Research
The Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute (ZNI) is one of the Centers of Excellence at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Established in 2003 with a gift from Selim Zilkha, the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute is already a well-recognized center for basic neuroscience research, with a multi-disciplinary team of outstanding faculty whose work concentrates on the causes, effects of and therapies for neurodegenerative disease and psychiatric disorders.
Neuroscience–the heart of the ZNI–encompasses a large body of research, covering a range of scientific disciplines concerned with the development, structure, function, chemistry, pharmacology, clinical assessments and pathology of the nervous system. Multi-disciplinary by nature, neuroscience integrates more traditional scientific approaches including anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry with newer fields such as molecular biology and computer science to understand how the nervous system functions.
Traditionally, research institutes have formed to explore a particular area of neuroscience (e.g. Alzheimer's disease); as such, scientists are often recruited based on expected contributions toward a specific approach to a problem. At the ZNI, basic and clinical scientists explore all aspects of neurodegenerative disease. They interact frequently in formal and informal ways, working side-by-side to cover the entire spectrum of research, conducting studies that ultimately have the potential to make a much broader impact than might an alternative approach directed at any one disease.