The UO knows that mind research would be a terrible thing to waste, which is why several faculty members who study the brain want to bolster the university’s neuroscience studies through the Clusters of Excellence hiring program.

That effort is featured in the latest in a series of stories in The Register-Guard highlighting clusters proposals. The story appears in the Monday, Oct. 6, issue.

Neuroscience research has been a strength at the UO for a number of years, thanks to the work of faculty in psychology, biology and neuroscience and the generosity of donors such as Robert and Beverly Lewis. Thanks to the Lewises, the UO was one of the first university’s without a medical school to have a magnetic resonance imaging scanner to study the brain.

The Neurons to Minds cluster proposal would add four new faculty members in neuroscience with the aim of connecting what happens at the level of individual brain cells to networks that involve the entire brain and drive human behavior. If successful, the resulting research could provide new insights into, and possibly point the way toward treatment of, disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.

Funding the cluster also could help the UO hold onto its existing researchers, who are increasingly sought by other universities, as well as show its commitment to cutting-edge neuroscience research.