Mcknight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience
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About Mcknight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience
Bring science closer to the day when diseases of the brain and behavior can be accurately diagnosed, prevented, and treated.
Focus Areas
NeuroscienceNeurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s)Multiple sclerosisSpinal cord injuryNeurological and psychiatric disorder mechanismsTranslational research
Who They Fund
patients with neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson's, ALS/FTD, Alzheimer's)patients with brain tumors (glioma/glioblastoma)individuals with chronic pain and opioid use disorderpeople with eating disorders and obesityneurology/neuroscience research community (end-users of new tools and methods)
About Mcknight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience
The Mcknight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience centers its giving on bringing science closer to the day when diseases of the brain and behavior can be accurately diagnosed, prevented, and treated. That mission shows up in a portfolio built around neuroscience research, with repeated support for work on neurodegenerative disease, brain tumors, pain, addiction, eating disorders, and the tools that make mechanistic neuroscience possible. Recent awards include $100,000 to Yale University for work on the mechanism and functions of repeat expansion self-exonization in C9orf72 ALS/FTD, and $100,000 to the University of Washington for massively parallel engineering of optogenetic biosensors for neuronal signaling. The funder also backed University of Utah research on virus-like intercellular transmission of tau in Alzheimer’s disease and Carnegie Mellon University work on circuits supporting long-lasting recovery of movement in dopamine-depleted mice. The pattern is PI-driven and research-focused rather than project-agnostic. Grants repeatedly support named investigators at universities and medical schools, often for basic-to-translational questions that connect neural circuits, molecular mechanisms, and disease biology. Across the recent grant list, the funder shows sustained interest in studies that can move neuroscience from discovery toward intervention.
What Mcknight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience Funds
In neurodegenerative disease, The Mcknight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience supported Yale University School of Medicine with $100,000 for “From Gut to Brain: Understanding the Propagation of Parkinson’s Disease,” and University of Utah with $100,000 for “Virus-Like Intercellular Transmission of Tau in Alzheimer’s Disease.” The funder also backs work on brain disorders and neural circuits. It gave $100,000 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for “Elucidating the Neural Basis of Pain Unpleasantness: Circuits and New Therapeutics to End the Dual Epidemic of Chronic Pain and Opioid Addiction,” and $100,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for “Identifying Brain Circuits that Connect Respiration and Cognitive State.” Its recent portfolio includes disease-adjacent mechanisms in metabolism and behavior as well. The Regents of the University of California received $100,000 for “Neurotensin mediated regulation of hedonic feeding behavior and obesity,” while Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles received $100,000 for “Characterizing the Context: The Role of the Microenvironment in Shaping Human Glioblastoma.”
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$3.2M
Total Assets
$20K
Total Revenue
$3.8M
Total Expenses
$3.9M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $75K and $100K, with a median of $75K.
25th Percentile
$75K
Median
$75K
75th Percentile
$100K
Geographic Reach
National22 states funded
About 1% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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