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NSI's Mission: to advance our understanding of the brain and neurological disorders. To accomplish this mission, the research staff of the NSI studies nervous and sensory systems using a wide range of techniques from the level of molecules to the level of behaving human beings.

The current areas of research emphasis include: Movement control - studies of how the brain organizes sensory inputs and motor command outputs to produce muscle contractions following damage or diseases of the brain and nervous system. Neural degeneration - studies of how nerve cells degenerate as a result of genetic disorders, aging, injury or disease. Neural development - studies of how the nervous system forms in infants and how it regenerates following injury or disease. Sensory systems - studies of how the senses of vision, hearing, touch, balance, pain and electrosense are affected by experience, aging, disease and inherited disorders. Neural plasticity and learning - studies of how the circuits and responses of brain and nervous system are modified by experience and sensory inputs.

The goal of the institute is to use integrated and interdisciplinary approaches to expand the base of knowledge upon which modern medical treatments and technology are founded.

NSI's History: In 1959, NSI began as the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. Robert S. Dow, M.D., Ph.D., the first board certified neurologist in the state of Oregon, was the laboratory's founder, who brought together a team of scientists interested in the function of the cerebellum. The Neurological Sciences Institute was formally established in 1975, and expanded to include scientists interested in many areas of neuroscience. In 1998, because it represented a bridge between basic and clinical neuroscience, NSI was invited to become part of OHSU. The Institute moved to its current laboratory facility on the OHSU West Campus in Hillsboro, Oregon in 2000.

The growth of NSI has been focused on the need to bring high quality, inter-disciplinary basic and applied scientific research to a variety of clinically relevant problems of the brain and sensory systems. NSI currently has 23 active laboratories and a staff of about 110 researchers and support personnel. NSI has an outstanding track record of ground-breaking research and federal funding. The mission is to advance knowledge of the brain and neurological disorders, and to translate that knowledge into new approaches for diagnoses, treatments, cures and prevention. Therefore, NSI investigators are dedicated, not only to gaining new knowledge about our brains and how our brains make us who we are, but also translating that knowledge into advancement of the clinical management of neurological disorders—one of the most widespread and devastating problems faced by our society today.