The Instituto de Neurociencias (IN) at Alicante is a joint research centre of the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (UMH) and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) located in the village of Sant Joan near the city of Alicante. The IN has its own building with about 9000 m2 of laboratory space where 40 researchers and 164 postdoctoral fellows and PhD students work. We have designed a specific transdisciplinary research programme project, emerging from the collaborative activity of IN groups. With this, we aim to solve fundamental questions on the nervous system that cut across boundaries of description. These questions can be grouped into a common theme: how is the large-scale organization of functional brain circuits assembled during development, how are they changed by experience and how do pathological alterations in this configuration affect brain function. This crucial issue is broken down into chunks addressed by individual laboratories working at a single level of description. The research groups of the IN employ a wide variety of techniques with a strong multidisciplinary flavour, including the use of state-of-the-art techniques in the fields of molecular and cellular biology, genetics, genomics, systems biology, behaviour, electrophysiology, optical imaging and fMRI. 

The IN has been recently appointed as a “Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa”, a program launched by the Spanish Government to distinguish research centres with a trajectory of excellence in any field of knowledge in Spain. Through this, the IN offers each year a number of 4-yrs PhD scholarships to talented students to be trained in neuroscience. 

The IN organizes a regular Seminar Multidisciplinary Programme (ca. 30 seminars per year by leading researchers from around the world), internal Unit Seminars, the annual IN’s Progress Report Meeting and the IN’s Christmas Meeting.

The Instituto de Neurociencias receives the 'Severo Ochoa'accreditation as a Center of Excellence

The Instituto de Neurociencias (CSIC-UMH) has been distinguished by an international jury in the framework of the Severo Ochoa Excellence Program, together with four other Spanish research centre. Accreditation as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence is for four years and will provide 1 million € per year for research activities.

The distinction recognizes the Instituto de Neurociencias as the most relevant brain research institute in Spain. Other four research centres were also recognized: the National Centre of Biotechnology, the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and the Catalan Institute of Chemical Research. The distinction places them on the list of the most prominent research centres in Spain and Europe.

More information also regarding the “Caixa-Severo Ochoa” Fellowships to carry out PhD studies can be found at: http://in.umh.es/

Team Lead

Name
Steering Committee Professor Juan Lerma – Synaptic Physiology, Cell and Systemic Neurobiology

Members

Name
Young Investigator Dr. Victor Borrell – Neurogenesis and Cortical Expansion
Young Investigator Dr. Santiago Canals – Plasticity of Brain Networks
Young Investigator Dr. Guillermina López-Bendito – Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Brain Wiring

Alumni

Name
Alumni Dr. Angel Barco – Molecular Neurobiology
Alumni Dr. Ana Carmena – Developmental Neurobiology
Alumni Dr. Eloisa Herrera – Developmental Neurobiology
Alumni Professor Miguel Maravall – Cellular and Systems Neurobiology