Scientific Report 2007

The Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Institute

Major depression and schizophrenia affect millions of people. Treatment of these conditions requires an understanding of their underpinnings, and this need is addressed by the Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Institute. Founded in 1999 as the result of a $10 million long-term commitment by Helen L. Dorris through the Harold L. Dorris Foundation, named in her brother's honor, the institute has attracted an international cadre of scientists from France, Switzerland, Sweden, Mexico, and Italy in such disciplines as neurology, immunology, chemistry, molecular biology, and endocrinology to study neurologic disorders.

The institute also funds the Helen Dorris Fellow in Schizophrenia, a named fellowship position for a postdoctoral researcher to study aspects of schizophrenia and depression from the neurobiological perspectives. The current fellow is Olivia Osborn, from Oxford University in England. The visiting professors at the institute in 2006 were the noted electrophysiologist and member of the French Academy of Sciences Henri Korn from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France; noted pharmacologist and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Lars Terenius from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden; and molecular immunologist Hermann Gram from Basel, Switzerland.

In 2006, the faculty of the institute expanded beyond the founding members with the election of 2 talented young faculty members: Marisa Roberto, who is working on substance addiction, and Dorian McGavern, who is working on clearance of viral infections from the brain.