PhD Advances in Neuropharmaceutics

Neuropharmaceutics focuses on the identification of therapeutic targets in nervous system diseases, and then translating those discoveries into drug and therapy development. Neurological disorders have a crucial impact on our society accounting for increased health costs, while drug development to central nervous system (CNS) disorders represents the second investment priority of the pharmaceutical industry, following cancer. Thus, advances in neuropharmaceutics is a key area for students of a PhD programme aiming to target discovery, drug design, medicine development and usage.
The course intends to improve PhD students’ knowledge in the discovery of potential CNS-disease targets leading to the development of new neuroactive drugs, and the improvement of methods to deliver those drugs to the brain, under restricted safety and efficacy requirements.

Goals and Learning Outcomes

Development of new medicines to treat prevalent and emerging neurological conditions is a state-of-the-art
research field. This course will cover the most relevant areas of study in the neuroscience field, highlighting
the new advances in CNS targeting and discussing innovative medicines and current clinical trials. Students
will have the opportunity to enrich their education in the major concepts needed for innovation and
entrepreneurism in drug development within the neuroscience area. They will also contact with advanced in
vitro or in vivo systems, as well as human sample analysis used to discover new targets and/or assay potential
neuropharmaceutical strategies. At the end of the course the PhD students must be able to demonstrate an
integrated knowledge concerning the multidisciplinarity of neuropharmaceutics and be able to design a new
therapeutic strategy to fulfill a specific unmet need of a neurological disorder.

Programme

Programme: PhD Advances in Neuropharmaceutics 2022

Course Coordinator

Course Coordinator:

Adelaide Fernandes, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon

Course Organizers:
Adelaide Fernandes, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon
Ainhoa Alberro, iMed.ULisboa, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon
Ana Rita Vaz, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon
Andreia Barateiro, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon
Dora Brites, iMed.ULisboa, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon
Gonçalo Garcia, iMed.ULisboa, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon
Maria Alexandra Brito, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon
Rui Silva, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon

Teaching staff:
Course organizers and Invited speakers as detailed in programme

Registration and Fees

Registration:

The registration is through the FenixEdu Platform until September 7, 2022.

Registration Guide (Portuguese or English)

Tuition Fee:

This course is free for 1^st year PhD students of FFUL.

PhD Students from others institutions:

Registration with evaluation: 125€
Registration without evaluation: 100€

Contact: doutoramentos@ff.ulisboa.pt

Assessment

The students attending the course will be evaluated along the week based on their participation in seminars and workshop discussion, involvement in case-study debate and preparation/ presentation of a scientific project in an Impact-to-Research Canvas model. The project should describe the design of a new therapeutic strategy to fulfill a specific unmet need of a given neurological disorder, using a multidisciplinary and advanced approach with scientific and social impact. The students will have to fill-in a pre-designed 1-page template of Research-to-Impact Canvas, an innovative adaptation of the Business Model Canvas to be used by researchers. This planning tool will encourage the students to think about the usefulness of their research, in conjunction with their knowledge transfer and/or implementation plan with income revenue. Upon pitch presentation of their project, the students will submit a 2-page report for final project description. Students will have a workshop on the “Guidelines for preparation of assignment”, will benefit from group discussion slots and a pitch presentation of their idea, followed by brief discussion prior to project writing.