Partners

The Maj Institute of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IP PAS) has extensive research infrastructure supporting all areas of investigation in Neuropsychopharmacology, from the synthesis of novel compounds and a medicinal plant garden to high-throughput in vitro and in vivo preclinical testing. Of particular note is the infrastructure dedicated to animal research, including a 3-story building with the main animal house, separate floors for breeding rooms, and experimental rooms for mice and rats. The IP PAS is fully equipped to analyse cellular and molecular mechanisms of drug

action, including laboratories pecializing in electrophysiology in brain slices, in vivo neurochemistry, confocal microscopy, and mass spectroscopy. The IP PAS also has extensive experience in genomics, profiling gene expression in samples from patients and animal models, as well as pharmacogenetics and identification of genetic correlates of rare neurological disorders. As of 2021, the IP PAS employs 98 researchers, including 27 professors, 39 associate professors, and 32 assistants. The IP PAS is one of the founders of the Krakow School of Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Studies.

Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) is an independent state foundation that integrates mental health care in a 400-bed dedicated hospital with translational neuroscience research into an academic health science centre on a single compact campus in Mannheim. With a faculty of 24 full professorships and 1400 employees CIMH is Germany’s largest research institute dedicated to mental health. Within the CIMH, the Institute of Psychopharmacology (IoP) provides a translational continuum that involves predictive animal models, translational multimodal neuroimaging, and human brain organoids and postmortem brain

tissue from deceased psychiatric patients. Identified risk/resilience factors and disease mechanisms of this preclinical translational continuum will directly feed into early phase human translation by conducting proof-ofconcept studies and further into preventive approaches for population health. The IoP has a long track record in fruitfully competing for EU network grants (i.e., IMAGEN (speaker: Schumann) and SyBil-AA (speaker: Sommer)), and is one of Europe’s most successful institutions in ERA-NET grants (7 funded; most recently Coc-Addict, Psi-Alc).

The Neurocentre Magendie is an INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et la Recherche Médicale) research centre that has been founded in 2007 and which is located on the campus of the University of Bordeaux (France). It is a multidisciplinary research institute dedicated to an integrated study of Neurosciences ranging from neurological and behavioural pathologies to the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neural activity. In particular, the Neurocentre Magendie is focusing on addiction, traumatic memories, fear, cognitive decline, obesity, neurodevelopmental disorders, and stress-related pathologies.

The approaches they are using comprise transgenic animals, extraction and analysis of bioactive molecules with state-of-the-art techniques, cell imaging including super-resolution microscopy, in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, optogenetics and refined behavioural assays to assess cognitive, emotional, and motor activities. Rich of more than 20 different nationalities, the Neurocentre Magendie gathers about 200 persons dispatched in 12 000 m2 of laboratory and office spaces. The Neurocentre Magendie has large animal facilities dedicated to the housing and study of rodents.

The Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) is a young university committed to the continuous incorporation of innovation and excellence to continue climbing the rankings of the best universities within our surroundings. The Neuroscience Institute (IN) is a joint center of the Superior Centre for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the UMH, which provides a unique and supportive local environment for the project. The IN accommodates a large interactive community of world-class scientists, both cellular and systems-focused basic and clinical neuroscience, with an international reputation as a center of excellence in neuroscience. Its personnel consists of 27 UMH faculty members and 35 CSIC researchers distributed among 28 research groups. The building has an area of approximately 9,000 m2 distributed over four floors.

Approximately 30% of the building houses common facilities with state-of-the-art research equipment for leading-edge research in neurosciences. Particularly notable is the Functional Magnetic Resonance Service provides state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance (MR) equipment. Concerning training, the IN offers the Master’s in Neuroscience: from Research to the Clinic, entirely in English. Updating new knowledge is a major challenge for professionals in neuroscience and related fields because gaining access to relevant information in such an extensive and rapidly evolving field is not always easy. In this sense, the Institute of Neurosciences is an ideal setting for transmitting the complexity and extent of these advances as it combines leading research and training.