{"id":1376,"date":"2016-11-18T13:21:26","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T21:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/state-of-the-art-brain-research-facility-opens-its-doors-on-health-sciences-campus\/"},"modified":"2023-11-19T12:16:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T20:16:49","slug":"state-of-the-art-brain-research-facility-opens-its-doors-on-health-sciences-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/state-of-the-art-brain-research-facility-opens-its-doors-on-health-sciences-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"State-of-the-art brain research facility opens its doors on health sciences campus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n
\n \n
\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n\n \n

State-of-the-art brain research facility opens its doors on health sciences campus<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n Mary Dacuma<\/span>\n \n November 18, 2016<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
\n\n \n
<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n
\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n
(left to right) Keck School of Medicine Dean Rohit Varma, MD, MPH, Sean Stevens, USC Trustees and benefactors Mark and Mary Stevens, USC President C. L. Max Nikias, wife Niki Nikias, philanthropist Ghana Irani, and Arthur Toga, PhD cut the ribbon during the grand opening of the University of Southern California Stevens Hall for Neuroimaging on Nov. 17. (Photo\/Steve Cohn)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n
\n \n
\n\n \n

On Thursday, Nov. 17, the USC Stevens Hall for Neuroimaging, a modern, sleek, glass-enclosed building on the southern edge of USC\u2019s Health Sciences Campus, opened its doors with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. USC Stevens Hall will be home to the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute<\/a>. Immediately prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Arthur Toga, PhD<\/a>, director of the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, was installed as the Ghada Irani chair in Neuroscience.
\nThe intimate event was bookended with performances from the Trojan Marching Band and included remarks from C. L. Max Nikias, president of USC, who stressed how the opening of USC Stevens Hall was yet another important step towards fighting the most debilitating neurologic disorders of our time.
\n\u201cHere we can hope to understand autism and Alzheimer\u2019s and a host of other challenges,\u201d Nikias said. \u201cHere, we now have an environment in which an electric sense of possibility is ever-present. We can expect to be surprised, as insight and solutions will burst forth in ways we cannot yet imagine.\u201d
\nMark and Mary Stevens, USC trustees and named benefactors of USC Stevens Hall, were in attendance to see the results of their strong commitment to multidisciplinary efforts in scientific innovation. Rohit Varma, MD, MPH<\/a>, newly appointed dean of the Keck School of Medicine and director of the USC Roski Eye Institute, was also in attendance to celebrate the grand opening and the advancements that would arise thereof.
\n\u201cThe research from Dr. Toga and his colleagues at the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute is exactly the type of forward-thinking, translational research that will drive the Keck School of Medicine\u2019s success,\u201d Varma said. \u201cI am looking forward to the transformative science that will be conducted in this building in the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The House that Science Built<\/h3>\n

\"neuroimaging-and-informatics\"
USC Stevens Hall for Neuroimaging holds the largest brain data repository in the world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nUSC Stevens Hall is wholly optimized for the advanced science for which Toga is known. This is because Toga himself designed the building alongside architecture firm SmithGroupJJR. The 35,227 square foot building, renovated and rehabilitated from the original 1952 concrete frame, is naturally bright, with plenty of California sunshine streaming through glass walls. The main entrance has biometric access control with the ability to read one\u2019s identification badge, fingerprint, or iris pattern.
\nThe interior design features few straight lines, an intentional choice from Toga. \u201cStraight lines rarely occur in nature,\u201d he said. The walls are lined with monitors displaying rotating images of exquisite, brightly colored brain maps. But the most fascinating features of USC Stevens Hall are the ones that will facilitate the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute\u2019s world-class research:<\/p>\n