“Reward learning gives us a circuit, a brain region called the striatum that mediates this kind of learning. This type of learning underlies our ability to predict what will happen in the world. Individuals on the autism spectrum have difficulty predicting what will happen next, leading to difficulties in social interaction and communication,” he says. “In the past 10 years, neuroscience has brought in a number of techniques, from physics and engineering to chemistry and biochemistry, that have enabled us to manipulate genes and particular neurons in the brain in a very selective way. What I see going forward is an ability to more broadly put those techniques together to understand how systems of neurons in the brain work to give rise to behavior.”

Abel recognizes that these discoveries will take a lot of effort, innovation, and likely some serendipity, but he says he has little doubt that the UI will make a difference.

“The gift from the Carver Charitable Trust is transformative in that it enables us to attract the best researchers and to pursue new frontiers and ideas in fundamental research,” he says. “I’m confident the University of Iowa can be a game changer because we have the resources to do it and a collaborative community that is committed to it.”

One of the recipients is Hanna Stevens, an assistant professor of psychiatry who runs the Psychiatry and Early Neurobiological Development Lab in the Carver College of Medicine. She researches the genetic and environmental factors that influence early brain development and how those factors may play a role in childhood behavior or influence the risk of psychiatric disorders.

“Fundamental changes occur in the brain very early on that put a person at risk for psychiatric illness later in life,” she says. “We need to understand what those factors are so we can understand how the brain isn’t operating correctly at the time of illness. We also need to find out what preventive measures we can introduce to protect the brain as it develops. For example, we already recommend folic acid supplementation for pregnant women because we understand that folate plays a very large role in the development of the brain.”

Stevens says being in such close proximity to other scientists in the institute has benefitted her research. When there is something she doesn’t understand, whether it be related to molecular biology or data analysis or another area, help is available—and those consultations often bring insight and lead to collaboration.

“Collegiality really makes a huge difference in what we have the potential to do. It’s natural for people here to consider, ‘How could we do this better together?’” says Stevens, who came to the UI in 2014 from the Yale School of Medicine. “That is what everybody is looking for in science—an innovative way to think about the questions you’ve been asking for a long time, an innovative way to help patients that we hadn’t thought of.”

For example, Joshua Weiner, a professor of biology in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, studies brain development at the molecular level. Though not directly targeting therapies, his lab’s research has an important role.

“The human brain is probably the most complex thing in the universe, at least in biology. How do you get from a neural tube in an embryo that is one cell layer thick, a very simple structure, to a human brain with 100 billion neurons, each having maybe 10,000 connections or synapses with other neurons?” says Weiner, who recently received one of four $75,000 accelerator grants from the institute to support a new line of research in his National Institutes of Health–funded lab. “Ultimately, we’re trying to get a better fundamental understanding of how this works, because these processes of neural development go awry in a variety of different disorders, such as autism, intellectual disability, and schizophrenia. In order to develop therapeutics, we need to understand the fundamental mechanisms through which neurons assemble these connections in the first place.”

In addition to having a secondary appointment in the Carver College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, Weiner is the Iowa Neuroscience Institute’s associate director for education and outreach. He says the institute will build on the university’s strong history of neuroscience scholarship and allow researchers the flexibility and time they need to excel.

“With federal funding levels being low, starting a career in science is as hard as it’s ever been. What you need is support, and that comes in many forms—colleagues to help you with new techniques and approaches, access to patients and equipment, and funding,” says Weiner, who came to the UI in 2004 from the Washington University School of Medicine. “At Iowa, we have excellent facilities, research cores, and million-dollar microscopes, and the Carver trust’s investment really allows us to think big and gives us the stability to grow.”

Aaron Boes recently returned to his native Iowa from Harvard University to build on translational research pairing advanced neuroimaging and noninvasive brain stimulation. At UI Hospitals and Clinics, Boes works with patients who have medication-resistant depression. They receive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) five times a week for four to six weeks, and more than half see an improvement.

“Focally stimulating the brain using induced currents can have therapeutic effects,” he says. “Though it’s mostly used to treat depression, there’s really no limit to the number of brain-based disorders it can treat.”

In addition to exploring ways to more effectively use and individualize this treatment, Boes oversees two clinical trials to determine whether patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder also could benefit from TMS.

Boes says the Iowa Neuroscience Institute’s recent purchase of additional TMS equipment will allow him and his colleagues to explore additional applications. The assistant professor of pediatrics, neurology, and psychiatry is enthusiastic about the possibilities.

“It’s one of the few areas where there is a relatively rapid turnaround in terms of understanding whether something is going to have the effect that you intend it to have,” he says. “It’s been an exciting area for research, and it’s really at its infancy.”