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The Institute for Translational Neuroscience

The Institute for Translational Neuroscience brings together researchers and clinicians throughout Saint Louis University who share a common interest in the neurosciences.

The Institute for Translational Neuroscience serves as a focused structural unit for the purpose of organizing and fostering the development of neuroscience, basic and clinical research, and teaching at Saint Louis University. It comprises more than 100 members, including principal investigators, trainees and staff across six schools and colleges from 23 departments on the north and south campuses. 

Vision

The institute will advance neuroscience research, education, clinical care and outreach activities across Saint Louis University and the broader St. Louis community. It will become a pioneering leader in advancing SLU researchers' discoveries in the field of neuroscience that will ultimately have a major impact on patient care and in society.

We believe that we can elevate the Institute for Translational Neuroscience at Saint Louis University to national visibility and stature through collaborative research, education and clinical programs efforts.

Mission

The mission of the institute is to:

  • Provide a unifying structure for a collaborative framework of the multitude of departments across Saint Louis University that composes its neuroscience community.
  • Draw from and inform multiple disciplines to unlock the mysteries of normal and abnormal nervous system function that will lead to translational discovery and invention of new approaches to treating nervous system disorders.
  • Transform our understanding of the nervous system in health and disease through discoveries that arise from these collaborative efforts.

Research

Scientists and clinicians with the Institute for Translational Neuroscience focus on fundamental questions relevant to the continued health of our society. Research objectives include:

  • Understanding mechanisms involved in chronic pain, to develop safer and more effective non-opioid pain medications
  • Understanding how age-related dementias, genetic disorders of the nervous system and injuries due to trauma or stroke cause pathology, to develop new drugs to delay or prevent dementia and promote recovery from injury
  • Targeting pathways controlling diabetes, appetite behaviors, infertility and obesity
  • Developing new ways to translate basic research discoveries into clinical practice, such as drugs, drug delivery systems and other medical devices
  • Identifying new behavioral markers that may influence cognitive decline or precede depression/anxiety, approaches to identify and mitigate the effects of psychological stress, depression, aging and other factors on cognitive function, to improve neuro-psychiatric conditions for underserved communities
  • Identifying strategies to address the psychosocial health of trauma survivors and those living with substance use disorders and chronic health conditions.

Together, these objectives are highly responsive to the Jesuit Catholic mission of Saint Louis University to serve the least fortunate and most vulnerable among us.

ITN Semiannual Seed Grant Awards  More Info Soon!

The deadline for the 2024 ITN Semiannual Seed Grant Awards will be announced soon. The institute will award up to three $10,000 grants for projects that are in need of data to achieve NIH or foundation funding.