Semel Institute awarded $15M to establish new integrative phenotyping center

The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA has been awarded $14.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to establish a center dedicated to interdisciplinary research on the role of genetic and environmental factors in neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders. The new Integrative Phenotyping Center for Neuropsychiatry (IPCN) will provide a dynamic environment for faculty and trainees engaged in studies that have direct implications for the understanding, prevention and treatment of disorders of the brain and behavior, and for the development of good health practice. The grant award from the National Center for Research Resources, part of the National Institutes of Health, will be used to renovate three floors of the existing Semel Institute tower, creating a flexible, 33,000-square-foot space featuring an environmentally sustainable design and state-of-the-art communications and data flow. The center will house some 180 investigators and trainees when completed. The IPCN will facilitate a wide range of current and novel interdisciplinary research programs, and its scientific agenda will span multiple syndromes impacting all age groups, including conditions such as autism, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Collectively, these disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and are considered by the World Health Organization to represent the greatest burden of disease worldwide.