Walk past the southern edge of UCLA’s campus, and you’ll run right into a structure that looks a lot like most modern academic buildings—lots of glass, some concrete, and a steady stream of students clutching iced lattes. But the Laurie and Steven C. Gordon Neuroscience Research Building isn't just another spot for lectures. Honestly, it’s the nerve center for some of the most aggressive "revenge research" on the planet.
That’s actually how Steven Gordon describes it. He isn't interested in just "studying" diseases; he wants to get even with them.
If you’ve ever seen a loved one deal with the slow, frustrating progression of Parkinson’s or the heavy weight of clinical depression, you get why that kind of language matters. This building, often just called the NRB by the locals, is where that fight happens. Since its renaming in 2019 following a massive $25 million gift from the Gordons, it has become synonymous with a very specific mission: finding a way to stop neurodegeneration before it stops the patient.
What actually goes on inside the Gordon NRB?
Most people think of "research" as people in white coats looking at slides. While there’s plenty of that, the Laurie and Steven C. Gordon Neuroscience Research Building is basically a high-tech data fortress.
One of the coolest—and most vital—things housed here is the UCLA Brain Mapping Center's compute cluster. We are talking about massive data storage arrays and processing power that can take a grainy MRI and turn it into a 3D map of a human soul. Well, maybe not the soul, but definitely the complex neural pathways that make you, you.
In April 2023, they started a project to install a Siemens Biograph 3T mMR scanner. That’s a fancy way of saying a machine that does PET and MRI scans at the same time. This is huge because it allows scientists to see the structure of the brain and its metabolic activity simultaneously. If you’re trying to figure out why certain proteins are clumping together in a Parkinson's patient, you need that level of detail.
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The building itself is about 130,481 square feet and rises five stories above the Westwood soil. It’s located at 635 Charles E. Young Drive South. If you’re looking for it, it’s the one tucked near the Semel Institute and the Reed Neurological Research Center. It’s part of a cluster of buildings designed to make sure doctors and researchers are literally within walking distance of each other.
The Parkinson’s Connection
The Gordons didn’t just put their name on the door for the sake of it. Their $25 million commitment in 2018 established the UCLA Laurie and Steven Gordon Commitment to Cure Parkinson’s Disease.
- Endowed Chairs: The gift funded five faculty chairs. These aren’t just honorary titles; they provide the financial "runway" for top-tier scientists to take risks on research that might not get traditional government funding.
- The Bitan Lab: Located on the 4th floor (Room 451/455), Dr. Gal Bitan and his team are doing some wild work here. They focus on "protein misfolding." Basically, when proteins in your brain start folding into the wrong shapes, they become toxic. Bitan’s lab is looking for "molecular tweezers" that can literally grab these proteins and stop them from clumping.
- Dr. Ming Guo: She’s the inaugural holder of the Laurie and Steven C. Gordon Chair in Neurosciences. Her work is legendary in the field, specifically looking at how "trash" is cleared out of our cells. When that "trash" (damaged mitochondria) builds up, neurons die.
It’s more than just Parkinson’s
While the Parkinson’s work gets a lot of the headlines, the building is a bit of a "catch-all" for the most complex brain mysteries.
You’ve got labs focusing on Alzheimer’s, long-term memory, and even sleep function. I recently saw a seminar listed there by Dr. Jeff Donlea about using fruit flies to examine sleep. It sounds weird, but fruit fly brains are surprisingly useful models for figuring out why humans need to hit the snooze button.
The vibe of the building is very collaborative. It isn't like those old-school labs where everyone is locked in their own basement. The architecture (which dates back to the building's inception in 2004) was designed to encourage "collisions"—the kind where a data scientist from the brain mapping team bumps into a neurologist in the hallway and they solve a problem over a mediocre vending machine coffee.
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The Max Gray Connection
You can't really talk about the Gordons' impact at UCLA without mentioning the Max Gray Fund. Laurie Gordon founded this in 2014 in memory of her son. While much of that work is centered in the nearby Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, the research performed in the Laurie and Steven C. Gordon Neuroscience Research Building often provides the underlying data that informs how mood disorders are treated.
Basically, the science happens in the NRB, and the clinical application happens across the street. It’s a closed loop.
Why this matters for the "Regular Person"
You might be thinking, "Cool, some rich people gave money to a big school. How does that help me?"
Honestly, the "bench-to-bedside" pipeline here is one of the fastest in the country. When a breakthrough happens in the Bitan Lab or under Dr. Guo’s watch, it doesn't just sit in a journal. It moves into clinical trials at UCLA Health.
Just recently, in early 2026, UCLA researchers developed an AI tool to identify undiagnosed Alzheimer’s cases. That kind of tech is built on the massive datasets stored right there in the Gordon building.
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Things Most People Get Wrong
People often confuse the Laurie and Steven C. Gordon Neuroscience Research Building with the newer Gordon Pavilion.
The Gordon Pavilion is a $20 million project (announced in late 2025) that’s renovating the 4th floor of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to add 103 beds.
The Neuroscience Research Building is the lab-heavy space. One is for treating patients today; the other is for making sure we don't have to treat them tomorrow because we've found a cure.
Another misconception? That it’s only for UCLA students. The Brain Mapping Center inside the building actually serves the "wider research community." Scientists from all over the world use the data clusters and imaging tech housed here. It’s more of a global hub than a local classroom.
Future-Proofing Brain Health
The building is currently undergoing some "Smart Building" upgrades. UCLA Facilities has been working on optimizing the mechanical systems and air valves—not very glamorous, sure, but when you have millions of dollars of sensitive brain tissue and high-powered PET scanners, the temperature has to be perfect.
If you’re interested in the future of neuroscience or if your family has been touched by neurodegenerative disease, keep an eye on the press releases coming out of this specific zip code. They aren't just doing "science for science's sake." They’re trying to win a fight.
Practical Next Steps for Residents and Students:
- Check the BRI Seminars: The Brain Research Institute (BRI) holds joint seminars in the Gordon NRB that are often open to the academic community. If you want to hear about the latest in neural circuits, that’s where to be.
- Clinical Trials: If you or a family member is dealing with Parkinson’s, check the UCLA Neurology website specifically for trials linked to the Gordon Commitment. Many of the discoveries made in this building are currently recruiting for human participants.
- Virtual Tours: The Brain Mapping Center sometimes offers digital walkthroughs of their imaging suites. It’s a great way to see the $25 million investment in action without needing a security badge.