On February 8, the Universidad Europea hosted the 4th edition of the Neuroscience Conference aimed at students from the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences. The event, organized by professors from the Department of Basic Biomedical Sciences Antonio Sobrado and Beatriz Gal, featured a keynote speech by Dr. Alberto Lleó, a neurologist from the Hospital Santa Cruz and San Pablo, and Director of the Memory Unit at this hospital in Barcelona.
The students closely followed Dr. Lleó’s conference on his personal experience, his trajectory as a student and resident, and his demand for the need to associate basic research with clinical practice. According to Dr. Lleó, “it is essential that a specialist doctor examine and study their patients through research projects”. By fostering these translational research projects “we could identify the mechanisms that fail and cause diseases, generating more specific treatments and a better healthcare system", he stressed.
After the conference, the students took part in a total of twelve theoretical-practical workshops on studying different aspects of neurosciences with different technical approaches. These workshops were coordinated by the Basic Biomedical Sciences department and guest scientists from other institutions such as Cajal Institute (CSIC) and the CINAC Integrated Neuroscience Center, Hospital de Madrid. This afforded students the chance to delve into a dynamic that is far from a master class, where they could experiment and develop skills and competencies in a much more direct way.
Another new development at this edition was a meeting between students and professionals to discuss genetic manipulation together with two internists, both specialized in Bioethics, Benjamín Herreros and Daniel López-Wolf, and prestigious philosopher Javier Sádaba. “The wealth of this type of activities has generated a positive impact among students. This is the goal, in addition to demanding the need for integrated teaching with basic and applied sciences, and the importance of experimenting with different methodologies than the classics for teaching”, stressed the organizers of the initiative.