The Trondheim node consists primarily of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience (KISN) at NTNU. KISN is a leading research centre aiming to understand the emergence of high-level brain functions. In collaboration with Menno Witter, who joined in 2007, Edvard and May-Britt Moser uncovered key elements of the neural circuit for spatial mapping and navigation. In 2014 they received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this work.
KISN is an interdisciplinary village of experts with the common desire to understand how complex information is encoded in high-level neural networks and how complex behaviours arise from these codes and systems. There are currently 11 research groups at KISN, and the total number of employees is about 150. KISN collaborates closely with St. Olav’s Hospital and the 7T MR centre through the recruitment of joint staff to work on the 7T MR scanner as well as joint participation in projects funded by the Regional Health Authorities and the K. G. Jebsen Centre for Alzheimer’s Disease. KISN has hosted two former Research Council of Norway-driven Centres of Excellence (2003-2012 and 2013-2022) and is currently hosting a third Centre of Excellence (Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex; 2023-2033).
Photo: Eli Skaug Rønning, Hjerneforskningsfondet
