With the aim of bringing the importance of basic neuroscience research to the general public, the Institute of Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) will hold the Brain Awareness Week from 10th to 14th March. Among the various activities, the program includes exhibitions, informative mini-talks, educational workshops, and a panel discussion on the figure of Cajal as a bridge between science and art.

The IN has organized open days which will take place throughout the week at the Francisco Javier Balmis building, located on the Sant Joan d’Alacant campus of the UMH. More than 1,500 students from 44 schools in the Valencian Community will visit the campus to learn first-hand about the research on the brain and central nervous system being carried out at the IN through the numerous stands that make up the exhibition. Access for the general public is free and will take place from Tuesday to Thursday from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.

Throughout the week, IN research and technical staff will run several educational workshops: ‘Animal models in research’, ‘Sensory illusions’, ‘Electrophysiology of the human body’, ‘Genetics and Molecular Biology’, ‘Histology and new techniques for the study of neural circuits’, ‘Human neuroanatomy’, ‘Virtual Reality applied to Human Anatomy’ and ‘Women and Neuroscience’. In addition, every morning, several researchers will give informative mini-talks on different topics related to neuroscience, such as brain rest, drugs and addictions, memory formation, neuron function, and the sense of touch or pain, among other subjects.

This edition of Brain Awareness Week will also feature three exhibitions that can be visited in parallel with the other activities. The first is the artistic exhibition ‘IN Scientific Photography’, which is composed of high-resolution prints representing the different lines of research carried out at the Institute. The #HicieronHistoria exhibition of the UMH’s BEATRICS project can also be visited, consisting of a series of totems, available in Spanish, Valencian, and English, on the scientific and technical milestones of various women from different fields and historical periods. And finally, the ‘Human Brain Photo Expo’, a photographic exhibition from the Department of Histology and Anatomy of the UMH dedicated to the human central nervous system.

Also, for another year, the ‘Brain and Society’ cycle will be held, which is supported by the Remedios Caro Almela Chair of Neurobiology. This cycle includes the panel discussion ‘The art of understanding the brain: Cajal and the Neurosciences’, which will take place next Monday, 10th March, at 6:30 pm, at the Club Información in Alicante.

The panel discussion will feature Rosario Moratalla Villalba, director of the Cajal Institute CSIC (Madrid) and curator of the exhibition ‘Cajal, Science and Art’; Luis Puelles López, emeritus professor of Neuroanatomy at the University of Murcia; and Nicolás Cuenca Navarro, professor of Cell Biology at the University of Alicante. The event will be moderated by IN researchers Ariadna Díaz Tahoces, from the Ocular Neurobiology laboratory, and Teresa Guillamón Vivancos, from the Development, Plasticity and Reprogramming of Sensory Circuits laboratory. Admission is free until full capacity is reached.

Following the panel discussion, the exhibition ‘Cajal, Science and Art’ will be inaugurated, a display dedicated to the drawings of the Spanish Nobel laureate Santiago Ramón y Cajal. The exhibition presents facsimiles of the originals preserved in the Cajal Legacy of the Cajal Institute in Madrid, including illustrations by the celebrated scientist, as well as the medal and diploma of his 1906 Nobel Prize in Medicine. This initiative seeks to recognize his outstanding scientific and artistic career, as well as to disseminate the values that made him a global role model. The exhibition is part of the celebration of the Cajal Year, which will conclude in May 2025.

‘Attendees will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the fascinating world of the brain through a very comprehensive program for audiences of all ages, which is made possible by the involvement of the more than 160 volunteers who work to make this event a success year after year,’ says the director of the IN UMH-CSIC, Juana Gallar. She adds that the aim of Brain Awareness Week is ‘to inspire new generations to follow the path of research and to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in this vitally important field’.

Brain Awareness Week is organized in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), the Remedios Caro Almela Chair of Neurobiology, the Dana Foundation, Leica Microsystems, the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) and the European University of Brain and Technology (NeurotechEU).

More information: https://semanadelcerebroin.umh.es/