Dear MBI Community,

As we come to the close of another semester, I hope everyone is ready for a relaxed and productive summer! A big thank you to everyone who joined us for our latest MBI Insights event, which you can read more about below. It was a wonderful evening that  highlighted the concrete translational impact of our MBI researchers' efforts and the hope that it offers.

With the end of the fiscal year approaching, please consider allocating indirect costs (IDCs) from your awards to the McKnight Brain Institute. Your IDC support makes our momentum possible! These allocations translate into real-world dollars to support your research and enable many of the initiatives you'll read about in this newsletter, including programs to fund training and professional development, expanded research infrastructure, building upgrades, new community events and many more tangible investments in your work and the success of the neuro community at UF. 

To direct IDCs to the MBI, please ask your research administrator to complete a center allocation in UFIRST under your awards. They can update project IDCs using center ID 10.0050 (Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida). Click here for instructions. Your IDC allocations give us the stability to keep investing in impactful research, meaningful collaborations and long-term innovation.

Thank you for supporting our community and I look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events! 

Warm regards,
Jen Bizon

Join us at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27 in the Harrell Medical Education Building (Room 125) for the 10th Annual William G. Luttge Lecture in Neuroscience.

We are honored to welcome Ulman Lindenberger, Ph.D., director of the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, for a special presentation titled “A Lifespan Perspective on Human Cognitive Aging.” Lunch will be provided.

• MBI Professional Development Fund: Congrats to Zachary Simon (grad student in the Febo Lab), Ariana Robinson (undergrad student in the PAIN Lab), Tristyn Garza (neuroscience grad student), Dr. Alexandria Marciante, Devon Borg (neuroscience grad student) and Dr. Cristiana de Paula Araujo (psychiatry postdoc) on receiving funds to advance their neuro careers. Have a professional development opportunity in mind? Learn more and submit your application.
  
  
• Neuroscience students shared their enthusiasm with schoolchildren during Brain Awareness Week by welcoming 35 teenage homeschool students and 40 more ages 7-12 on Tuesday for MBI lab tours, brain-related crafts and a Q&A with researcher Dr. Michelle Bedenbaugh. Learn more.
  
  
• The MBI was proud to sponsor Gainesville High School student Navya Goyal’s trip to Rutgers University on May 3 to compete in the 2025 USA Brain Bee Championship. Learn more.

• MBI HiPerGator Research Fund: Congrats to Drs. Shanting Chen, Craig Vander Kooi and Chia-Chuan Yu on receiving funds to support hypothesis-generating research projects leveraging the computational resources of HiPerGator. Have a research project that could benefit from one-time or annual match funds ($1,000 to $5,000) to cover costs associated with HiPerGator storage, as well as CPU and GPU usage? Learn more and apply.
  
  
• The Behavior and Integrated Neural Systems Core webpage is now live. Explore the MBI’s dedicated space for behavioral assessment in preclinical models, featuring equipment for movement, coordination and learning studies. Open to MBI members, the facility supports a range of research applications and encourages collaboration. Visit the page to learn more.
  
  
• In March, more than 100 attendees attended an MBI Lunch & Learn led by Dr. Ramon Sun, who shared insights on how MBI members can access core facilities and shared resources to elevate their research — covering imaging, microscopy, brain bank, computing services and AI. Watch the event.
  

• Electrical upgrades: Construction will begin on Monday, May 26 and is expected to last approximately four months. Work will take place on all floors but will be limited to specific areas (to be determined). We will communicate directly with labs likely to be affected to minimize disruption. MBI Building Manager Chris Weeks is the contact for this project and can be reached at chris.weeks@mbi.ufl.edu or 352-273-8489.
  

• The MBI is now on Bluesky! Click here to follow us and stay connected through our other social media accounts — Facebook, LinkedIn and X — for the latest news and research from our members.
  
  
• If you are an MBI member who leads a lab, program, center or department and would like a photo of your group, please sign up for a free team photo here. 
  
  
• Check out our Member Communications Resource page, which now includes customizable digital templates for flyers, a PowerPoint presentation, digital graphics and versions of our logo to use on your presentations. 
  

• Did you know that MBI’s development support can help identify grant opportunities, build relationships with funders and support your applications for non-governmental grants? Reach out to MBI Senior Development Director Caitie Deranek Stewart at stewartc1@ufl.edu or 574-238-2282 to discuss how you can get involved.
  
  
• We recently highlighted an incredible story of resilience that sparked a legacy of giving. To read about Michael Pasternak and his work through the Facial Pain Research Foundation to help fuel MBI research, click here.