At the end of the 1980s, a group of professors from various departments of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Psychology, whose field of research was Neuroscience, applied for and obtained a PhD program in Neuroscience from the University of Granada, the seed of what would become the current Institute of Neurosciences.
Previously, in 1955, the Institute of Anatomical Studies “Federico Olóriz Aguilera" was established at the Faculty of Medicine of Granada, linked to the Chair of Anatomy of the same Faculty, in memory of this distinguished anatomist (O. M. of December 30, 1955). This institute was promoted by professors Miguel Guirao Gea, Professor of Anatomy at Granada, and Miguel Guirao Pérez, Professor of Anatomy at Valladolid. After a period of significant activity at this institute (see attached document), it follows a decline that practically led to its extinction.
In the early 1990s, the director of the Institute of Anatomical Studies, Professor Miguel Guirao Pérez, in order to prevent the Institute's demise, offered the possibility of incorporating the professors of the PhD Program in Neurosciences into the aforementioned Institute. By mutual agreement, the professors of the PhD program in Neurosciences joined, and the Institute was renamed as University Institute of Neuroscience Research “Federico Olóriz”. From that moment on, the previous Institute ceased to be an Institute of Anatomical Studies and became an Institute of research in Neuroscience. The continuity of both stages of the Institute, makes the University Institute of Neuroscience Research “Federico Olóriz” the oldest among the research institutes of the University of Granada and the second oldest among the institutes in Spain.
The new Institute of Neurosciences inherited from the old one a room and two offices allocated to it in the Department of Anatomy of the Faculty of Medicine. At that time, the Faculty of Medicine was located at 11 Avenida de Madrid, in the building that today occupies the V Centenario Building. This space, provided by the Department of Anatomy, housed the secretariat, the management office, and the meeting room. Research was conducted in the laboratories that each member of the Institute of Neurosciences had in their respective departments and faculties. This situation continued until 2007, when the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Granada moved to the Biomedical Research Center, newly built in the Granada Health Technology Park. In this center, the Institute of Neurosciences has various laboratories and meeting, secretarial, and management spaces. For the first time in its history, the Institute of Neurosciences had its own laboratories where its researchers could work and collaborate more closely. Thus fulfilling a long-cherished wish of the members of the Institute of Neurosciences.
In order to share the research results of the Institute of Neurosciences with the scientific community and society, since 2006 the Institute has organized biannual scientific conferences called the Institute of Neurosciences Conference, in collaboration with the Granada Science Park. These conferences take place during the World Brain Week activities.
The positions at the Institute of Neurosciences have been:
Directors: José María Peinado Herreros, Miguel Guirao Piñeyro, José Manuel Baeyens Cabrera, Francisco Vives Montero, Milagros Gallo Torre, Blanca Gutiérrez Martínez and the current José Manuel Rodríguez Ferrer.
Deputy directors: Milagros Gallo Torre, Blanca Gutiérrez Martínez, José Manuel Rodríguez Ferrer, Raquel Durán Ogalla and the current Margarita Rivera Sánchez.
Secretaries: Miguel Guirao Piñeyro, Francisco Javier Cañizares García, José Manuel Baeyens Cabrera, Francisco Vives Montero, Milagros Gallo Torre, Eduardo Fernández Segura, Francisco Jesús Arrébola Vargas and the current Fernando Gámiz Ruiz.