PIRE: Neural Mechanisms of Reward and Decision

神经科学领域的一个主要目标是了解大脑如何评估其周围环境并实施行动计划。 增加我们对决策的了解，最终可能会导致以更有效和适应性更强的方式解决问题的改进策略。 这些知识也应该提供深入了解某些行为和发展障碍，其中决策是妥协。这个PIRE项目汇集了美国和国际教师和学生的财团在四个跨学科的子项目，是统一的目标，增加我们的大脑机制介导的奖励和决策过程的理解。 每个子项目都将与来自波多黎各大学（UPR）和/或俄克拉荷马州州立大学的研究人员和学生以及来自加拿大、智利、埃及、意大利和/或土耳其的国际研究人员团队合作。奖励和决策的神经机制项目将促进研究和教育的进步，如果没有国际合作，就不可能发生。PIRE研讨会和交流将培养跨学科合作，并确定研究多巴胺在广泛的系统发育和机制水平的奖励和决策中的作用的团体之间的共同目标。 其中一个子计划将利用转录组学和电生理学技术研究寄生虫感染对神经调节系统的影响，该系统调节蜗牛-寄生虫系统中的宿主行为。第二个子项目将研究青春期的隔离压力如何不同地影响雄性和雌性大鼠的多巴胺回路以及由此产生的学习、记忆和行为。第三个子项目将研究多巴胺对不同蜜蜂亚种觅食行为可塑性的作用。第四个子项目将研究重复暴露于兴奋剂对多巴胺神经元活动的生物物理后果。PIRE项目将继续努力整合四个子项目，以实现对奖励和决策过程神经机制的广泛理解。奖励和决策神经机制项目的学生参与者将在国际合作伙伴的实验室以及美国实验室进行研究;他们将接受辅导，以发展他们的批判性思维能力，提高他们的沟通技巧和专业精神。 所有导师都拥有丰富的国际协作与合作经验，这些经验将被分享和传播，以使整个计划受益。 该计划还响应国家需要增加科学劳动力的多样性。 波多黎各的大学历史上一直担任谁在岛上和其他地方的机构攻读研究生学位的优秀学生的丰富来源。该计划将提高我们为学生提供国际研究经验的能力，以促进他们的全球参与。 神经科学领域扩大全球参与的一个巨大受益者将是该领域本身。

A major goal in the field of neuroscience is to understand how the brain evaluates its surroundings and implements a plan of action. Increasing our knowledge about decision-making could ultimately lead to improved strategies for solving problems in a more effective and adaptive fashion. This knowledge should also provide deep insight into certain behavioral and developmental disorders in which decision-making is compromised.This PIRE project brings together of a consortium of U.S. and international faculty and students on four interdisciplinary subprojects that are unified by the goal of increasing our understanding of brain mechanisms mediating reward and decision processes. Each subproject will partner investigators and students from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and/or Oklahoma State University with a team of international researchers from Canada, Chile, Egypt, Italy, and/or Turkey. The Neural Mechanisms of Reward and Decision project will catalyze advances in research and education that could not occur without international collaboration. PIRE workshops and exchanges will cultivate interdisciplinary cooperation and identify common objectives among groups that investigate the role of dopamine in reward and decisions across a broad spectrum of phylogenetic and mechanistic levels. One subproject will study the impact of parasitic infection on neuromodulatory systems that regulate host behavior in a snail-schistosome system using transcriptomics and electrophysiological techniques. A second subproject will examine how isolation stress during adolescence differentially affects male and female dopamine circuitry and resultant learning, memory and behavior in rats. A third subproject will study the role of dopamine on plasticity of foraging behavior in different honeybee subspecies. The fourth subproject will examine the biophysical consequences of repeated exposure to stimulants on the activity of dopamine neurons. The PIRE project will make continuous efforts to integrate across the four subprojects to achieve a broad understanding of neural mechanisms of reward and decision processes.Student participants in the Neural Mechanisms of Reward and Decision project will conduct research in the labs of international partners as well as in U.S. labs; they will receive mentoring to develop their critical thinking proficiency and enhance their communication skills and professionalism. All mentors possess considerable experience with international collaboration and cooperation which will be shared and disseminated for the benefit of the entire program. This program also responds to the national need to increase diversity in the scientific workforce. The University of Puerto Rico has historically served as a rich source of talented students who pursue graduate degrees in institutions on the island and elsewhere. This program will enhance our ability to provide students with international research experiences that promote their global engagement. A great beneficiary of broadened global participation in the field of neuroscience will be the field itself.