GENIE Summer School

The GENIE Summer School offers an intensive, 4-day academic experience for advanced undergraduate students in Biology, Medicine, Psychology and related fields, who are interested in the role of sex differences in glia-neuron interactions in the context of central nervous system health and disease.

The school combines scientific lectures, methodological sessions, and hands-on workshops in small-group settings. A total of 20 students will be selected to participate. Sessions will be held in English. The school is organized by Prof. Barbara Di Benedetto (University Hospital Regensburg) and Prof. Julia Schulze-Hentrich (University of Saarland).

Despite increasing awareness of sex-based variability in neuroscience, females remain underrepresented in clinical and preclinical research, and many disease models overlook biological sex as a factor. This Summer School addresses this gap by providing participants with scientific knowledge and methodological training in an interdisciplinary environment, bridging neuroscience, medicine, and gender-sensitive research approaches together.

Participants will be able to gain insight into the impact of sex differences on brain development, function, and disease progression, with a focus on glial cell biology. They will learn how to integrate sex-specific data into research design and clinical application and explore the implications of sex-related differences in drug efficacy, safety, and therapeutic outcomes. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to develop familiarity with state-of-the-art techniques such as imaging and sequencing, as well as explore cognitive, behavioural, and molecular approaches to sex differences.

For more information and for the registration click here.