Understanding Neural Resilience in a Changing World

As part of its commitment to understanding the mechanisms underlying the resilience of neural systems in the face of accelerated environmental change, The Kavli Foundation has announced its support for five Fellows across two research teams formed during the first year of Scialog®: Neurobiology and Changing Ecosystems. This bold, three-year initiative brings together early-career researchers to investigate how pollution, habitat loss, climate change, and other human-driven disruptions affect the structure and function of the nervous system.

Scialog®—short for “science + dialog”—was created by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement in 2010 to accelerate breakthroughs through intensive interdisciplinary collaboration and community-building. In April 2025, the inaugural meeting of the Neurobiology and Changing Ecosystems Scialog® took place bringing together researchers from across neuroscience, ecology, chemistry, physics, and engineering to form teams and propose high-risk, high-reward ideas on the spot. The Neurobiology and Changing Ecosystems Scialog® is sponsored by The Kavli Foundation, the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the Frederick Gardner Cottrell Foundation, and Research Corporation for Science Advancement.

Senior scientists serving as facilitators helped spark new directions during the meeting. Among them were Jeff Riffell, University of Washington, and Wolfgang Stein, Illinois State University – both recipients of prior Kavli Foundation research grants in neurobiology and changing ecosystems. Their leadership in this field and ongoing Kavli-supported research highlight the Foundation’s continued investment in this emerging scientific area.

“Neural systems evolved to sense and respond to the environment with remarkable flexibility,” said Angie Michaiel, associate program officer at The Kavli Foundation. “Today, these systems face unprecedented challenges—pollution, habitat disruption, climatic variability—and we are only beginning to understand how resilient they truly are, and how the nervous system implements that resilience. These projects reflect the kind of ambitious, cross-disciplinary thinking that will drive new insights in this critical field and that might only be possible through a venue like Scialog®.”

The Kavli-supported teams will investigate questions that will shed light on the foundational principles of neural adaptation and resilience - knowledge that may lead to understanding how organisms might cope with accelerated environmental change. Funding supports the following projects:

From Feeding to Flux: Unraveling the Impact of Animal Behavior on Global Ocean Carbon Flow

Mara Freilich, assistant professor at Brown University, and Jason Keagy, assistant research professor at Pennsylvania State University, are working with University of California, San Diego assistant professor Diana Rennison (supported by the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group) to investigate how rising ocean temperatures affect fish behavior and, in turn, global carbon cycling. Using the three-spined stickleback as a model, the project explores how genetic and behavioral adaptation to climate influence ecosystem functions, potentially revealing critical climate feedback loops currently missing from global climate models.

Understanding Nanoplastic-Nervous System Interactions within Organisms: A Multipronged Approach

Zihao Ou, assistant professor at the University of Texas, Dallas, Chayan Dutta, assistant professor at Georgia State University and Pinar Ayata, assistant professor at the City University of New York, will investigate how plastic nanoparticles (PNPs), increasingly prevalent in our environment, affect the nervous system. Researchers will use a multiscale approach, from model membranes to whole-organism studies, to uncover how PNPs interact with immune and neural cells, potentially disrupting brain function. The findings aim to clarify the long-term health risks of nanoplastic exposure.

The Kavli Foundation’s support for this Scialog® reflects a broader commitment, through their Neurobiology and Changing Ecosystems initiative, which seeks to accelerate our understanding of how neural processes are affected by - and resilient to - anthropogenic disruptions. The program encourages novel, transdisciplinary approaches to understanding neural adaptation at molecular, cellular, and circuit levels, particularly in the face of human-driven environmental shifts.

“This is not just an emerging area of science—it is a critical one,” Michaiel added. “To understand the natural world and ourselves, we must understand how brains adapt to - and are part of - the changing planet.”

RCSA has published a summary of the inaugural meeting, including additional teams and keynotes from the facilitators. For more information about The Kavli Foundation’s neuroscience programs, visit kavlifoundation.org.