FutureNeuro Summer Studentship Award 2019

FutureNeuro Summer Studentships are now open for Applications.

Overview

FutureNeuro is an SFI Research Centre, led by RCSI, to develop new technologies and solutions for the treatment, diagnosis, and monitoring of chronic and rare neurological diseases. Bringing together multi-disciplinary scientific teams in the field of neuroscience, across RCSI, TCD, UCD, DCU and NUIG, the centre is dedicated to accelerating discoveries on genetic diagnosis and advanced molecular treatments supported by enabling e-health technology for chronic and rare neurological diseases.

A key purpose of the Centre is to develop a strong cohort of PhD and Post-doctoral candidates who have the opportunity to develop their careers by participating in academic, clinical and industry-related research. FutureNeuro will run a Summer Studentship Award in 2019 for up to 4 high-achieving science undergraduates with an interest in pursuing a PhD in the FutureNeuro neuroscience research areas. The candidates will be supervised by a PI from the FutureNeuro network.

Project 1

Project Title: Characterisation of astrocyte dysfunction in epilepsy

PI: Prof David Henshall, RCSI and Dr Janosch Heller, RCSI.

Project 2

Project Title: Integrating polygenic risk scores with exome data to help decipher the genetic basis of the epilepsies.

PI: Prof Gianpiero Cavalleri, RCSI

Project 3

Project Title: Investigation of tRNA fragment complexes in ALS and Epilepsy

Supervisor: Dr Marion Hogg, RCSI.

Affiliated PIs: Prof. David Henshall and Prof. Jochen Prehn, RCSI.

Project 4

Project Title: Molecular mechanisms of blood-brain barrier dysfunction and repair in Epilepsy

PI/supervisor: Dr Cristina R Reschke, RCSI.

Affiliated PIs: Prof. David Henshall, RCSI and Prof. Matthew Campbell, TCD

Project 5

Project Title: Examination of screen time during clinician-patient encounters

Supervisor: Dr Colin Doherty, TCD

Read Project Descriptions
Apply here

Eligibility

  • Applicants will be selected based on academic performance.
  • Candidates must be in the 4th (final) or 3rd year of a full-time undergraduate life science, biomedical science (e.g. physiology, biochemistry, genetics etc.) or computer science degree.
  • Candidate must be willing to apply for funding (national or international) to undertake a PhD with FutureNeuro after the Summer School.

Practicalities of FutureNeuro Summer School

  • The Summer Studentship Award with be 8-weeks in duration (10th June – 2nd August 2019).
  • The project will take place in the identified PIs lab, with some elements running in conjunction with the RCSI Summer School.
  • Participants will be invited to present a poster at RCSI Research Day (Feb/March 2020)
  • A stipend of €250 per week will be available.
  • Candidates may be Garda Vetted.

Application Process

  • All applicants must complete a FutureNeuro Summer Studentship Award 2019 Application Form, accompanied by a 1-page C.V.
  • Only one application allowed per student.
  • Applications to be submitted by email to Karina Carey, Reporting Office, FutureNeuro Email: karinacarey@rcsi.ie
  • Closing date for applications: 20th May 2019
  • Places will be allocated based on application – there will be no interview process.

All positions will be allocated by 27th May 2019.

FutureNeuro Background

The mission of FutureNeuro is to accelerate discoveries on genetic diagnosis and advanced molecular treatments supported by enabling e-health technology for chronic and rare neurological diseases. Building initially on internationally recognized strengths in epilepsy and motor neuron disease research, the Centre aims to develop additional research programmes in other chronic and rare neurological diseases.

The FutureNeuro PI network are internationally-recognised leaders in key neuroscience fields: Epigenetics and  noncoding RNAs (Prof. David Henshall, RCSI and FutureNeuro Centre Director), Cell imaging and mathematical modeling of neural behavior (Prof Jochen Prehn, RCSI), human genetics and genomic sequencing (Prof Gianpiero Cavalleri, RCSI), Neuronal stem cell technology (Prof Sanbing Shen, NUIG), molecular technology in blood-brain barrier (Prof Matthew Campbell, TCD) and advanced detection of brain molecules in blood (Prof Robert Forster, DCU). FutureNeuro PI network also includes clinical expertise with participation of Prof. Orla Hardiman (National Clinical Lead for Neurology and TCD) and Prof. Colin Doherty (National clinical lead for women’s health in epilepsy) and Prof. Norman Delanty, consultant Neurologist and biobanking for neurological disease, Beaumont Hospital and  RCSI. The Centre is built on a network of research active clinical collaborators based in Ireland’s key paediatric and adult specialist centres for treatment of complex neurological diseases.

With a view to commercialisation and development a mandate to build successful industry partnerships the centre has developed multinational and indigenous partners across the thematic areas of diagnosis, therapeutics and eHealth. FutureNeuro also combines clinical and industry expertise.

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