Master in Neurosciences: from the Bench to the Bedside.

Presentation and objective

The “Master in Neurosciences: from the bench to the bedside” (MiN) is an official Master of the Universidad Miguel Hernandez (UMH) that is taught in the Institute of Neurosciences, a joint center UMH – CSIC. This Master qualifies to enroll the PhD Program in Neurosciences of the Institute of Neurosciences, an also it gives access to PhD programs in Spain and in countries of the European Higher Education Area (Bologna area).

The master has a total of 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) taught in one academic year (October – July, approximately); the working language of all activities of the Master is English.

Master Objective

The main objective of this Master is to provide to recently graduated students the fundamental theoretical and practical formation that will be necessary to follow a PhD program in Neurosciences, and that will be the starting point of a career of research in this wide scientific field.

Director of the Master

Prof. Emilio Geijo Barrientos

Student profile

We seek students with a degree in biology/biomedicine related disciplines (Biology, Biomedicine, Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pharmacy, …) who are planning to initiate a research career in the field of the Neurosciences.

 

Previous laboratory experience in the field of neuroscience (or in related fields) is not required but it will be valued for the admission in the Master.

 

Master organization and scientific activities

The Master has a number of mandatory and elective courses; it also offers several scientific activities organized in the Institute of Neurosciences.

1.  Mandatory courses. First term (October – January)

  • New developments in the study of the organization of the nervous system and cellular Components of the nervous system (6 ECTS; UMH code 1336).
  • Genetic analysis of the nervous system and advances in embryology (6 ECTS; UMH code 1337).
  • Cell communication (6 ECTS; UMH code 1339).
  • Synaptic transmission and plasticity. Processing of sensory information (6 ECTS; UMH code 4157).
  • Animal facilities and tools in Neuroscience (3 ECTS; UMH code 2699).

2. Mandatory courses. Second term (February -May)

  • Functional image analysis (3 ECTS; UMH code 2700).
  • Neuropathology (3 ECTS; UMH code 2695).
  • New therapies (3 ECTS; UMH code 2697).

3. Mandatory courses. All academic year (October – May)

  • Neuroscience today (4.5 ECTS; UMH code 1335).
  • Master research project (15 ECTS; UMH code 2750).

4. Elective courses (second term February – May)

Each student must choose one of the following courses:

  • From ionic channels to information processing in the Nervous System: a functional approach (4.5 ECTS; UMH code 4158).
  • Developmental neurobiology: from neurogenesis to circuit formation (4.5 ECTS; UMH code 2702).

Other scientific activities:

  • Scientific seminars and meetings organized by the Institute of Neurosciences.

  • Participation in activities organized as part of the Brain Awareness Week (BAW)

Optional: Since the work with laboratory animals in a central tool in the research in Neurosciences the Master offers to those students interested the possibility to take (free of charge) the official course organized by the UMH necessary to obtain the accreditation to work with laboratory animals (currently this course is available only in Spanish).

 

Applying / Admission

The maximum number of students admitted each academic year is 20.
The steps to apply are as follows (the dates are for applying for the 2022-23 academic year):

  1. To complete a pre-inscription in the Master. For the academic year 2022-23 the dates for this pre-inscription will be from end-March to end-June, 2022. This step is done through the UMH web: http://estudios.umh.es/acceso/masters/preinscripcion/  (currently this web is available only in Spanish!!!). In this step you must upload the following documentation (in pdf format): official academic record of the completed degree, including average grade; document on English language level (B2 or higher); CV; letter of intention. Optionally you also may include other documents such as presentation letter/s. In the letter of intention, you may state the reasons why you are interested in this Master as well as your professional goals.

  2. Once the pre-inscription period is closed, the admission of students will be done based on the documentation provided. The list of admitted students will be published in early July.

  3.  If you have been admitted in the Master, you will receive instructions by email to formalize the definitive enrollment (matrícula) in the Master (in July). To complete the enrollment in the Master it is required that you have completed the academic degree that gives access to the Master.

If the maximum number of students admitted in the Master (20) is not completed in July, there will be a second period of pre-inscription and enrollment in early September. Please, note that we cannot know in advance whether it will be places available in September.

 

Scholarships

There are available fellowships from:

  • Fundación Carolina.

Call for the academic year 2023-24 open: https://gestion.fundacioncarolina.es/programas/

  • Severo Ochoa Excellence Program:

More information in the following PDF document: Scholarships MIN 2024.pdf

 

For further information about these fellowships, please ask to: masterneurociencia@goumh.umh.es

Master Research Project / MRP

The objective of the Master Research Project (MRP) is to carry out an original research work in one of the laboratories (research groups) of the IN; with this work it is intended that the student initiates the laboratory work in Neurosciences. During the completion of the MRP, the student must learn some of the techniques used in Neurosciences and obtain original results that must be presented and defended at the end of the course and which, eventually, can serve as an initial phase for the development of a Doctoral Thesis project.

Below are some MRP projects offered by research groups of the Institute of Neurosciences for the 2023-2024 academic year. It is important to point out that this list is indicative and that any interested student can contact directly the Principal Investigator of the research groups of the Institute of Neurosciences to consult the possibility of doing a MRP in a specific research group. The choice and definitive assignment of the laboratory to carry out the MRP is carried out in the first weeks of the Master.

(follow the link in the title to see the complete description of the project; within each project proposal the contact details of the principal investigator are indicated)

 

Student interchange programs

The Master has an international agreement with the Institut Pasteur/Sorbonne Université (Paris) for the interchange of students. The inyerchage consists in the participation durina week in the Development and plasticity of the nervous system (DPSN) Course of the Pasteur Institute.

» English link Institut Pasteur
» French link Institut Pasteur

Download photo (file .pdf)

For further information, please write to: masterneurociencia@goumh.umh.es