Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute: By the Numbers

The mission of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) is to engage in world-class basic research on neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, with the goal of discovering disease mechanisms and developing new ways to treat these disorders.

A U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) report published in 2007 showed 1 in 6 people – over a billion people worldwide – are affected by some type of neurological disease. Even a few decades ago we were far from understanding these complex disorders and there was little hope for finding cures. However, advances in numerous technologies, such as genome sequencing, are allowing us to make rapid strides in understanding the biology behind these conditions and developing novel therapies. The NRI is at the forefront of this revolution in targeted drug discovery.

The NRI is among the world’s first neurological research institutes dedicated to solving childhood neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. The 13-floor research building opened its doors in late 2010 and currently has approximately 250 scientists. It is commendable that in a short span of 5 years, our researchers have completed 450 scientific projects, most of which have been published in prestigious peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

We are extremely proud of our pioneering research programs in many rare and complex neurological disorders such as Rett syndrome and spinocerebellar ataxia type 1. So far, this has resulted in clinical trials for two rare neurological disorders with others in the pipeline.

Learn more about NRI in the infographic below.