Understanding the brain is one of the great scientific challenges. How does the nervous system allow us to sense, move, learn, decide, remember, and think? How are the underlying neural circuits built by genetic and molecular programs? How do neurons communicate via synapses to transmit and store information? What goes wrong in neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and schizophrenia, and in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease? And how can we model neurons, circuits and systems to better understand the brain? Graduate students in our PhD program in neuroscience are addressing these questions at labs located across NYU, using cutting-edge tools drawn from genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, electrophysiology, microscopy, computer science, data science, and mathematics.

Our program is a fully integrated joint venture of the two departments of neuroscience at NYU which are located just a few city blocks apart: the Center for Neural Science (CNS) at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Neuroscience at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. CNS, located at NYU’s Washington Square campus, is home to about 30 core neuroscience labs, has affiliate labs in biology, psychology, physics and data science, and is NYU’s portal for undergraduate neuroscience education. The Department of Neuroscience is located at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine and also houses about 30 core neuroscience labs, as well as affiliates from about 15 clinical neuroscience departments and the New York State Nathan Kline Institute. Together, CNS and the Department of Neuroscience serve as the joint pillars for all graduate training in neuroscience at NYU, with research spanning genetic, molecular, cellular, developmental, systems, behavioral, and computational levels. Prospective graduate students apply through a single online portal and applications are reviewed by a single joint admissions committee, with faculty from CNS and the Department of Neuroscience. Upon admission, students are enrolled in a single jointly administered program and are free to take classes and perform research at any lab in the closely-linked two departments.

Contact Us

For more information, contact Michael Hawken, PhD at mjh2@nyu.edu, Niels Ringstad, PhD, at Niels.Ringstad@NYULangone.org, or Holly Wasserman, Department of Neuroscience, at Holly.Wasserman@NYULangone.org

For general information about graduate programs at Vilcek Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, please email Vilcek-Info@NYULangone.org.