Research at MCG and within the Program

An exhaustive list of neuroscience research projects at MCG would be would be difficult to include on one webpage. Current research topics include epilepsy, neural repair, stem cells, neurobehavior, learning and memory processes, neurodegenerative diseases, receptor and channel function and signaling, stroke, synaptic plasticity, taste, vision, and many others. Research in these areas is carried out at one of MCG's many outstanding basic and clinical science departments, including departments of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Physiology, Neurology, Neuropathology, Neurosurgery, Opthalmology, Psychiatry, Radiology; and research centers such as the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics Developmental Neurobiology Program (IMMAG), the Synapses and Cognitive Neuroscience Center, Vascular Biology Center, Vision Sciences Center, and the Neuroscience Center of Excellence. MCG has a strong interdeparmental and interinstitutional approach to research, and this is true of Neuroscience research as well. For more information about research at MCG in general, visit this site.

Research as a Component of Curriculum

Students will undertake three rotations in research labs during the first semester of the first year, where they will be involved in research projects. These are designed to teach techniques and serve to help students choose a research lab. During the second semester of their first year students will do two research rotations which will serve to help them select a mentor for their dissertation research, chosen after their second semester. Students are expected to receive research training during the rotations and in the lab of their mentor. Students will prepare a written research proposal for their dissertation in consultation with their mentor, and a thesis advisory committee that will approve the research proposal. The student is expected to do original research for their dissertation and publish their work in a peer-reviewed scientific journal .