The Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante

The Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante (INA) is a joint research centre of the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (UMH) and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas located in the village of Sant Joan near the city of Alicante. The INA has its own building with about 9000 m2 of laboratory space where 53 researchers and 64 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students work. The research interests of the INA range from the genetic and molecular control of nervous system development to the cellular mechanisms of neocortical rhythms.

The INA is particularly strong in developmental biology and in sensory and cortical neurophysiology, although there are important groups working in cellular neurobiology, neurotransmis sion and pharmacology of the nervous system. The 22 research groups of the INA employ a wide variety of techniques covering the fields of molecular and cellular biology, genetics and systems physiology. Among the techni cal facilities at the INA are fully equipped tissue and cell culture rooms, confocal and two photon microscopy, and special areas for behavioural experiments. The INA is organized into research divisions freely established by the researchers.

These divisions are intended to be very functional and flexible and serve mainly as an organizational framework to facilitate research activities and stimulate interaction and scientific collaboration among the members of the Institute itself as well as among its members and scientists from other national and international institutions. The Institute and its members maintain active interchange programs with universities, research centres and neurobiology laboratories around the world.