Harvard Medical School (HMS) received a $30 million donation from philanthropist Lisa Yang to establish the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center.<\/b><\/p>\n
The new center<\/b> aims to decipher the constant, intricate dialogue between the brain and the body<\/b> that underlies all our physical sensations.<\/p>\n
HMS Dean George Q. Daley<\/b> called the gift “extraordinary,” noting that it “will supercharge our efforts to unravel one of biology\u2019s greatest mysteries: how the brain and body communicate to keep us healthy.”<\/p>\n
The center will bring together experts from diverse disciplines to study how different body systems are represented in the brain, and in turn, how the brain coordinates the functioning of these systems in health and disease<\/b>. According to co-director David Ginty<\/b>, the donation will “unify the efforts of scientists across different laboratories and institutions to study brain-body communication and physiology.”<\/p>\n
Lisa Yang explained that she hopes the combined expertise of the Harvard and MIT Brain-Body Centers will fast-track research<\/b> in this area and bring us closer to developing effective treatments for chronic diseases<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Leading researchers at the center, including co-director Michael Greenberg<\/b> and Professors Mark Andermann, Chenghua Gu, Stephen Liberles, and Dragana Rogulja<\/b>, will seek to answer fundamental questions such as:<\/p>\n The scientific community is unanimous in its assessment that the advancement of research into fundamental biological mechanisms is critically important<\/b>, especially amidst the instability of federal funding. Historically, it is precisely this type of basic scientific inquiry that has led to the most revolutionary therapeutic breakthroughs and medical innovations. Accordingly, large private philanthropic investments are becoming an essential force to ensure the continuity of critical research.<\/p>\n\n