Why this programme?

Drug Development and Neurohealth

This specialisation provides you with a theoretical background and practical experience in pharmaceutical drug research & development, biomarkers and personalised healthcare. You will have interactions with industry and regulatory agencies. The overarching theme is the pipeline of drug research & development from design of the molecule to its applications in healthcare settings.

Programme outline

The programme covers the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified (drug discovery). You will gain a thorough understanding of:

pre-clinical research (in-vitro/in-vivo)
clinical trials (in volunteers and patients)
obtaining marketing authorisation
molecular, biological, neuroanatomical, electrophysiological, and behavioural techniques
biomarker development into diagnostics
clinical trial methodology
pharmacovigilance

Internships

From November of the second year, you will devote your time to the preparation and execution of your research internship and master’s thesis. You will conduct your own research project (very often as part of a larger ongoing study), including the writing of a proposal, acquiring and analysing the data. The work is reported in a master’s thesis, written in the style of a scientific journal article. Given the strong multidisciplinary research infrastructure here in Maastricht as well as extensive international networks, you will have ample opportunities for internships related to any aspect of Drug Development & Neurohealth, either locally or at other top universities throughout the world. We will help you find a topic and location that best fit your own interests and career goals.

During the programme, you will be part of a multidisciplinary team of neuroscientists including biological psychologists, pharmacists, molecular- and neurobiologists, neuroanatomists, pharmacologists and psychiatrists. These professionals participate in world-wide international networks of research in relevant fields at academia and industry. This offers excellent opportunities for internships at small, medium and large biotechnology- / clinical research companies, pharmaceutical- and nutrition industries as well as governmental organisations in food and drug regulation. You will find some internship examples below.

Request a brochure

"I have chosen the master's programme Drug Development and Neurohealth and I'll never regret this choice. This specialisation moves through different biology and psychology topics, enlarging your knowledge in both fields. The study gives you a lot of freedom to search for, and/or enlarge your own field of interest. Going through the whole pipeline from drug discovery to clinical phases will give you the knowledge you need to start a scientific career in drug research. Furthermore, this specialisation in Maastricht is the only study programme of its kind in Europe, ensuring that you will study in a group of enthousiastic international students."

Marion Wijering (The Netherlands) student in Drug Development and Neurohealth

Research environment

The main research topics focus on clinical and pharmacological brain targets and biomarkers associated with affective-, neurodevelopmental-, neurodegenerative- and neurovascular disorders. Core courses are organised along these mechanisms/disorders including practical trainings to acquire necessary laboratory skills. Specific workshops like 'Genes and Proteins', 'Drug Metabolism', 'Psychopharmacology' and 'Pharmaco-epidemiology', provide additional technical knowledge.

All research is organised within 5 research groups: Psychopharmacology, Toxicogenomics, Clinical Pharmacy & Toxicology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience.

Teaching staff

Mark Govers

Associate Professor, Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology, FPN. Course: Drug Discovery, Publications

Arjan Blokland

Neuroscience, Drug Discovery, Animal Models, Immunohistochemistry, Physiology, Cell Culture, EEG,Psychopharmacology, Neuropharmacology, Translational Research

Assistant Professor, Toxicogenomics, FHML, Course: Drug metabolism and safety, Publications

Jacco Briedé

Toxicogenomics, molecular toxicology, carcinogenicity, chemoprevention, in vitro models, drug safety, antioxidants, free radicals

Assistant professor, Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology, FPN, Course: Biomedical Brain Imaging, Publications

Dr. Lisbeth Evers

Functional magnetic resonance imaging, executive functions, cognitive flexibility, reward, dopamine, serotonin

Assistant Professor Toxicoinformatics, Toxicogenomics, FHML, Course: Big Data in Drug Discovery and Development - Skills training: Computer Supported Training in Big Data in Drug Discovery and Development, Publications

Danyel Jennen

Bioinformatics, Systems Toxicology, Data integration and visualisation

Arie van der Lugt

Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Neuropsychology, FHML, Workshop: Behavioural Tests and Models - Skill: Neuroanatomy, Publications

Jos Prickaerts

psychopharmacology, behavioural neuroscience, neurodegeneration, learning and memory, phosphodiesterases, plasticity

Professor, Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology, FPN, Courses: Neuropsychopharmacology (Coordinator), Applied Therapeutics, Publications

Jan Ramaekers

Clinical and Experimental Psychopharmacology, Addiction, Drugs of abuse, impulse control, Human drug trials, Human performance, behavioral toxicology, Drugs and driving, Traffic psychology

Professor, Pharmacology & Personalised Medicine, FHML, Courses: Drug Discovery, Publications

Harald Schmidt

Target identification and validation, small molecules and biologicals, drug development up to phase III, market entry, licencing

Associate Professor, specialisation coordinator. Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology, FPN, Workshop: Project Management in Drug Discovery and Development, Publications

Rudy Schreiber

Behavioral Pharmacology, CNS Drug Discovery, Serotonin, Translational Medicine

Associate Professor / Hospital Pharmacist, Clinical Pharmacy & Toxicology, MUMC, Course: Pharmacoepidemiology, Drug Safety & Pharmaceutical Policy - Applied Therapeutics, Publications

Frank de Vries

Pharmaco-epidemiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Hospital Pharmacy, Phase IV, Health Outcomes, Real Life Studies, Methods

Post-doctoral researcher, Clinical Pharmacy & Toxicology, MUMC, Course: Pharmacoepidemiology, Drug Safety & Pharmaceutical Policy, Publications

Andrea Burden

Observational Research Methodology, Health Services Research, Epidemiology, Medication Adherence, Osteoporosis, Pharmacoepidemiology, Outcomes Research, Stage IV

Assistant Professor, Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology, FPN, Course: Introduction to Psychology, Publications

Eef Theunissen

Psychopharmacology, behavioral and cognitive performance, drugs and driving, cannabis

Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Neuropsychology, FHML. Core course: Psychiatric Neuroscience (Coordinator), Publications

Daniel van den Hove

Behavioral neuroscience, neuroepigenetics, molecular psychiatry, developmental programming, gene x environment (GxE) interactions, stress, anxiety disorders, depression and Alzheimer’s disease

Hospital Pharmacist, Clinical Pharmacologist. Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, MUMC. Core course: Applied Therapeutics, Publications

Paddy Janssen

Research, Clinical Pharmacology, Psychopharmacology, Pharmacogenetics, TDM, Toxicology

Assistant Professor, Psychiatry & Neuropsychology, FHML. Core course: Introduction to Molecular and Biochemical Techniques (coordinator) - Workshop Genetics (coordinator), Publications

Gunter Kenis

Psychoneuroimmunology, Psychiatric genetics, Behavioral genetics, Gene–environment interactions, Molecular neurobiology, Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration

Assistant Professor, Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology, FPN. Core course: Electrophysiology: from single cell activity to cognitive markers. Publications

Anke Sambeth

Neurobiology of learning & memory, executive functions, psychophysiology, psychopharmacology, dopamine, acetylcholine antagonists, cholinesterase inhibitors, translational research

Examples of internship topics

The majority of DN-students conduct their research internships in an international setting. Topics range from preclinical drug research, human drug research to pharmacoepidemiological research including a broad range of research methods. See below for a shortlist of concrete examples of internship topics and institutes of current and previous internships under supervision of our staff.

Object of research: (a) Animal (c) Cellular (h) Human

Topic	Institute
(a) Detection and regulation of circadian rhythms in Autism / Neurodevelopmental models	Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland
(a) Automated detection of repetitive behaviour (RB), in animals with pharmacological manipulations, simple lesions, as well as spontaneous or available genetic displaying behaviours	Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland
(a) Perform research regarding neural circuits that underlie behavior	Pfizer, Boston, USA
(a) The use of electrophysiology and fiber optics to research neural circuits underlying behaviour, how multiple circuits interact with each other to drive behaviour and how drugs modulate neural circuitry	Pfizer, Boston, USA
(c) Express and test nicotine degrading enzyme variants to improve the properties, increased activity, better stability, and reduced immunogenicity, to be used in smoking cessation	Antidote Therapeutics, Washington, USA
(a) Study of visceral nociceptors	Grünenthal, Aachen, Germany
(a) Early life microbiota intervention on c-section induced deficits in behaviour and psychology	University College Cork, Ireland APC Microbiome Institute
(h) Investigating the potential of prebiotics to modulate the gut microbiota and improve stress and cognitive performance in healthy adults	University College Cork, Ireland APC Microbiome Institute
(a) Drug repositioning of small molecular compound anti-rheumatic drugs for multiple sclerosis (MS) using animal models (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, EAE)	Kyushu University, Dept. Neurology. Fukuoka, Japan
(h) Antidepressant efficacy of a medication combination (monoaminergic reuptake inhibitors)	University of Ottawa, Canada
(c) Micro-RNAs in spinal cord injury	Maastricht University, Dept. of Molecular Cardiology
(h) Neuroinflammation as target to modulate human cognition	Maastricht University, Dept. of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology
(h) Effects of biperiden on novelty processing and memory	Maastricht University, Dept. of Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology