History and Introduction of the Center

The Neuroscience Research Center of Kerman University of Medical Sciences was established on September 15, 1994 with the overall aim of expanding basic and clinical research in various fields of neuroscience. The research priorities of the Center include cognitive sciences, addiction, neurodegenerative diseases of the brain and nervous system, and the evaluation of synthetic and herbal drugs affecting the nervous system.

The Center received its initial approval on September 15, 1994  and its final approval on April 17, 1995 . Since 2001 (1380), the Center has had an independent budget allocation.

The founding members of the Research Center were Dr. Hossein Eskandari, Dr. Mohammad Taghi Yasemi, Dr. Hamid Najafipour, Dr. Gholamali Yaghmaei, Dr. Shahriar Dabiri, and Dr. Hamid Tabrizchi.

The current building of the Neuroscience Research Center was established at the former emergency department of Kerman Treatment Hospital with the support of the Management and Planning Organization, the then Deputy for Research and Technology, and the Office of the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Center currently has 9 full-time research faculty members and 22 part-time faculty members.

To date, the Neuroscience Research Center has approved 939 research projects, of which 631 have been completed. The Neuroscience Research Center of Kerman is not only one of the most active research units at Kerman University of Medical Sciences, but is also recognized as one of the pioneering neuroscience research centers in Iran among centers with similar fields of activity.

Following the establishment of the Neuroscience program in 2008 at three universities in Tehran, and subsequently at Kerman University of Medical Sciences, 51 neuroscience students have been admitted in 13 cohorts, of whom 31 have graduated to date. All educational and research activities, as well as financial support for the students’ research projects, are provided by the Center.

Vision

We are proud to provide educational and neuroscience training programs for young researchers, with a focus on neuroscience and related disciplines. We provide research funding and intensive career guidance throughout our designated training programs.

Our programs are designed to provide an outstanding opportunity for interdisciplinary neuroscience research. We believe that modern neuroscience is a field characterized by emerging discoveries and challenges that must be overcome.

The Neuroscience Research Center is one of the neuroscience hubs located in central Iran and provides an ideal environment for networking with both national and international institutions. We promote interdisciplinary collaborations and strive to create an ideal working environment for innovators. By working and collaborating beyond geographical and disciplinary boundaries, we seek to share our ideas and scientific achievements with researchers around the world.

Mission and Objectives

1. To develop and apply human knowledge in the field of science.
2. To conduct sound epidemiological and clinical research aimed at improving the quality of the healthcare system and responding to the needs of society.
3. To collect, organize, and classify relevant documents and scientific articles.
4. To train researchers in the field of neuroscience.
5. To encourage and support researchers.
6. To promote the involvement and collaboration of relevant research centers and executive organizations throughout the country.
7. To establish scientific collaborations with educational and research institutions in other countries and with international organizations in accordance with the regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Among the Center’s other activities was its support for and contribution to the establishment of the Cognitive Science Center and related national cognitive science initiatives, as well as the Deputy for Research and Technology, with the support and cooperation of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute of Japan in 2013 (1392).

In summary, the Center’s areas of research include cognitive neuroscience, sensory information processing, memory, learning, pain, substance abuse, and cell culture related to neurological and psychiatric disorders, using a variety of behavioral, molecular, electrophysiological, and immunohistochemical methods, as well as animal models of neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Laboratories

The Neuroscience Research Center is equipped with nine laboratories, as follows:

1. General Neuroscience Laboratory
2. Intracellular Recording (Patch-Clamp) Laboratory
3. Sensory Information Processing / Field Potential Processing Laboratory
4. Cell Culture Laboratory
5. Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory
6. Molecular Neuroscience Laboratory
7. EEG/ERP Laboratory
8. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Laboratory
9. Electrophysiology Laboratory – Field Potential Recording / Kindling