The Berkeley Center for the Study of Resilience (BCSR) brings together world-leading experts in neuroscience and computer science to address the current lack of effective treatments for neurological and psychiatric diseases by focusing on the brain’s inherent resilience mechanisms. By understanding why the brains of some individuals are more resilient to the damaging effects of trauma, disease, and aging than others, we hope to harness these mechanisms and translate them into much-needed new treatments. We address a significant blind spot in biomedical research. While traditional studies primarily focus on pathological processes that drive disease following trauma or during aging, we shift our attention to the proactive mechanisms active in the brains of individuals who age successfully or recover effectively from trauma.

Advances in the treatment of neurological diseases and disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, have lagged significantly behind other types of major health issues due to the tremendous complexity and interconnectedness of the brain. To capture this complexity, BeRes researchers use a unique approach — examining the brain, body, and behavior of individuals at levels spanning from molecules and cells to brain activity and complex behaviors. The large multimodal data sets generated from these experiments are then analyzed using advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning to uncover hidden patterns that confer resilience to assaults such as aging and trauma. In addition to improving human health, our findings may also inform the development of more error-resilient engineered systems, with additional benefits to society.

The BCSR launched in 2024 and is led by co-directors Daniela Kaufer, professor of integrative biology and neuroscience, member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute (HWNI), and Shafi Goldwasser, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS), and former director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley. Kaufer and Goldwasser bring their extensive respective expertise in brain health and computational theory to this unique, collaborative center.