The Graduate Program in Neurology was created in 1978 by Professor José Geraldo Camargo Lima, who also acted as the coordinator of the Program until 1989.  During this period, resident doctors in Neurology/Neurosurgery attended Graduate Programs in Neurology to obtain master's degrees in Neurology and doctorate degrees in Medicine. At that time, the Program had two research centers, for Clinical Neurology and Experimental Neurology.

        In 1983, with the support of Professor Esper Abrão Cavalheiro, the Program began to change and started accepting graduates from other medical areas and non-neurologists, in addition to supervisors who were more oriented to basic research. From 1991 to 2000, Professor Esper Abrão Cavalheiro coordinated the Graduate Program in Neurology/ Neuroscience and was very successful in integrating basic and clinical research, becoming one of the pioneers in the creation of a multidisciplinary Graduate Program within UNIFESP.

        Currently, the Program accepts graduates from different areas who are interested in neuroscience research, with emphasis on neurological diseases. The program’s supervisors work in clinical research or applied basic research, which includes the study of mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology and therapeutic approaches of several neurological diseases. The infrastructure the program provides to its students includes clinical sectors for patient care, additional tests related to neurological research and research laboratories. The research laboratories offer resources and the infrastructure for translational studies using the techniques of molecular biology, cell culture, histopathology, electrophysiology, in addition to using several experimental models.

        The Program aims to train high-quality human and research resources, enabling the simultaneous development of Science and Technology in Brazil and resulting in higher quality research and treatment of patients.

        In five consecutive CAPES evaluations (2001-2003; 2004-2006; 2007-2009; 2010-2012; 2013-2016) our Program received a 6, a score granted only to those with international excellence, a testament to the quality of our program.

Sleep disorders in Machado-Joseph disease

José Luiz Pedroso, Pedro Braga-Neto, Alberto M. R. Martinez, Carlos R. Martins Junior, Flávio M. Rezende Filho, Manoel A. Sobreira-Neto, Lucila B. F. Prado, Gilmar F. Prado, Marcondes C. França Junior, Orlando G. P. Barsottini

Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2016 Nov;29(6): 402-8.

MUNIX: Reproducibility and clinical correlations in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Marcio Luiz Escorcio-Bezerra, Agessandro Abrahao, Isac de Castro, Marco Antonio Troccoli Chieia, Lyamara Apostolico de Azevedo, Denise Spinola Pinheiro, Nadia Iandoli de Oliveira Braga, Acary Souza Bulle de Oliveira, Gilberto Mastrocola Manzano

Clin Neurophysiol. 2016 Sep;127(9): 2979-84.

Screening of GNAL variants in Brazilian patients with isolated dystonia reveals a novel mutation with partial loss of function

Camila Oliveira dos Santos, Ikuo Masuho, Francisco Pereira da Silva-Júnior, Egberto Reis Barbosa, Sonia Maria Cesar Azevedo Silva, Vanderci Borges, Henrique Ballalai Ferraz, Maria Sheila Guimarães Rocha, João Carlos Papaterra Limongi, Kirill A. Martemyanov, Patricia de Carvalho Aguiar

J Neurol.. 2016 Apr;263(4): 665-8.

Polysomnography Findings in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 6

Adriana Dourado Rueda, José Luiz Pedroso, Eveli Truksinas, Gilmar Fernandes do Prado, Fernando Morgadinho dos Santos Coelho, Orlando Graziani Povoas Barsottini

J Sleep Res.. 2016 Dec;25(6): 720-723.

Maternal exercise during pregnancy increases BDNF levels and cell numbers in the hippocampal formation but not in the cerebral cortex of adult rat offspring

Sérgio Gomes da Silva, Alexandre Aparecido de Almeida, Jansen Fernandes, Glauber Menezes Lopim, Francisco Romero Cabral, Débora Amado Scerni, Ana Virgínia de Oliveira-Pinto, Roberto Lent, Ricardo Mario Arida

PLoS One. 2016 Jan 15;11(1):e0147200.

Integrated analysis of the involvement of nitric oxide synthesis in mitochondrial proliferation, mitochondrial deficiency and apoptosis in skeletal muscle fibres

Gabriela Silva Rodrigues, Rosely Oliveira Godinho, Beatriz Hitomi Kiyomoto, Juliana Gamba, Acary Souza Bulle Oliveira, Beny Schmidt, and  Célia Harumi Tengan

Sci Rep. 2016; 6: 20780. 

Expression of praxis induction on cortical excitability in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Marcos Vidal-Dourado, Karlo Faria Nunes, Mirian Salvadori Bittar Guaranha, Lydia Maria Pereira Giuliano, Elza Márcia Targas Yacubian, Gilberto Mastrocola Manzano.

Clin Neurophysiol. 2016 Jul;127(7):2551-60.

A single bout of resistance exercise improves memory consolidation and increases the expression of synaptic proteins in the hippocampus.

Jansen Fernandes, Juliana Carlota Kramer Soares, Luiz Guilherme Zaccaro do Amaral Baliego, Ricardo Mario Arida

Hippocampus. 2016 Aug;26(8):1096-103.