UCSF brainLENS (http://brainlens.org; Hoeft Laboratory for Educational Neuroscience; Director: Fumiko Hoeft MD PhD)
aims to maximize children’s potential through research and public service efforts impacting schools,
advocacy groups and policy makers. We integrate cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary methods such
as brain imaging, genetics, and computational approaches to examine processes of learning,
including reading, math, socio-emotional processing, motivation and resilience. We share our love
of neuroscience with children of all ages, rapidly translate research findings to practice, and
implement tools to help children learn and educators teach effectively.
I F YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING OUR EFFORTS , PLEASE CONTACT US . BRAIN LENS@ UCSF . EDU , HTTP :// BRAINLENS . ORG .
PROGRAMS
Neuroscience
OF
B ILINGUALISM
O N L Y P R O G R A M F R O M A N Y P U B L IC S C H O O L ?
HEAD
PARENT
SFUSD IM M E R S IO N S C H O O L S O R G E N E R A L E D / E N G L IS H P L E A S E C O N T A C T U S ! H T T P :// B R A IN LENS. O R G / L E A R N IN G
O F A N IN C O M IN G K IN D E R G A R T N E R A T
O F S C H O O L IN T E R E S T E D IN P A R T N E R S H IP O P P O R T U N IT IE S ?
Proficiency in reading is the gateway to knowledge and success and a number of
young learners are speakers of two or more languages. Notably, California has the
largest immigrant population in the US (1 in 4 of the foreign-born population in the
U.S.; Public Policy Institute of California 2011) and the lowest high-school graduation rate in the
U.S.. California and the San Francisco Unified School District have responded to the
growing population of dual language learners by creating the largest Language Immersion Pathway Program
for both English-language learners and native English speakers seeking to learn languages that are
increasingly prevalent in the U.S., such as Spanish and Chinese. In 2015, brainLENS began a large-scale
neuroimaging study examining how children in San Francisco learning two (or more) languages learn to read
from kindergarten to 3rd grade. The goal of the study is to test and evaluate models of literacy acquisition and
study the impact that learning multiple languages may have on cognition, socio-emotional skills, and
creativity. We ultimately hope to help teachers develop instructional strategies to maximize dual language
learners’ success in the classroom and beyond. – Myriam Oliver PhD, Supriya Molina Wunsh MA, Leo Zekelman BA
S CIENCE - BASED I NNOVATION
IN
L EARNING C ENTER (SILC)
L E A D E R S H IP - Fumiko Hoeft (UC San Francisco), Silvia Bunge (UC Berkeley), Jamal Abedi (UC Davis), Carol Conner (UC
Irvine), Marcelo Suarez-Orozco (UCLA), Jeff Gilger (UC Merced), Roeland Hancock (UCSF), Elissa Epel (UCSF)
SILC is an innovative new cross-disciplinary center spanning the University of California
system. The Center will provide services, training, advocacy, and research to help tackle
issues associated with education and health disparity, with a particular emphasis on
underrepresented populations. The ultimate goal is to provide the best educational and health
outcomes for all children, regardless of their background. An initial focus is on early identification and
intervention for English language learners (ELLs) at risk for learning challenges. Such efforts will ultimately
enhance the lives of children and families, while addressing major issues in California and the US, including
the cost of education, difficulties of educating diverse populations including ELLs, and the health
consequences of poor school performance.
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E YE
TO
E YE P ARTNERSHIP
&
S OCIAL
AND
E MOTIONAL L EARNING
IN
L EARNING D ISABILITIES (LD)
Eye to Eye manages a network of mentoring programs that pair LD/ADHD elementary and middle school
students with similarly identified college and high school students. The focus is on an arts-based curriculum
aimed to develop social and emotional skills. The partnership between Eye to Eye and brainLENS, funded by
the Oak Foundation, will spark an initiative for rigorous and nation-wide evaluation of the effect of one-to-one
mentoring on social and emotional learning in LD adolescents in 50 chapters spanning 20 states. We will
assess mentees with a comprehensive tool on social and emotional skills (S-E Toolkit) before they enter the
mentoring program and chart their progress over a course of two years. The “S-E Toolkit” integrates key
socio-emotional concepts in educational and cognitive psychology that have been
associated with academic success and well-being of children. These include measures of
grit, growth mindset, intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, school climate, temperament,
behavioral issues, perceived social support, and resilience, as well as LD and ADHD specific
measures on stereotype threat and sense of belonging. With this S-E Toolkit, we are also
examining the neurobiological and affective/cognitive underpinnings of socio-emotional constructs, such as
motivation, grit, resilience, mindset, anxiety, and stereotype threat, in children with and without learning
challenges.
–Stephanie Haft BA
D R . S EUSS ’ S H ORTON H ATCHES
N EUROIMAGING
DO
E GG P ROJECT : I NTERGENERATIONAL
THE
Y O U H A V E C H IL D R E N O F A G E S
6-11
BORN THROUGH
IVF
A N D L IV E IN T H E
U.S.? P L E A S E
CONTACT US!
H T T P :// B R A IN L E N S . U C S F . E D U / F A M IL Y O R F A M IL Y @ U C S F . E D U
This innovative study tests a fundamental question: are human brain circuitries
similar in parent-offspring dyads, and if so, does the similarity result from
heritable processes, pre- or postnatal environment, or as a complex interaction
between these processes?” The research involves obtaining detailed genetic,
neuroimaging and cognitive measures in biological and IVF families. We
believe that answering this question will provide us with essential information about the evolutionary basis of
the human brain, pathophysiology of brain-based diseases and clues to developing early and preventive
interventions for these diseases. – Roeland Hancock PhD, Cheng Wang PhD
S CALABLE T ECHNOLOGY FOR E ARLY L ITERACY AND C OGNITIVE A SSESSMENT AND
S CREENING A R E Y O U IN T E R E S T E D IN B E IN G A F IE L D - T E S T IN G A N D V A L ID A T IO N P A R T N E R ? P L E A S E C O N T A C T U S ! B R A IN LENS@ U C S F . E D U
Research-based quality early childhood education can set children on the right
path for life, preventing up to 75% of at-risk children from failing in the schools.
Unfortunately, identifying these at-risk children before they begin to fail
remains challenging. In collaboration with Curious Learning and other
organizations, we are developing a child-friendly suite of games to rigorously
assess the precursor literacy and cognitive skills needed for academic
success. Early characterization of children’s strengths, weaknesses and risk for academic difficulties
provides an empowering opportunity for children, parents and educators to proactively minimize academic
failure and enjoy the long-term benefits of reduced educational disparity. The assessment results together
with strategies provided to parents and educators based on each child’s profile, will empower the adults,
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allowing them to provide effective support and individualized instructions. This not only reduces the number
of children at high risk for academic failure by 75%, but also reduces downstream effects on children such as
social-isolation, decreased self-worth, increased rate of high school dropout, unemployment, suicide, and
imprisonment. By providing assessment at a fraction of the cost and time of current best practices, we can
make these benefits available to disadvantaged communities and have a long-term impact on closing the
educational achievement gap. – Roeland Hancock PhD
F ROM N EUROTRANSMITTERS
TO
B EHAVIOR : M ULTIBAND I MAGING
OF
A UDITORY P ROCESSING
This study combines state of the art neuroscience techniques to examine how large-scale
brain networks, functional neural oscillations, neurotransmitters such as GABA and glutamate,
as well as genetics, relate to human perception and behavior. The findings from this multilevel study in adult auditory processing aim to contribute to the understanding of the
neurobiological underpinnings of dyslexia and related auditory and speech disorders, which
may allow more targeted interventions. – Roeland Hancock PhD
U NI S KRIPT G LOBAL L ITERACY I NITIATIVE
brainLENS has teamed up with the UniSkript Research & Literacy Institute (URLI;
uniskript.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving literacy through a
new literacy technology known as UniSkript™. Both organizations are driven by
a passion to find pathways to remediate the global scourge of illiteracy and its
multiple ill effects that disenfranchise nearly 1.5 billion people around the world. The overarching goal of the
partnership is to scientifically validate the use of UniSkript in multiple populations, from illiterates in
developing countries such as Papua New Guinea to dyslexic children in developed societies. The partnership
will also allow us to run unique research studies to examine the neural bases of literacy acquisition. – Roeland
Hancock PhD, Janosch Linkersdoerfer PhD
O THER K EY P ROGRAMS
1) UCSF Dyslexia Center’s Phenotyping Project and Dyslexia Screener, Dyslexia Phenotyping App Development Project
(http://dyslexia.ucsf.edu)
2) UNESCO Global Literacy Network with the goal of reducing illiteracy and poverty world-wide primarily through
GraphoGame, an innovative closed-loop literacy training program. (Africa, Canada, Finland, France, India, Taiwan, The Netherlands,
UK, USA delegates)
3) Multi-national collaboration on literacy research (UCSF, Yale U Haskins Labs, Spain BCBL, Taiwan IoCN, Israel HU and India NBRC)
4) UC Davis MIND Institute collaboration on the neuroscience of autism
5) Vanderbilt U EBSRL on the neuroscience of learning disabilities
ABOUT UCSF See also ucsf.edu
UCSF is a public institution within California, and the only medical school that ranks within the top 5 in world
and US rankings for both research and clinical care, making it an ideal institution for rapid translation of
research to practi
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BRAINLENS MEMBERS & COLLABORATORS
Zhichao Xia, Oliver Sawi, Naoki Hashimoto, Chelsea Myers, Yuta Ebikawa, Samika Kumar and other research affiliates are listed on brainlens.org/about
USA - B AY A REA , C ALIFORNIA
A SIA
UCSF (N Cushen White, R Hendren, K LeWinn, L Pasch, M GornoBeijing Normal U, China (H Shu)
Tempini, B Miller, A Gazzaley, M Uncapher)
Hebrew U, Israel (R Frost)
Stanford (B McCandliss)
Keio U, Tokyo, Japan (M Mimura, B Yamagata)
UC Berkeley (S Bunge)
Nat’l Cntrl U, Inst of Cog Neurosci, Taiwan (D Wu)
UC Davis (Y Uchikoshi, D Amaral, C Wu Nordahl)
Sinica (O Tzeng)
U of SF (G Leung)
Tel Aviv U (S Patael)
U Hong Kong, China (C McBride)
USA/C ANADA
Boston College (J Black)
E UROPE
Georgia State U (R Morris)
BCBL, Spain (M Carreiras)
Harvard U, Boston Children’s Hospital (L Prock Albers)
German Inst for Int’l Ed Res, Germany (J Linkersdoerfer)
MIT (J Gabrieli)
U College London, UK (C Hulme)
U of British Columbia (L Siegel)
U of Jyvaskyla, Finland (H Lyytinen, P Leppannen, U Richardson)
U Colorado (B Pennington)
U Leuven, Belgium, (M Vandermosten)
U of Connecticut (J Rueckl)
U of Salzburg, Austria (F Richlan)
U of Michigan (I Kovelman)
Vanderbilt U (L Cutting)
Yale U, Haskins Labs (K Pugh, E Mencl, S Frost, N Landi)
DIRECTOR OF BRAINLENS – FUMIKO HOEFT MD PHD See also profiles.ucsf.edu/fumiko.hoeft
A FFILIATION
C LINICAL T RAINING
Professor, UCSF Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences
Keio University School of Medicine (Tokyo)
Director, UC Multicampus Science-based Innovation in Learning
R ESEARCH T RAINING
Center (SILC)
Harvard
Board, UCSF Dyslexia Center
Caltech
Senior Research Scientist, Haskins Labs
Stanford
Adjunct Faculty, Keio University School of Medicine (Tokyo)
Board of Directors, International Dyslexia Association (IDA)
Scientific Advisor, National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD)
Scientific Advisor, BADM’s Center for Childhood Creativity (CCC)
H ONORS
Delivered over 150 remarks, lectures & keynotes including White House (2015), International Mind Brain & Education Society (IMBES), and the
International Dyslexia Association (IDA).
Published over 120 articles.
2014 IDA’s Norman Geschwind Memorial Lectureship – one of highest honors in dyslexia research
2015 Transforming Education through Neuroscience Award from Learning & the Brain Foundation and IMBES – one of highest honors in educational
neuroscience
2016 University of CA Office of the President’s Multicampus Research Program and Initiatives Award – see SILC in project list
Covered by leading media such as The New York Times, NPR, CNN and the New Yorker.
BRAINLENS PARTNERS & FUNDING SOURCES
P ARTNERS
UCSF brainLENS.org |
F UNDING
BRAIN LENS@ UCSF . EDU
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