About the Friedman Brain Institute
The Friedman Brain Institute is an interdisciplinary hub for defining the mechanisms behind brain and spinal cord disorders and for translating those findings into preventative or restorative interventions. The Institute represents a large multidisciplinary effort involving numerous basic science and clinical departments on campus. We focus on three major areas of investigation—where Mount Sinai can be truly transformative:
- Neural injury and repair
- Cognitive function
- Neuropsychiatry
Neural and Injury Repair
Among the most common and devastating disorders we face today are those that involve the degeneration and death of nerve cells, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Traumatic injury of the brain and spinal cord, loss of brain tissue due to stroke, and damage to nerve cells due to loss of myelin sheaths in multiple sclerosis also afflict large segments of the population.
The adult brain is far more “plastic” or adaptable than was once believed. Friedman Brain Institute scientists and clinicians are translating this new understanding into strategies aimed at preventing nerve cell loss and restoring function even after loss has occurred. New treatments range from the use of drugs to enhance neural plasticity to cognitive training to deep brain stimulation, a revolutionary technology that works with the brain to modulate neural function.
Cognitive Function
For some time, scientists at Mount Sinai and elsewhere have been unraveling the basic molecular, cellular, and nerve-circuit mechanisms that govern the brain’s remarkable plasticity. The Friedman Brain Institute is expanding on these advances in its efforts to develop treatments that will strengthen cognitive function in a range of settings, including people of advancing age or those with neurological or psychiatric disorders that impair higher brain function.
As researchers gain greater understanding of the molecular and neural basis of the brain’s plasticity and of cognition, it may one day even be possible to enhance cognitive function in normal individuals. In this way, advances in basic and clinical neurosciences may help ensure that each individual reaches his or her full potential.
Neuropsychiatry
Disorders such as autism, bipolar disorder, depression, drug addiction, schizophrenia, and traumatic stress afflict more than 20 percent of the population. Combined, they represent a burden of illness that surpasses that of cancer and heart disease. Moreover, neuropsychiatric conditions affect our most human traits — emotions and feelings — and are extremely challenging to understand and cure.
Despite these obstacles, researchers have gained new knowledge of the genetic and nongenetic causes of these conditions. This new understanding will guide their ability to treat the disorders in the years ahead and lead them to major advances. The Friedman Brain Institute is playing a principal role in identifying the causes of neuropsychiatric conditions, developing objective diagnostic tests for these disorders, and generating novel and more effective treatments.