Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits (BKC) is a basic research centre studying the normal brain mechanisms that are affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

The centre aims to understand the healthy workings of brain functions affected by Alzheimer disease. Special cells in the neural networks of entorhinal cortex are the very first to die in Alzheimer's disease, resulting in impaired brain functions. The functional task of this brain area answers the hallmark questions of episodic memory - when, where and what happened - by generating our sense of space, our sense of time, and by organizing the content of our experiences and memories.

The Braathen-Kavli Centre studies will bring light to the inherent affordances of these cells and networks, to investigate why they are especially vulnerable to the disease.

The centre is realized by a donation from philanthropist Pauline Braathen, joined by her late husband Egil Braathen's nieces and nephew Mona Arnesen, Anita Lien, and Erik Ruud.