The brain and the rest of the nervous system

The nervous system receives and stores information, processes and interprets sensory information, and controls bodily functions.

The brain is the most complicated organ in the human body. It gives us our personality and our feelings, and is responsible for consciousness, self-awareness, time perception, and memory functions.

The brain, the spinal cord, and the peripheral nerves within a human being contain 100 billion nerve cells, called neurons, of at least 10,000 different types. Studies of the molecular energy mechanisms that control specialization have revealed that neurons are not controlled by a single regulatory gene, but by a sequential, combined effect of many regulatory genes and their unique interaction with the brain’s neural pathways.
Research into the nervous system has made great strides in recent years. It has been passably well demonstrated today how neurotransmitters in various parts of the brain contribute to stimulating or impeding signals from being transmitted further. The new molecular biology, and new imaging techniques and surgical methods, have radically increased the opportunities to understand and fix injuries and diseases in the nervous system.

Research Centre
Linköping University Neurobiology Centre

Areas of Research

• Molecular construction of the nervous system
• Narcosis and anaesthesia
• Nerve cell development
• Neurobiology Centre
• Neurodegenerative diseases and dementia
• Neuroengineering
• Neurosurgery
• Pain
• Psychiatry
• Psychopharmacology
• Rehabilitation medicine (Link to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine)
• Signals and synapses
• Stroke