UAB Synopsis, Vol. 25, No. 15, July 3, 2006

Dedication of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute enables UAB to further expand its research efforts on age-related memory loss. J. David Sweatt, PhD, chair of the Department of Neurobiology and holder of the Evelyn F. McKnight Endowed Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging, serves as director.

Housed in the Richard C. and Annette N. Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building, the institute was established with a $5 million gift from the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Research Foundation in Orlando, Florida, and an additional $1 million to enhance the McKnight chair endowment.

Recent events at the institute include selection of recipients for the Second Annual Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Research Foundation Research Grant Awards. Award recipients include Associate Professor Graeme Bolger, MD, Department of Medicine; Assistant Professor Lynn Dobrunz, PhD, Department of Neurobiology; Assistant Professor Lori McMahon, PhD, Department of Physiology and Biophysics; and Trygve Tollefsbol, PhD, Department of Biology.

A nurse, Evelyn F. McKnight, and her husband, William L. McKnight, chair of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Corporation prior to his death in 1978, believed “research is the key to tomorrow.” She established the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Research Foundation in 1999 to support research on the influences of aging on memory.