our behavior and the seat of our consciousness and cognitive abilities, is shaped and modified by genes and experience. From molecular genetic techniques to advanced neuroimaging, from electrophysiology to behavioral analysis, the consortium provides a platform for technological and investigative synergy bridging basic and clinical neuroscience, with the aim of yielding novel insights into such important issues as the genetic, epigenetic and environmental basis of brain diseases, the use of stem cells to treat brain disease and damage, the role of genes and experience in normal and abnormal behavior, the nature of learning and behavioral modification, and common mechanisms underlying degenerative events in the developing and aging brain. 

The Norwegian Consortium on Brain Development currently includes researchers from basic research and clinical departments at the University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital, the University of Bergen, Haukeland Hospital, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and St Olavs Hospital. It also maintains a far-reaching network of collaborations with research and clinical institutions around the world.

Contact person: Joel Glover, University of Oslo, Institute of Basic Medical Science, e-mail: joel.glover@medisin.uio.no

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