Decentralize Brazilian scientific production, creating a world-class neuroscience research center in a region with one of the lowest human development indices in the country, outside the center-south axis. Make science an agent of transformation of the social and educational reality in the Brazilian Northeast. Offer plenty of opportunities in the knowledge economy to young people interested in pursuing careers associated with science and technology. These ideals guided the creation of the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neurosciences (IIN-ELS).
Since 2006, the Institute has developed teaching, research and extension activities in Macaíba-RN, with the aim of training and qualifying professionals in research in Neurosciences It is neuroengineering. The IIN-ELS acts in the final stage of the process established in the mission of the ISD, which is to promote education for life. After the ISD offered humanized health care to pregnant women and their children in the CEPS and strengthened the critical thinking of adolescents in science education workshops in the CECs, it was time for the IIN-ELS to qualify professionals in one of the most dynamic areas of current science , neuroscience.
For this, in 2013 the first Master's Degree in Neuroengineering from Brazil, recommended by CAPES (33280010001P2). The disciplines offered by the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience graduate program focus on two main thematic lines: brain-machine interface It is neuromodulation. In all, the master's course has already received 37 students, from all regions of Brazil. The admission of new master's students occurs twice a year, through public calls published on the internet.
Neuroengineering, a key research topic at the IIN-ELS, is an interdisciplinary research area that integrates neuroscience and engineering methods to study the functioning of the nervous system and develop solutions for deficiencies and disorders associated with this system. This is done through experimental, computational, theoretical, clinical and applied research at molecular, cellular and systemic levels. The knowledge generated in these studies enables the development of technologies and applications ranging from neuroprostheses to the improvement of neuromodulation techniques with therapeutic potential. The works have behavioral, electrophysiological, histological and immunohistochemical approaches, combined with quantitative analysis methods.
