Donors Enable Record Pool of TPDA Awards to Neuroscience 2026

Donors Enable Record Pool of TPDA Awards to Neuroscience 2026

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) announces awards to a record 563 neuroscience trainees to attend Neuroscience 2026, the world's largest gathering of neuroscientists, through the Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) program. This cohort represents the largest pool of TPDA recipients in the program's history. Over $660,000 in generous donations were contributed by individual donors to the Friends of SfN Fund, foundation and corporate supporters, and SfN Council.

"The largest cohort of meritoriously selected TPDA awardees would not be possible without the generous support from our TPDA donors," said Michael Lehman, PhD, out-going TPDA chair. "The unparallelled opportunities that Neuroscience 2026 offers trainees to share research and connect with the global neuroscience community come at a crucial time. Uncertain funding presents a unique challenge for today's trainees, which makes support from TPDA program supporters critical to the continued success of the program. I am proud of what these trainees have accomplished, and look forward to seeing how their research and careers grow in years to come."

The TPDA program provides funding support to promising undergraduate and graduate students and post baccalaureate and postdoctoral scholars to participate in Neuroscience 2026, followed by year-long access to SfN's virtual professional development resources. The 2026 TPDA recipients represent more than 320 institutions from 23 countries around the world.

Donors to the 2026 TPDA program feature two multiyear TPDA supporters, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. In addition, the American Brain Foundation, BrightFocus Foundation, Brain Organoid and Systems Neuroscience Journal, Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (DSHB), Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, Grass Foundation, and Science Translational Medicine/AAAS contributed funding this year. The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute contributed to joint TPDA/Chen Science Writers Fellowship awards, in which a select group of recipients create meeting reports to be published by the Chen Institute that summarizes discussions and shares innovative research from their Neuroscience 2026 experience.

Additional 2026 TPDA support was provided by annual contributions from three SfN endowments: the James L. Roberts Fund, the John I. Simpson Fund, and the Nancy Rutledge Zahniser Fund. SfN Council matched all endowment contributions and all institutional contributions of $25,000 and above. SfN Council also matched donations by individuals to the Friends of SfN Fund, which totaled over $78,000 for the 2026 TPDA program.

To learn more about how to support the TPDA program, visit the SfN website or contact [email protected].

###

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is an organization of over 30,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and the nervous system.