About NGP

The USC Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP) is the largest and only university-wide PhD program at USC. A NIH-designated T32 Neuroscience Training Program, NGP students and faculty come from a variety of academic backgrounds to study questions spanning the spectrum of modern neuroscience research.

Key questions include:

  • How do molecules work together in time and space to build functioning nerve cells?
  • How do individual neurons and their interconnections lead to the emergent properties of neural circuits?
  • How do the information processing functions of neural circuits lead to complex behaviors, memories, emotions, and thought?
  • How do disturbances in development, aging and nervous system injury lead to mental and neurological disorders, and how can we develop better therapies?

Departing from the traditional focus on individual disciplines, USC Neuroscience is characterized by collaborative interactions between faculty and students who have undergraduate or graduate degrees in biology, engineering, mathematics, computer science, psychology, neuroscience, molecular biology, behavior, cell biology, genetics and other disciplines.  They work at many different levels of analysis, including research on cell-molecular neurobiology, systems-level analysis of normal and disrupted neural circuits due to disease, neural engineering, and cognitive and computational neuroscience. In addition to our NIH Neuroscience T32 training, grant, the diversity in research is matched by our faculty also having training positions on Hearing and Communication and Stem Cell and Developmental Biology NIH T32 Training Grants. This reflects the national recognition of the excellence of the research programs of our training faculty, who seek to work with the best and brightest students in their laboratories.”

When combined with a varied curriculum, a focus on professional development, grant writing, and science communication, weekly seminars, an annual graduate student symposium, and an extremely active neuroscience graduate student forum, the USC Neuroscience Graduate Program provides a highly supportive, research-intensive training experience designed to prepare students for a variety of successful careers.