MIND MATTERS

we’ve sent a man to the moon and explored the far reaches of our solar system, but we’ve yet to truly make sense of the complex galaxy between our ears. With its hundred-billion nerve cells and trillions of synapses, the brain powers our body and provides us with a sense of self. However, it rarely reveals secrets as to how it becomes diseased and disordered. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute in Jupiter are primed to change that this fall, when they move into a state-of-the-art facility that will further empower them to conduct life-changing investigations into everything from Alzheimer’s to autism.

“Every family, including ours, has had issues with mental illness and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s,” says David J. S. Nicholson, who donated $9.22 million to FAU for the neuroscience building’s construction. “One in six families is affected by neurodegenerative diseases, either directly or