Innsbruck is an international center of calcium channel research with a world-wide unique
concentration of active scientists working in this field. Herewith the calcium channel scientists from
both Innsbruck universities the Medical University (MUI) and the University Innsbruck (UI)
propose implementing a joint PhD program, named CaVX Calcium Channels in Excitable Cells, in
order to fully utilize their collective expertise to educate and train next generation neuroscientists with
a strong focus on ion channel functions in nerve, muscle, and endocrine cells.
In these electrically excitable cells voltage-gated calcium channels control numerous important
functions like synaptic transmission and plasticity, muscle contraction, and hormone release.
Conversely, malfunction of these channels results in a variety of diseases including autism, anxiety
disorders, schizophrenia, Parkinson, diabetes, night blindness and special forms of muscle weakness
and many more. The scientists of the CaVX team study a broad spectrum of these calcium channel
functions and associated disorders using a combination of state-of-the-art techniques as well as genetic
cell and animal model systems. Therefore, PhD students in the CaVX program will be involved in
highly attractive research projects addressing important problems of current biomedical research, and
they will become proficient in a range of highly advanced methods including molecular genetics and
gene editing, cell and tissue cultures, whole-cell and single-channel electrophysiology and biophysics,
structural biology, and super-resolution microscopy. This focus on ion channel functions and diseases
and the competences in biophysical methodologies in the CaVX program will perfectly complement the
existing graduate program in Neuroscience. With this cutting-edge research training our graduates will
be well-prepared to succeed in todays competitive job markets in industry and academia.
The six research teams applying for the doc.funds PhD program and the three associate research
groups already maintain intensive local collaborations among each other and with the broader
neuroscience community, as well as numerous ties with leading scientists around the world. For
example they participate and coordinate excellence network programs in neuroscience and molecular
cell biology and they regularly organize one of the most prestigious scientific meetings in the calcium
channel field. Implementation of the CaVX PhD program within the existing Neuroscience PhD
program at the Medical University of Innsbruck will not only complement the local doctoral training,
but also enhance the international visibility of this European center of calcium channel research. Thus,
it will strongly enhance the attractiveness for students and faculty of Innsbruck as the center for
neuroscience research and training in western Austria.