Neuroscience

The main objective of the doctoral programme is to provide students with the tools and skills necessary to carry out hypothesis-driven and high-quality research with the ultimate aim of improving the scientific knowledge and practice of evidence-based medicine for diseases with high social impact. 
The student will acquire specific skills in the following areas:

• formulate a scientific hypothesis and develop a plan for research activities with adequate planning of experimental designs and protocols in the field of neuroscience;
• to carry out the individual experimental phases of the research using the most advanced techniques of genetic, molecular, cellular, physiological, cognitive, epidemiological and neuroimaging investigation applicable to various experimental models (ex vivo and in vitro cells, animal models) and to humans, also with phase II, III and IV observational and clinical studies;
• develop critical thinking to analyze one's own research and studies conducted by other researchers;
• carry out post-hoc analysis of experimental data;
• effective and concise, oral and written communication of research results.

The aim of the PhD is to enhance the perspectives opened up by continuous progress in the field of different areas of neuroscience such as:

• the molecular and cellular biology of neurons and glial cells;
• neurophysiology;
• neurophysiopathology;
• neuroimmunology;
• cognitive, social and behavioural neuroscience;
• the study of disease models from both an anatomical-functional and molecular point of view;
• morphological and functional neuroimaging methods;
• regenerative and rehabilitative medicine;
• multisensory stimulations with total immersion;
• neuro-pharmacology;  
• the adaptive and plasticity mechanisms of the central and peripheral nervous system and their impact on neurodegenerative diseases.

The various educational objectives are pursued through the preparation of multidisciplinary research projects based on technological innovation in medicine and neuroscience and the transfer of knowledge from the medical, biological and engineering worlds for the implementation of new pharmacological treatments, innovative diagnostic tools and interpretative models and cutting-edge biomedical applications.
The students' training path will have a clearly multidisciplinary approach. 
The investigation on sick and healthy humans will be accompanied by adequate experimental models with the use of laboratory animals, genetically modified and not, and cell cultures, which will allow the carrying out of behavioral, electrophysiological, immunohistochemical and molecular investigations of the factors involved in the processes under examination, making use of procedures such as scanning and transmission electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, super-resolution techniques, in vitro, ex-vivo and in vivo electrophysiology, quantitative morphology, laser microdissection, next-generation sequencing analysis for the identification of gene expression profiles.
In this regard, PhD students will be able to integrate the opportunities offered by the laboratories of the Departments of Neuroscience, Head and Neck and Sensory Organs, Radiological and Hematological Sciences, Life Sciences and Public Health, Safety and Bioethics, the Centralized Laboratory of Microscopy (LabCeMi) and the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS. Candidates will also have the opportunity to attend the laboratories of the universities and collaborative structures, where high-profile and high-level research activities have been carried out for years on methods and topics, closely related to the objectives of the PhD (IRCCS S. Raffaele Pisana, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia).
This PhD is open to graduates in Medicine and Surgery, Biology, Pharmacy, Biotechnology, Engineering, Physics, Statistics, Psychology interested in deepening their knowledge of the physiological and biochemical-molecular mechanisms underlying the phenomena of growth and aging, as well as post-lesional reorganization of neuronal networks, and their "dynamic connectivity", as well as graduates in other disciplines with particular interest in the study and to the in-depth study of Neuroscience. 

Below are the courses included in the PhD cycle with their distribution in the years of activation:

• Neurophysiology and neurobiology – first year, second year
• New insights into diseases mechanisms – first year, second year, third year
• Research fundamentals – first year, third year
• Scientific research dissemination and exploitation – first year, third year
• Novel tools for scientific research and drug design – first year, second year, third year
• Tools for Neuroplasticity: Neurophysiology, Analysis of movements and Neuromodulation – first year, second year