This week, eight new students started their training as INDP students. The new students comprise a diverse and dynamic group, with members arriving from Norway, Jamaica, Italy, Brazil, Germany and Portugal. Their educational backgrounds are also diverse and include, besides Neuroscience, Evolutionary Biology, Oncology and Biomedicine. The students are now beginning their first year of the programme, which is wholly dedicated to learning the basics of research.

Rui Costa is one of the winners of a 2.0 million € Consolidation Grant attributed by the European Research Council.

This Grant will fund the research project “Neural bases of action chunking in basal ganglia subcircuits”.

Last Saturday (Jan 11th) CNP welcomed the 12 students from Sciencecalifragilistic class of 2014 and they did not come alone…

The opening session of the 2º Edition of Sciencecalifragilistic, a science education project for high school students, brought together around two hundred enthusiastic students and teachers to the Auditorium of the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon.

When you learn how to play the piano, first you have to learn notes, scales and chords and only then will you be able to play a piece of music. The same principle applies to speech and to reading, where instead of scales you have to learn the alphabet and the rules of grammar.

But how do separate small elements come together to become a unique and meaningful sequence?

The Scientist Magazine interviews CNP investigator Michael Orger and other neuroscientists who apply the latest technology to studying large scale neural activity.

From The Scientist Magazine, Published February 1st, 2014:

Over 500 high school students visited the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in 2013, proving our Open Door Policy a worthwhile mission that will continue in 2014.

Once a month, investigators from the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme (CNP) welcome a group of 50-60 students who arrive from all across Portugal. The investigators introduce the students to the world of neuroscience, talk to them about their research, their motivations and career paths. All visits end with a tour around the laboratories and facilities.

2014 was chosen to be the Year of the brain in Europe, with the goal of communicating scientific concepts in neuroscience to the general public and increasing awareness to neural disorders and diseases. In Portugal, as part of this project, Ciência Viva has launched a Video Contest, recruiting CNP as one of its national scientific partners.

On February 15th, a group of CNP investigators organised a flash mob called “Sem A Ciência o Mundo Pára” to call the attention of everyone who passed by Praça Luis de Camões in Lisbon, to the importance of investing in science.

Read what Simone Lackner, one of the organisers, wrote about the cause behind this flash mob (watch here the event video).

CNP postdoctoral researcher Alex Gomez Marin receives an honourable mention for the scientific image he submitted to the Art of Neuroscience Competition of 2014.

The image, titled ‘Decision Timescapes’ captures the temporal evolution of the path a mouse makes while it is exploring a new space. Read more about it and about the other winning science / art works at the contest website.

Once again, CNP members promoted and organised exciting national and international initiatives for Brain Awareness Week (BAW) of 2014.