Neural Injury & Plasticity

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Project Summary/Abstract This is an application for the competitive renewal of an Institutional Training Grant in Neural Injury and Plasticity (NIP). We request support for 4 advanced predoctoral students who will be trained in research on neural injury and plasticity by faculty participating in the Center for Neural Injury and Recovery (CNIR) at Georgetown University. The purpose of this training program is to prepare scientists to investigate fundamental mechanisms of neural injury, by trauma or neurodegenerative processes and to understand basic mechanisms of neural plasticity that may be functionally beneficial to the repair processes after neural injury. Our goal is to train researchers who will be capable of and committed to a deeper understanding of responses to neural injury and plasticity. An experienced and well-funded group of 20 faculty members with a range of research interests and expertise in neural injury and plasticity will participate in this training program. Most students will enter graduate school through the Georgetown University Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN). In the first two years they will take course work and rotate through the laboratories of potential mentors. Those interested in the NIP Program will take one or more specifically relevant courses and begin to participate in the NIP Journal Club. In the second year, students will formally apply to the NIP Training Program with the outline of a thesis research proposal approved by a potential mentor or co-mentors from the NIP Training Faculty. As NIP Trainees they will participate in NIP Specific Training which includes: Experimental Design & Statistical Methodology Workshops (4x’s year); FAIR data Workshops (data curation & unbiased analyses; 4x’s year); monthly meetings focused on in-depth discussions of neurodisorders/aspects specific to neural injury and plasticity (trainee’s paired with faculty experts); weekly NIP Journal Club and extended discussions on rigor, integrative reasoning and statistical literacy training; professional development training (i.e., elevator pitches, grant writing and presentation skills, effective communication skills, IDPs, career opportunities). Trainees will report results from their research in yearly student seminars, presentations at national meetings, and as publications in peer-reviewed journals. With respect to public health, this program will create a cadre of neuroscientists trained for research and/or management of research programs, through which new and more effective treatments for acute and degenerative disorders of the nervous system can develop.