Stanford University's School of Medicine in California has received a US$10-million grant over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, to help establish and operate a Silvio O. Conte Center for Neuroscience Research. The new centre, in Palo Alto, will focus on studying neuroplasticity, or the capacity of the brain to change as a result of experience. Robert Malenka, the Stanford professor of psychiatry and behavioral science who will direct the centre, said he expects the grant to support 14 to 18 researchers, including postdocs, and hopes the centre will begin operating this autumn. Conte Centers are typically set up to operate for ten years.