Research Areas
Brain disorders, leading to cognitive dysfunctions, account for more than one third of the burden of all diseases in Europe. Cognitive brain disorders can appear during the whole life cycle: autism and ADHD in childhood, Schizophrenia in young adults, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases in the elderly.
Cognitive neuroscience is a rapidly developing field with direct implications for health care and life long learning. Higher brain functions can now be reliably measured and characterized in detail at a behavioural level. The present challenge is to understand the neurobiological substrate for cognitive functions in the healthy and diseased human brain.

The strategy for Stockholm Brain Institute is to apply a systems neurobiology approach to higher brain functions; from genes, cells and neural networks to cognitive functions and behaviour. This comprehensive approach requires a broad set of skills extending from neurobiology and neuroimaging to psychology and clinical epidemiology. To achieve a coherent understanding, in which numerous factors vary independently, computational modelling provides a necessary tool. The gathering of high-level research groups, representing key scientific areas, has been tailored to meet this fundamental challenge of a biological understanding of higher brain functions.