**In collaboration with Laserlab-Europe project**

The core faculty of the ICFO-MINDLAB, a think tank working jointly towards a transdisciplinary understanding of the brain, offers a school to introduce cutting edge technologies to study neuroscience at the molecular, cellular and systems level to students in a combination of lectures and hands-on experience leading to group projects.

What is MINDLAB?

MINDLAB stands for “Manipulating and Investigating Neural Dynamics for Learning and Ageing in the Brain” and is an interdisciplinary creative playground rooted squarely in academic rigor, comprising of research groups from ICFO and beyond. We focus on advancing fundamental knowledge on how the mind emerges from the behavior of individual molecules, neurons and brain networks but also creating and commercializing transformational future technologies with outstanding potential to impact our society for good.

Hence, this course will expose participants to the state-of-the-art of photonics-based technologies tailored to monitor a hierarchy of scales in the study of the brain: i.e. from single molecules up to the whole organism.

The MINDLAB faculty includes world leading experts in their fields. The expertise of the core faculty is complemented by a diverse set of affiliated adjunct faculty from various research centres in Barcelona but also through clinical and corporate partners. The course is supplemented by invited lecturers covering topics related to a Horizon 2020 Project, TinyBrains (https://tinybrains.eu), that has developed a tomographic, non-invasive imager of brain function for newborns with severe congenital heart defects. In this context, TinyBrains organizes a dedicated session with Prof. Jennifer M. Lynch (a pediatric cardiothoracic anesthesiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania) and Prof. Martin Lauritzen (Professor of Translational Neurobiology at the University of Copenhagen).

Lecturers:

• Martin Lauritzen (University of Copenhagen)
• Jennifer M. Lynch (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia)
• Ilaria Testa (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) - TBC
• Ilias Tachtsidis (University College London)
• John Kennis (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
• Jordi Soriano (University of Barcelona)
• Pau Gorostiza (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia)
• Ute Hochgeschwendter (Central Michigan University)
• Nicoletta Liguori (ICFO)
• María García-Parajo (ICFO)
• Michael Krieg (ICFO)
• Pablo Loza-Alvarez (ICFO)
• Turgut Durduran (ICFO)

Hands-on sessions:

Participants will engage in lab sessions focused on the latest photonics technologies. Each lab session will provide participants with an opportunity to work directly with advanced equipment and gain valuable practical skills.

The sessions will take place in the following labs:

• Super resolution Light microscopy and Nanoscopy
• Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
• Medical Optics
• Photon Harvesting in Plants and Biomolecules
• Single Molecules Biophotonics

How To Apply:

Applicants must submit: 

•  A Curriculum Vitae, including contact details 
• A statement of purpose outlining their motivation for attending the school.

Applications must be submitted online through the dedicated registration form.

School Fees:

The course has a fee of €125, which will be charged after the registration process. Registrants will receive a dedicated payment link via email to confirm their enrollment in the course. 

Deadline:

The final deadline for applications is September 1. Registration confirmations will be sent out on a rolling basis after the registration process. Spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, considering the selection criteria.

For any questions, please contact us at frontiers@icfo.eu

Venue:

ICFO – The Institute of Photonics Sciences 

More information about how to get to ICFO can be found here. 

About:  

Frontiers Research Schools on the Frontiers of Light aim at giving talented young researchers and students worldwide a first introduction to a thematic research area and a taste of an international research environment. These schools incorporate a dynamic and social learning environment beyond participating in lectures, including group discussions, direct interactions with the lecturers, student talks and poster presentations.  

ICFO does not tolerate any type of conduct or behavior considered harassment or bullying and has clearly defined policies against harassment. 

Organizing Committee: Prof. Dr. Pablo Loza-Alvarez, Prof. Dr. Turgut Durduran, Prof. Dr. Michael Krieg, Dr. Lorenzo Cortese, Prof. Dr. Nicoletta Liguori, Prof. Dr. Niek van-Hulst, Prof. Dr. María García-Parajo, Dr. Ariadna Martínez Marrades, Miss Judith Salvador Herena, Dr. Giovanna Petrillo, Dr. Miguel Ángel Moreno.

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 871124, 101138041 and 101017113.