G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience (CNSR)

The G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience (CNSR)(Link is external) is an interdisciplinary, translational center funded by the National Institutes of Health, and by philanthropic support. CNSR has both a research and clinical component.

The center aims to bring the brain back into medicine by demonstrating its crucial role in health and wellness, identifying brain signatures associated with vulnerability or resilience to chronic disease, elucidating the role of the gut microbiome, immune system and genomic factors in chronic brain-gut disorders and uncovering differences in the male and female brain in mind-brain-body interactions.
Research at the center will examine the role of the brain in health and in common abdominal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, functional dyspepsia and cyclical vomiting syndrome in both adults and children, as well as other chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, bladder pain syndrome, vulvodynia and obesity.

Building on this integrative view, researchers aim to develop novel, cost-effective management strategies that employ new pharmacological treatments as well as mind-body approaches such as relaxation training, cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnotherapy and mindfulness meditation.