More than 2,000 people visited the Brain Awareness Week at the Institute for Neurosciences in Alicante

24 de March de 2025

• Over 160 volunteers from IN UMH-CSIC contributed to making this edition of Brain Week a great success.

Once again, the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), celebrated Brain Awareness Week to bring the importance of basic neuroscience research closer to the general public. From March 10 to 14, open doors sessions were held at the Francisco Javier Balmis building on the Sant Joan d'Alacant campus of UMH, where IN researchers showcased their laboratory work through an extensive program of exhibitions, short scientific talks, educational workshops, and a round table discussion on the figure of Santiago Ramón y Cajal as a bridge between science and art.

Throughout the week, more than 1,600 students from 44 schools across the Valencian Community visited the campus to learn firsthand about brain and central nervous system research conducted at IN. They explored various stands and attended short scientific talks presented daily. In addition to scheduled school visits, three-afternoon sessions were open to the general public, which reached full capacity until closing time.

This edition was a success thanks to the participation of over 160 volunteers, including researchers and technical staff. They conducted educational workshops on topics such as animal models in research, sensory illusions, brain anatomy, virtual reality applied to neuroanatomy, and the mysteries of our DNA, among many others. Every morning, short scientific talks were also delivered on various neuroscience-related topics, including brain rest, drugs and addiction, memory formation, neuron function, the sense of touch, and pain, among others.

Attendees had the opportunity to visit three parallel exhibitions alongside all the activities. The first was the artistic exhibition IN Scientific Photography, featuring high-resolution prints representing the various lines of research at IN. The second was the #HicieronHistoria exhibition from the BEATRICS project from UMH, which included a series of totems available in Spanish, Valencian, and English, highlighting the scientific and technical achievements of several women from different fields and historical periods. Finally, the Human Brain Photo Expo, a photographic exhibit from the Department of Histology and Anatomy at UMH, was dedicated to the human central nervous system.

With the support of the Remedios Caro Almela Chair of Neurobiology, a new edition of the Brain and Society series took place, featuring the round table discussion The Art of Understanding the Brain: Cajal and Neurosciences. The event included the participation of Rosario Moratalla Villalba, Director of the Cajal Institute (CSIC, Madrid) and curator of the Cajal, Science, and Art exhibition; Luis Puelles López, Emeritus Professor of Neuroanatomy at the University of Murcia; and Nicolás Cuenca Navarro, Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Alicante. The discussion was moderated by IN researchers Ariadna Díaz Tahoces from the Ocular Neurobiology laboratory and Teresa Guillamón Vivancos from the Development, Plasticity, and Reprogramming of Sensory Circuits laboratory.

Following the round table discussion, the Cajal, Science, and Art exhibition was inaugurated, showcasing drawings by the Spanish Nobel Prize laureate Santiago Ramón y Cajal. The exhibition features facsimiles of the original works preserved in the Cajal Legacy at the Cajal Institute in Madrid, including illustrations by the renowned scientist, as well as his 1906 Nobel Prize in Medicine medal and diploma.

The Brain Awareness Week is organized in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), the Remedios Caro Almela Chair of Neurobiology, the Dana Foundation, Leica Microsystems, the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), and the European University of Brain and Technology (NeurotechEU).

For more information: https://semanadelcerebroin.umh.es/

Source: Institute for Neurosciences UMH-CSIC (in.comunicacion@umh.es)