neuroscience phd programs switzerland

Lemanic Neuroscience Doctoral School (LNDS)

PHD PROGRAM IN NEUROSCIENCE OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF GENEVA AND LAUSANNE

The Lemanic Neuroscience Doctoral School (LNDS) organizes student training both in theoretical and experimental aspects of neuroscience. Research projects take place in affiliated laboratories in Geneva and Lausanne. Depending on the location and affilliation of the host lab, candidates are enrolled in one our our five partner faculties:

• University of Geneva (UNIGE): Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPSE)
• University of Lausanne (UNIL): Faculty of Biology and Medicine (FBM) and Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (SSP)

Around 190 PhD candidates are currently enrolled in the program (as of September 2022), and receive training via comprehensive coursework within the LN Program and by attending seminars , journal clubs and workshops . Doctoral candidates are encouraged, and also sponsored, to present their research at national and international neuroscience conferences . Facilitating interactions between PhD candidates and senior researchers help our doctoral students to build a network for future collaboration and employment. Our graduates have successful careers in a variety of areas including academia, teaching, research foundations, industry and scientific editing.

The LNDS is strongly embedded in the NeuroLéman Network aiming to link junior and senior neuroscientists and clinicians from the Lemanic (Lake Geneva) region within and across universities and research areas.

The annual retreat of the NeuroLéman Network and Doctoral Schools (NLN) aims for in-person encounters of PIs, postdocs and PhD candidates from all neuroscience labs of UNIGE, UNIL and EPFL, as well as UNIFR (as our close partner university).

Please write to [email protected] for receiving information about course offers and training events .

LNDS social channels

• Education / Graduate studies in Neurosciences

Graduate studies in Neurosciences

• Neuronal circuits and behaviour
• Mechanisms of neuronal development
• Plasticity and learning
• Mechanisms of brain disease

       PhD Flyer download

More information about the PhD curricula, the attractive PhD programs and the admission procedures is found below.

PhD PROGRAMS:

Your choice: There are three institutes/departments in Basel offering PhD programs which lead to a PhD in Neurobiology:

Please consult the institute websites for details.

We require: Admission to a PhD program requires a Masters (MSc) degree. If you have a MSc degree or equivalent in Biology, Psychology or Medicine, additional information can be found below. If you do not yet have an MSc degree, feel free to contact representatives of the institutes you are interested in for additional information.

YOU HAVE A MASTER IN NATURAL SCIENCES (PHIL II):

You want to go for a PhD IN NEUROBIOLOGY provided by the FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES:

• The first step is to find a supervisor for your PhD. You may directly contact principal investigators (PI) list with contact information and descriptions of research areas of potential mentors . If you are interested in a PhD at the Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI), you may apply directly to the FMI’s PhD program ( http://www.fmi.ch/Training/PhD/ ) without prior contact to a PI.  
• Your supervisor will help you with the admission procedures at the University of Basel. Links: please consult the admisssion information here

YOU HAVE A MASTER IN PSYCHOLOGY PhD IN PSYCHOLOGY provided by the FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY

• The first step is looking for a mentor for your PhD, depending on your field of interest: Qualified applicants must apply directly to a mentor(s) (professor) of interest. Please consult the list with contact information and descriptions of research areas of potential mentors .  
• You will find further information here : Link zur Promotionsordnung (PDF)

YOU HAVE A MASTER IN MEDICINE and want to go for a DR. SC. MED OR MD-PhD

There are several ways to proceed: Either you aim to obtain the title of Dr. sc. med. (see 1.) or a MD-PhD (see 2.)

1. You wish to obtain a Dr. sc. med. (scientiarum medicarum) title. This title is acknowledged by the Faculty of Medicine. Please consult the following pages: Dr. sc. med. (scientiarum medicarum) at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Basel

2. You have a master in medicine and wish to go for a MD-PhD at the Faculty of Science .

As student enrolled in this PhD program are subject to the prevailing PhD regulations of the Faculty of Science https://medizin.unibas.ch/lehre/doctoral-degrees/md-phd/md-phd-at-the-facult-of-science.html

A further possibility is to apply at the Friedrich Miescher Institute. Please consult this page: https://www.fmi.ch/training/md-phd/

You have a master in medicine and want to get a MD-PhD at the Faculty of Medicine please consult the following pages:

Link für MD-PhD at the Faculty of Medicine https://biomedizin.unibas.ch/en/education-careers/md-phd/ and https://medizin.unibas.ch/lehre/doctoral-degrees/md-phd/md-phd-at-the-faculty-of-medicine.html?L=0Bert%27%22 and MD-PhD in Switzerland

Please follow the steps as indicated on the above mentioned websites. Please note: The coordination office does not post and mediate free PhD or MD-PhD positions.

If some questions remain unanswered, please contact us:  [email protected]

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Phd Degree in Neuroscience, Switzerland

Explore the best universities for Phd degree in Neuroscience in Switzerland, based on their reputation and research in the field.

Degree Level

• Certificate
• Please select a discipline first!

18 Best universities for Neuroscience in Switzerland

Updated: February 29, 2024

• Art & Design
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Environmental Science
• Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
• Mathematics

Below is a list of best universities in Switzerland ranked based on their research performance in Neuroscience. A graph of 3.48M citations received by 92.7K academic papers made by 18 universities in Switzerland was used to calculate publications' ratings, which then were adjusted for release dates and added to final scores.

We don't distinguish between undergraduate and graduate programs nor do we adjust for current majors offered. You can find information about granted degrees on a university page but always double-check with the university website.

1. University of Zurich

For Neuroscience

2. Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne

3. University of Geneva

4. University of Bern

5. University of Lausanne

6. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

7. University of Basel

8. University of Fribourg

9. University of St. Gallen

10. University of Neuchatel

11. University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Italian Switzerland

12. University of Lucerne

13. University of Italian-speaking Switzerland

14. University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland

15. Bern University of Applied Sciences

16. University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland

17. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

18. Lucerne University of Applied Sciences

The best cities to study Neuroscience in Switzerland based on the number of universities and their ranks are Zurich , Lausanne , Geneva , and Bern .

Biology subfields in Switzerland

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Institute for Neuroscience

Main content, welcome to the institute for neuroscience.

The Institute for Neuroscience (INS) focusses on important aspects of nervous system development, function and plasticity, and their perturbations in neuropsychiatric disorders.

The burden of neuropsychiatric disorders is substantial and constantly increasing, with an estimated 180 million people in Europe alone suffering from these diseases. In Western society, neuropsychiatric disorders are the leading cause of disability, responsible for 30-40% of chronic sick leave and costing some 3% of GDP. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop new strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders, ideally in a highly personalized fashion.

Groups within INS aim to achieve a better understanding of nervous system function and dysfunction by performing fundamental research at the cellular, circuit and behavioural level in diverse model systems. Research priorities are the elucidation of molecular mechanisms – epigenetic, RNA-based and chromatin-associated – that regulate neural development and plasticity, the analysis of complex neural circuits that are involved in the control of behaviour, as well as the establishment of translational approaches to provide links between animal and human neuroscience. These goals are tackled by a highly multidisciplinary approach including collaborations with both academia and industry at the national and international level. The INS is further highly committed to educate Bachelor, Master and PhD students in a truly interdisciplinary setting in order to prepare them for a career in academia, industry or clinics.

Together, we have the mission that our efforts in both research and education meet the societal needs for the prevention, care and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.  

New Collaborative Grant from the Chan-Zuckerberg-Initiative

Together with Prof. Tatjana Kleele (ETHZ, D-BIOL), Gerhard Schratt received 200,000 USD to study the regulation of mitochondria, the power houses of our cells, by microRNAs in human neurons and the potential relevance for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimers. After the 18-month pilot phase, selected projects will be eligible for a four year follow-up funding (1.6 Mio USD total).

New SNF-SPARK Grant

SNF-SPARK grant (97’000 CHF) awarded for Jochen Winterer, Oberassistent in the Schratt lab, to investigate the role of experience-regulated miRNAs in parvalbumin positive interneurons. Results are expected to shed light onto mechanisms by which parvalbumin positive interneurons modulate the dynamics of neuronal assemblies.

Future of non-coding RNA research

Gerhard Schratt presents his views on the future of non-coding RNA research with respect to human brain evolution in the latest issue of “Laborjournal".

New Director of Studies

Johannes Bohacek has been appointed as Director of Studies for the bachelor and master of “Health Sciences and Technology”

New Associate Professor of Molecular and Behavioral

The ETH Board has appointed Johannes Bohacek as Associate Professor of Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at the ETH Zurich.

New Preprint from the lab on BioRxiv

In our study entitled "Analysis of behavioral flow resolves latent phenotypes" we propose a radical change to the analysis of rodent behavior in preclinical research. We provide a complete pipeline that builds on deep-learning based tracking of animal movement and enables high-powered group comparisons, behavioral fingerprinting of individual mice, and holistic comparisons of different experiments in high-dimensional space.

Review about non-coding RNA

Michael Soutschek and Gerhard Schratt published a comprehensive review article about non-coding RNA in the wiring and remodeling of neural circuits in NEURON.

New SNF SPIRIT Grant

SNF-SPIRIT Grant Awarded for a joint project between the Schratt lab and researchers in Argentina to investigate the role of circularRNAs in neurodevelopment

New Publication

Our study “The vascular gene Apold1 is dispensable for normal development but controls angiogenesis under pathological conditions” has been published in the journal Angiogenesis . A great collaboration with the team of Katrien de Bock from our department, where we uncover the crucial role of a newly identified gene (Apold1) that responds very strongly to stress and controls pathological angiogenesis.

In this study "Noradrenaline release from the locus coeruleus shapes stress-induced hippocampal gene expression" we combine circuit neuroscience tools like optogenetics with transcriptomic analyses to identify a set of stress-induced genes that are activated by noradrenaline in the mouse brain.

University of Geneva Faculty of Medecine Department of Basic Neurosciences

The Department of Basic Neurosciences is at the heart of the neuroscience community in Geneva, with a core team of 16 research groups covering two campuses (CMU and Campus Biotech). We are exploring brain function, from molecules to neurons and circuits, using cellular and animal models as well as human subjects, with the long-term aim of understanding the neural bases of human behavior in health and disease.

Research groups

Prof. Camilla Bellone

Prof. Alan Carleton

Prof. Sami El-Boustani

Prof. Nathalie Ginovart

Prof. Anne-Lise Giraud

Prof. Alexis Hervais-Adelman

Prof. Anthony Holtmaat

Prof. Daniel Huber

Prof. Denis Jabaudon

Prof. Christian Lüscher

Prof. Pierre Mégevand

Prof. Christoph Michel

Prof. Alexandre Pouget

Prof. Ilaria Sani

Prof. Sophie Schwartz

Prof. Patrik Vuilleumier

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Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience

Advocating and advising at hawkeye caucus 2024.

Ben Kreitlow is a sixth-year MD/PhD student in the Medical Scientist Training Program, earning his PhD in neuroscience. One point of interest for Kreitlow is communicating the scientific intricacies of his research to policymakers who might not be familiar with the medical field.

Kreitlow was able to speak with several representatives, including two alumni of the UI Carver College of Medicine. “Getting to talk to representatives with a medical background as well as representatives who are less familiar with the science was very rewarding,” Kreitlow remarks.

Watch the video of Ben below or read the whole article here