neuroscience hero image of a brain scan

Neuroscience Institute

Facilitating scientific excellence, collaboration, education, and networking between neuroscientists at Penn State

The Institute provides oversight and coordination for neuroscience-related activities in education, research, patient care, and outreach while promoting an intellectual environment that enhances the interdisciplinary neuroscience educational experience from the undergraduate to postdoctoral levels.

Neuroscience at a glance: key numbers about the PSNI at University Park. 70 faculty, 20 home departments, 30 PhD students, $17 million in research awards, and 5 centers and research interests groups

What makes neuroscience at Penn State special?

Deep expertise in unique areas attracts top talent

Our expertise lies in interdisciplinary areas that keep our science stimulating and cutting-edge

Flexible infrastructure and incentives promote collaboration

Our cross-college adaptable environment creates a rich intellectual community

Productive relationships between scientists and communicators

Rapid strategic communication with media and purposeful outreach speeds research-to-impact

Novel model for industry partnerships

Our emerging industry relations will grow opportunities for student success and commercialization

image of bridge and puzzle pieces
Neuroscience is a big, wide-open field, but that’s what makes it so exciting. We don’t even know all the questions that we have yet to answer. But I think Penn State is in a strong position to solve some of the big questions.

Nikki Crowley
Director, Penn State Neuroscience Institute at University Park

Nikki Crowley
The existence of the Institute as a multi-campus entity offers tremendous opportunity to leverage strengths at the UP and Hershey campuses and foster synergistic interactions that benefit faculty, trainees and students on either campus.

Krish Sathian
Director, Penn State Neuroscience Institute at the College of Medicine

Krish Sathian

News

Q&A: Ethical decision-making around neurotechnology treatments

Laura Cabrera, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, has received a four-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to research and develop a patient-centered decision aid to help guide patients, providers, and caregivers navigating their options.

New CMIND director named

Janine Kwapis, the Paul Berg Early Career Professor in the Biological Sciences at Penn State, has been appointed director of the University's Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders (CMIND), an interdisciplinary research unit within the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

Less sleep and later bedtime in childhood linked to future substance use

A good night’s sleep is essential for children’s health and development, but childhood sleep patterns may also be linked to future substance use. A new study led by a team of Penn State researchers found that adolescents were more likely to have consumed alcohol or tried marijuana by age 15 if they went to bed later and slept fewer hours during childhood and adolescence.

Rewriting the evolutionary history of critical components of the nervous system

A new study has rewritten the conventionally understood evolutionary history of certain proteins critical for electrical signaling in the nervous system. The study, led by Penn State researchers, shows that the well-studied family of proteins — potassium ion channels in the Shaker family — were present in microscopic single cell organisms well before the common ancestor of all animals.