The MBI connects and supports over 250 faculty from all 16 UF colleges with research focus areas that include brain cancer; breathing research and therapeutics; chronic neurological diseases (such as Parkinson’s, dystonia, ALS and Alzheimer’s); cognitive aging; mental health, neurobehavioral sciences and psychiatry; and traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury.

Dr. William Luttge joined UF in 1971 as an assistant professor of neuroscience in the College of Medicine after earning his Ph.D. in biological sciences at the University of California, Irvine.

The neuroscience department at the College of Medicine was one of the first of its kind in the country, and Luttge quickly became its leader, researching the molecular and behavioral actions of steroids in the brain.

In December 1991, Luttge came across an excerpt from an obscure newsletter, Commerce Business Daily, announcing a call for proposals for a competitive Department of Defense (DoD) grant to build a major national brain and spinal cord research center.

Newly appointed as director of the UFBI, Luttge embarked on a logistical tour de force to meet all requirements of the grant application.