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Neuroscience

The Simons Foundation Neuroscience Collaborations support and convene scientists to address fundamental questions about brain function.

The goal of the Simons Collaborations in Neuroscience is to bring together groups of outstanding scientists to address fundamental questions about brain function, with a focus on fields in which significant new developments have created novel opportunities for exploration. The foundation currently supports three neuroscience collaborations.

The mission of the Simons Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience (SCENE) is to understand how affordances offered by the world shape representations in the mind and the brain.

The Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain (SCPAB) aims to discover mechanisms of resilience and functional maintenance in the aging brain, and to establish a baseline for plasticity-related changes with age across many model systems. The SCPAB’s focus on the basic biology of cognitive aging is foundational to future translational approaches aimed at minimizing cognitive decline and extending healthy lifespan.

The Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain (SCGB) aims to expand our understanding of the role of internal brain processes in the arc from sensation to action, thereby discovering the nature, role and mechanisms of the neural activity that produces cognition.

Collaborations

Latest News

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Simons Foundation Announces 2026–2027 Class of SURFiN Fellows

The 93 undergraduate students will receive invaluable, hands-on research experience in nearby Simons Foundation-supported neuroscience labs.

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Applications Open for 2027 Fellows-to-Faculty Award Program

The program supports talented early-career scientists as they transition to tenure-track faculty positions. Submit your application by January 13, 2027.

People

Kelsey Martin headshot.

Kelsey C. Martin

Executive Vice President, Autism and Neuroscience

Alyssa Picchini Schaffer headshot.

Alyssa Picchini Schaffer

Vice President and Senior Scientific Officer, Neuroscience Collaborations

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Aaron Wong

Vice President, Informatics

Photo of SFARI scientist Amy Norovich.

Amy Norovich

Scientific Officer, SFARI and Neuroscience Collaborations

Danielle Patch headshot

Danielle Patch

Program Operations Manager, Neuroscience Collaborations

Headshot of David Leyden.

David Leyden

Vice President, Finance and Administration, SFARI, Neuroscience, and Informatics

Portrait of Hannah Bayer

Hannah Bayer

Senior Scientific Officer, Neuroscience Collaborations

Headshot of SFARI Student and Fellow Program Manager Jennifer Valdivia Espino.

Jennifer Valdivia Espino

Student and Fellow Program Manager, SFARI and Neuroscience Collaborations, SFARI

Sachin Ranade headshot

Sachin Ranade

Senior Scientific Officer, Neuroscience Collaborations