Phd in CLINICAL EXPERIMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE AND PSYCHIATRY

Educational goals and objectives

CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE AND PSYCHIATRY

The doctoral program is divided into 7 curricula dealing with the study of physiological and pathological aspects of the nervous system. The common goal of the different curricula is to provide PhD fellows with the theoretical and experimental tools for the study of neural mechanisms underlying the functioning of motor and sensory systems and their alteration in neurological, degenerative, psychiatric, cancer, and neurodevelopmental pathologies. PhD students are trained through a three-year course consisting of research activities initially supervised and then carried out in person, by decreasing face-to-face teaching enriched by weekly seminars in the form of Neurowebinars. These are the objectives for doctoral students in the different curricula: 1) SENSORI-MOTOR NEUROSCIENCES: to carry out research in the study of the motor and sensory system in both normal subjects and patients with movement disorders, and to investigate the clinical and neurophysiological aspects of epilepsies. 2) NEURORIABILITY: To gain knowledge of the central mechanisms that are involved in determining motor recovery in patients with neurological disorders undergoing rehabilitation treatment. 3) EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY: to do research on neurodegenerative diseases starting from the analysis of data obtained in animal models for the understanding of the pathogenetic processes underlying human diseases, including using quantitative neuroimaging and molecular biology experimental approaches. 4) NEUROLOGICAL, NEUROEVOLUTIVE AND PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS IN EVOLUTIONAL AGE: to be able to develop and test hypotheses related to the pathophysiology of these disorders, to define specific observational and therapeutic approaches aimed at validating early clinical outcome measures, to design experimental trials of new pharmacological treatments or original diagnostic procedures. 5) HEARING IMPLANTOLOGY AND NEUROSTIMULATION: Acquire knowledge related to electrophysiological, psychoacoustic and audiological prosthetic aspects to study the problems associated with auditory processing through these devices, their therapeutic efficacy on the restoration of auditory function and language development. 6)PSYCHIATRY: PREVIOUS INTERVENTIONS IN PSYCHOSIS AND HUMOR DISORDERS: to know how to address current needs in the field of psychiatric disciplines by integrating existing knowledge and expertise in neuroscience, genetics, molecular and cellular biology, brain imaging, epidemiology, psychometrics, and pharmacology. 7)NEUROPHYSIOLOGY: to know how to study the physiological mechanisms of synaptic function, communication between cells of the nervous system, and between the nervous system, the immune system, and the gut microbiota, but also their alterations under pathological conditions, including using animal models of brain diseases.