Raynor Cerebellum Project Appoints Three Leading Neuroscientists to Its Governing Board as part of a $100 Million Effort to Help Transform the Field of Cerebellar Research.
FORT WORTH, Texas (August 4, 2023) – The Raynor Cerebellum Project (RCP) is pleased to announce the appointment of three leading Neuroscientists to act as the RCP’s Interim Governing Board while it continues the process of identifying a permanent RCP Executive Director. Adam Hantman, Ph.D., Stephen G. Lisberger, Ph.D., and Roy Sillitoe, Ph.D., will oversee the growth and expansion of the RCP’s initiatives.
The RCP’s principal mission is to fund collaborative multi-center, interdisciplinary research designed to improve the lives of those with cerebellar disease in as short a time as possible. Currently, $30 million has been allocated to this effort by RCP’s parent, The Once Upon a Time Foundation. This is in addition to the $14 million the RCP has already funded to launch the Raynor Cerebellum Lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Over the next five to seven years, the RCP hopes, through its internal commitments and related funding efforts, to see over $100 million directed toward its transformational goal.
The Governing Board is currently reviewing the RCP’s first Request for Applications (RFA), a $3 million funding opportunity across several study areas. Over 60 Letters of Interest were received.
The appointed Governing Board members are as follows:
- Adam Hantman, Ph.D.some text
- Associate Professor and Edward R. Perl Investigator at the University of Chapel Hill.
- Standing member of Sensory-Motor Neuroscience study section of the National Institute of Health (NIH) and will co-chair the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Thalamocortical Interactions in 2024.
- The Hantman Lab at UNC Chapel Hill takes a multidisciplinary approach (genetics, anatomy, physiology, dynamical systems, etc.) to understanding how the nervous system generates patterns of activity that control our bodies.
- Stephen G. Lisberger, Ph.D.some text
- Chair of the Department of Neurobiology, George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor for Research in Neurobiology at Duke University.
- Served as the Treasurer of the Society for Neuroscience, Senior Editor for the Journal of Neuroscience, and Chief Editor of Neuroscience, the flagship journal of the International Brain Research Organization.
- Awarded the Young Investigator Prize and the Bernice Grafstein Prize from the Society for Neuroscience. Elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Lisberger’s lab has made great strides in understanding how the cerebellum guides learning of simple motor skills, and of how we use what we see to guide how we move.
- Roy V. Sillitoe, Ph.D.some text
- Professor of Pathology & Immunology, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and the Chao Family Endowed Chair at the Jan and Dan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) of Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
- Director of Education at the NRI, Co-Director of the Graduate Program in Developmental Biology and the Graduate Program in Development, Disease Models & Therapeutics at Baylor College of Medicine.
- Co-Chair, 2023 GRC on Cerebellum. Serves on the Editorial Board of the journal, Cerebellum. Founding Editor-in-Chief for
- Awarded the 2021 NINDS Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship.
- Sillitoe’s Lab investigates the impact of cerebellar neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration on neuronal health, circuit wiring, and daily behaviors. The ultimate goal of his lab is to uncover novel biological brain markers that could inspire early intervention in cerebellar diseases and related conditions, with the goal of improving the quality of life in affected individuals.
For media inquiries or further information about the Raynor Cerebellum Project, please contact info@raynorcerebellumproject.org.
