A core curriculum in the neurosciences, which will be open to all students of the teaching program, is offered in the Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN) and the Rhine-Main-neuroscience network (rmn2). The teaching program is comprised of lectures, seminars, and lab courses that are offered by faculty members of different Institutions both in Mainz and in Frankfurt. The program covers a broad range of approaches used to study molecular, cellular, developmental, structural, functional, evolutionary, computational, and medical aspects of the nervous system. The program also includes seminars from external speakers, master classes offered by external speakers visiting Mainz and Frankfurt, weekend meetings with faculty members, retreats, internal symposia and international symposia.
The FTN/rmn2 teaching program offers 30 CPs for MD/PhD and PhD students at participating universities. Students will receive credit points for participation in all courses including soft skill training courses. The program is highly flexible and customized to each student’s need. The student defines which training courses and which soft skill courses he/she attends so that an individual teaching program can be created. The advisor of the student provides help upon request. Student colloquia supervised by the project leaders will serve to introduce and discuss individual research projects and to foster the interaction within the peer group. These are complemented by invited state-of-the-art research colloquia in the field of molecular and cellular adaptation. International scientists that represent very different aspects of this field will give lectures, and in addition conduct scientific discussions with the graduate students. Students will be assigned responsibilities as hosts, both for the symposium itself and for the accompaniment of the guest during his/her stay.
Lectures/Seminars: 10 CPs
A core curriculum of lectures and seminars is offered in 7 different topics in the neurosciences. Students have to collect 10 CPs from the following 7 teaching items (1 CP minimum from each section 1-7). One course/lecture of 45 min equals 0.1 CP.
- CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
- DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY
- PLASTICITY
- SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE
- COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
- COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSICENCE
- NEUROBIOLOGY OF DISEASE
Lecture-series in Mainz and Frankfurt during the semester are offered by:
- FTN SeminarSeries Mainz
- Ernst Strüngmann Lectures in Frankfurt
- Neuroscience Lectures Series at MPIH Campus Riedberg-Frankfurt
- Pharmazentrum Frankfurt
Interesting events of other partner institutions can you find at:
- Forschungszentrum Immunologie Mainz
- TRON Seminars in Translational Oncology
- Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH)
You can download your attendance certificate flyer in order to confirm your attendance to the seminars here. Please print it double sided and fold it. Carry it with you when you attend a seminar.
Lab courses and workshops: 10 CP
Participation in 2 lab courses minimum is required. Lab courses offer 2-5 CPs, depending on duration. You will find the current list of lab courses and Workshops here.
Soft skill course: 5 CP
A comprehensive soft skills training program is available to the students that covers aspects such as grant writing skills, management training, ethics, and good scientific practice. You will find the current list of soft skill courses at GRADE and the General Post-Graduate Program at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Workshops, students colloquia or other courses (also from outside): 5 CP
Students are free to collect CPs from further teaching offers (also from outside the FTN/rmn2) by their own choice. Courses offered by NENS, NWG and comparable networks are accepted. You can also find more course offers from the University Medical Center at the Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz here. Please ask the FTN teaching coordination office for crediting of outside teaching courses.
Environment of the FTN/rmn2 training program
The program is embedded in activities of the Universities of Mainz (FTN) and Frankfurt (ICNF) and the MPIs, which based on mutual contracts, are collaborating also in the field of teaching. Students will have thus free access to all facilities at both locations (including libraries etc.), and can also participate in teaching offers by IMPRS, Graduiertenkolleg 1044 "Entwicklungsabhängige und krankheitsinduzierte Modifikationen im Nervensystem", and the IMB Mainz. Students of the rmn2 teaching program will be given opportunities to interact closely with the (Non-)University environment: MPI for Brain Research, MPI of Biophysics, and FIAS.
Academic graduations
The graduation for a MD-PhD/PhD "Translational Biomedicine" (jointly granted by the faculties of Medicine, Chemistry, Biology and Social Sciences, Media, and Sports) of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz is open for faculty and students from all FTN/rmn2 institutions.
Further academic graduations to be achieved within the FTN/rmn2:
- "Doktor rerum naturalium" (Dr. rer. nat.)
- "Doktor philosophiae naturalium" (Dr. phil. nat.)