BrainLENS -- Neuroimaging Lab @ UCSF

Current Opportunities

The UCSF Learning Success Program is an exciting opportunity to stay up-to-date with your child's academic (reading and math) and cognitive (self-control, attention, memory) skills, which are critical to future success, every year for three years from Kindergarten. Click to learn more.

Welcome

brainLENS (Laboratory for Educational NeuroScience) at the University of California, San Francisco combines cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary research methods with a deep passion for maximizing children’s potential in life, particularly stemming from the academic domain.

With a firm belief in interdisciplinary research, we integrate the latest brain imaging techniques, genetic analysis, and computational approaches to examine processes of learning, including acquisition of skills, such as reading, socio-emotional processing, motivation and resilience.

In the spirit of our lab, we aim to share the love of neuroscience with children of all ages, rapidly translate research findings to practice, and collaborate with teachers, clinicians, and families.

Participate Support Our Mission

Congratulations to BrainLENS Post-Doc, Dr. Olga Kepinksa, on receiving a prestigious Rubicon grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)! This grant will enable her to spend two years at UCSF to conduct research entitled "Bilingualism under linguistic scrutiny. Do different languages shape the brain differently?"
July 2018
Congratulations to BrainLENS Lab Manager, Stephanie Haft, on the completion of the UCSF Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program!
June 2018
Congratulations to BrainLENS postdoc Dr. Florence Bouhali for being awarded the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL) 2018 Annual Conference Merit Award (selected as a top abstract and selected for a slide presentation)!
June 2018
Dr. Fumiko Hoeft to be co-director for the Haskins Laboratories Global L2 (Language & Literacy) Innovation Hub
April 2018
Congratulations to Leo Zekelman for her acceptance to Harvard's PhD program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology!
April 2018
Thank you to the generosity of our supporter Lori dePole for her donation to the Precision Learning Center!
March 2018
Dr. Fumiko Hoeft and UCSF Dyslexia Center to be identified as first grantee for the new Andre Agassi Early Childhood Neuroscience Foundation Readvolution Initiative to develop and validate a free screener for dyslexia
March 2018
LENS's Priscilla Duong to attend prestigious John Hopkins Univ KKI internship program; Stephanie Haft to attend UC Berkeley's Clinical Science PhD Program!
March 2018
Precision Learning Center team presents at SPEDDR conference on preliminary app validation results!
January 19-21 2018
Haft and Hoeft IDA Examiner article on resilience in dyslexia was in the top 2 most read articles of 2017!
December 30 2017
Archives

	brainLENS Trifold Brochure Uploaded October 19, 2015
	brainLENS Summary of Projects Uploaded June 27, 2018
	Center for Childhood Creativity White Paper (in collaboration with LENS members) Uploaded February 10, 2016

We feel that it is imperative as an educational neuroscience laboratory to translate insights from the laboratory to educational practice and theory. Some examples of our research include:

Neuroscience of internal environment such as grit, motivation, mindset, and resilience.

How do we inherit brain networks, cognitive and character traits? Research on intergenerational transmission patterns using a natural cross-fostering design, genetics, & imaging.

Genes to cognition. Research to understand auditory processing, dyslexia & related disabilities using a comprehensive approach from genes, neurochemicals, oscillations, connectomes, to cognition.

Innovative growth charts for brain networks.Brain version of those for height & weight received from a pediatrician’s office. Collaboration with 20+ sites.

Early identification & personalized education. Development of a comprehensive school-readiness app from reading, math, executive function, character traits and creativity. Development of neuroimaging-based models to predict learning profiles and risk for developing disorders before they can be identified using conventional methods.

Identification of novel subtypes of and examination of relative strength of dyslexia using data-driven approaches.

For more information regarding the lab, contact Professor Fumiko Hoeft at brainlens@ucsf.edu.