WIM no. 17 Spring 2020

מכון ויצמן למדע neuroscience to be too high bear, and the success rate of neurological medicines too low. Achieving the scientific momentum necessary to address the urgent need for solutions demands collaborative, multidisciplinary partnerships that combine excellence in neurobiology with insights from chemistry, physics, linguistics, computer science, and engineering, among other fields. To take advantage of recent developments and catapult neuroscience research to a new level, the Weizmann Institute of Science is launching a $200 million flagship project, the Institute for Brain and Neural Sciences. It will take shape through the construction of a state-of-the-art building that will serve as a hub for more than 40 internationally renowned groups actively investigating topics of relevance to brain research and neuroscience—including from physicists and computer scientists working beyond the archetypical borders of the life sciences. The building will also house a range of innovative technologies that will allow scientists to explore the brain in entirely new ways. The Institute for Brain and Neural Sciences will comprise eight integrated research centers and an additional center for new technology development. It is expected to generate a synergy that leverages the Weizmann Institute’s permeable boundaries between departments, and its small size and informal culture that enable free-flowing interactions and collaborations. And, of course, its great science. Snapshot of success The results speak for themselves. The December 2019 issue of Nature Neuroscience —the highest- impact journal in the field—featured a record three articles from one institution, and that institution was the Weizmann Institute. In that issue, Prof. Alon Chen identified four distinct temperaments among mice—comparable to personality characteristics in humans—and linked them to specific genetic profiles, a major step towards enabling scientists to more deeply study mental health and illness in people. Prof. Rony Paz revealed how emotional learning and memory are represented in the brain by showing that temporal sequences across neurons in the amygdala serve as a coding mechanism. Prof. Ofer Yizhar used cutting-edge optogenetics to track the dynamics of how the brain encodes social sensory cues, with relevance to autism spectrum disorder. Cover Story 22–23 S P R I N G 2 0 2 0 Weizmann MAGAZINE