During the last two decades, research in basic neuroscience has advanced at an astonishing pace. The advances stem from a growing interest in the nervous system by scientists, the rapid adaptation of molecular biological techniques to basic neuroscience research, and improvements in technology such as the widespread use of neural cell cultures and brain slices for examining the interactions between neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter receptors. Advances in clinical neurology have occurred in parallel, stemming in part from progress in the basic sciences and in part from the development of new technologies, notably structural and functional imaging, including computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, angiography, positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography. As in the case of basic neuroscience, molecular biological and particularly molecular genetic approaches have enhanced the identification of specific neurological disorders, notably these resulting from dominant genetic inheritance. The growth of information in both basic neuroscience and clinical neurology has led to the development of new pharmaceuticals for many disorders, including epilepsy, stroke, movement disorders, and multiple sclerosis, to name just a few.

The rapid expansion of new knowledge in the basic and clinical aspects of neuroscience pertains to the cerebellum and its afferent and efferent pathways as well as to the rest of the nervous system. Information has accumulated rapidly concerning the embryology, anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology of the cerebellum. Knowledge has also expanded about the clinical aspects of cerebellum function and cerebellar disorders. As an example, we now have a new classification of the dominantly inherited ataxias and growing insight into the underlying biochemical disorders at a molecular level.