Training in Fundamental Neuroscience

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This proposal is for the renewal of a graduate training program at Vanderbilt University that is structured to support the early phases of neuroscience predoctoral education and training. In support of the overall NIH mission, the overarching objective of the program is to provide an exceptional training environment for the next generation of neuroscientists, and is built on the foundation of a strong training faculty with exceptional records of scholarship, research support and graduate mentoring. The heart of this mission is expressed in the academic and research goals of the program, which are to provide our students with a strong didactic foundation in the neurosciences through our core curriculum offerings, and to provide them with the opportunity to carry out state-of- the-art neuroscience research in the laboratories of a group of highly successful and committed mentors. In addition, the program has strong emphases on professional development, diversity, quantitative literacy and rigorous science, with the objective of building the requisite skills needed for success in graduate school and beyond, and of training an inclusive cadre of future independent investigators in neuroscience research. The Neuroscience Graduate Program at Vanderbilt is an interdisciplinary program that encompasses 5 different colleges and schools and 18 departments. Students can enter the program either directly or via three umbrella “feeder” programs (IGP/MSTP/CPB). Traditional and emerging areas of research strength in the program include: addiction, attention, brain evolution, cell signaling, cognitive neuroscience, circadian rhythms and sleep, CNS drug development, development, developmental disabilities, molecular genetics, neurodegeneration and neurotoxicity, neuroimaging, plasticity, psychiatric illness, sensory and multisensory systems, synaptic transmission, and vision. The program is currently home to 86 trainees and 76 training faculty. The proposal requests an increase in support from 8 to 10 slots and provides the rationale and justification for this request.