UCT Neuroscience Institute

Our mission is to advance research, training, and advocacy through an interdisciplinary network of scientists and clinicians, sharing skills and expertise to improve lives and advance our understanding of the human brain. Understanding the brain, and finding better treatments for conditions that affect the human brain, are important challenges for the 21st century. Early development of the brain, so critical in enabling people to achieve their full potential, is determined by a range of genetic and environmental factors. In the context of Sub-Saharan Africa, this includes an extraordinary range of risk factors, such as a high incidence of infections, high exposure to toxins and poor nutrition, exposure to trauma and violence, together with a much wider genetic diversity than elsewhere in the world. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to experience accelerating population growth and, as home to 500 million children and adolescents, has a younger population than any other region of the wor...