Clinical & Experimental Neuroscience

Research area

Central to our research are five disorders

Stroke
Epilepsy
Neuromuscular disorders
Psychotic disorders
Developmental disorders

Research and care go hand in hand. In most cases, the UMC Utrecht serves as a national referral centre. Large patient cohorts have been established in each of the disease areas. All acquired information is used as input for in-depth investigations into the mechanisms underlying disease processes. In turn, the outcome of our research helps to improve early diagnosis and provides patients with the latest innovations in care.

The five disorders share common research angles

Genetic risk factors play an important role in the aetiology of the selected diseases.
Environmental risk factors, in interaction with the genetic background, further contribute to disease vulnerability.
These risk factors impact on the structure and connections of the brain and spinal cord.
Translational approaches, making use of the latest technological possibilities in model systems, allow follow-up experiments to unravel underlying disease mechanisms.
Implementing research findings in the daily practice of patient care is a common interest of all disease areas.

Associated research groups

All information regarding our researchers and research groups can be found at the programme’s website. In principle all our researchers work in one of the five disease areas and/or with one or more of the research approaches as mentioned under research area (point 2).

Profile of prospective PhD candidates

We are looking for PhD candidates with a broad interest in clinical and experimental neuroscience and who are open to research on the interface of the clinic and the lab. Background can be diverse; from medical* (is possible in combination with clinical training), biomedical, psychology up to engineering or computer science. Experience with either: imaging techniques, genetic studies and/or translational research (i.e. animal studies, electrophysiology, cell and molecular biology).

*If you would like to work in a clinical setting it is advisable that you do speak Dutch (considering patient contact).

Training programme

You can find te training programme here (pdf).

Mission of the training programme

Our mission is to get PhD candidates broadly informed in the large field of clinical and experimental neuroscience; to train and prepare PhD candidates as good as possible for the next step in their (scientific) careers.