The Division of Neurobiology and Behavior consists of seventeen independent basic research laboratories in the Kolb Research Annex. The research philosophy shared by the division’s faculty holds that an integrated approach, ranging from cellular and molecular biology to neural systems and behavioral analysis, is required to understand the basis of normal and abnormal human behavior. As part of this endeavor, experimental approaches are complemented by a broad range of theoretical and
computational techniques.

The main foci of research in the division are on basic science aspects of neural development and on the functions of the nervous system that underlie normal and abnormal behavior. The subjects investigated in these studies range from simple invertebrates to humans. Many of the studies carried out in the division focus on processes such as learning and memory, attention, perception, and affective behavioral traits that may be involved in mental illness. Several ongoing projects may someday contribute to the field’s understanding of the etiology of, and new therapeutic approaches to, anxiety disorders, benign-age-related memory loss, cerebral palsy, fragile-X syndrome, Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, schizophrenia, and spinal cord trauma.