Master's Programme in Neurosciences at Ludwig Maximilians University Munich

About

How does the brain work? Significant progress has been made in the field of cellular and molecular neuroscience and modern in vivo techniques have revolutionised non-invasive observation of brain activity even in humans. Today's challenges lie in understanding the brain as a complex functioning system and many problems remain to be solved. For example, we still cannot explain how information processed in parallel pathways within one sensory modality (as in the visual or auditory system) is fused into the complex object we perceive, such as a face or particular voice. Based on their teaching and research expertise, the members of our teaching faculty, which includes members of the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN) and guest lecturers from external institutions, believe that the overwhelming complexity of the human brain can only be explained by applying different approaches and methods of the disciplines in neuroscience. Thus, our programme constantly works on educating a new generation of neuroscientists starting at the level of graduate students. With an excellent understanding of the molecular, cellular and systemic principles of neurobiology, our students acquire a deeper knowledge of neuron-neuron interaction, the dynamics of neuron-glia interaction, rules of information transfer in simple and complex circuits of single brain centres, interaction of different brain centres, and the function of the human brain. This educational concept can be seen reflected in the curriculum. Two academic tracks Starting in 2018, the GSN curriculum has been expanded in order to offer students more flexibility as well as the opportunity to sharpen their academic profile. Students can now choose courses along either a Systemic-Cellular-Molecular Neuroscience track or a Computational Neuroscience track. Regardless of the selected track, all students will complete coursework within the other area, however, at a more moderate level.