Interdisciplinary Predoctoral Neuroscience Training Program in the Neuroscience Graduate Program.

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PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Our Interdisciplinary Predoctoral Neuroscience Training Program strives to provide individualized, high quality training to predoctoral students interested in pursuing scientific careers in the biological and biomedical sciences. This training grant will support 8 students in their first two years of graduate studies, before they start their dissertation research. Graduate students in our program receive broad, multi-disciplinary training that spans many levels of inquiry, from genes through cognition, and emphasizes concepts, methodologies, experimental design, quantitative skills and program, and sophisticated analysis of the primary literature. Our core curriculum consists of graduate only courses, seminars, and workshops that provide a strong scientific foundation in neuroscience and develop skills that are essential for successful, independent research careers in neuroscience, such as effective science writing and oral presentation, knowledge of scientific review processes, and training in ethics. New initiatives include a revised advising system, more structured program evaluation, and greatly expanded quantitative training. We foster an environment unconstrained by traditional discipline boundaries, where graduate students are encouraged to work at the interfaces of these disciplines. The training program includes 39 core participating faculty and ~60 predoctoral trainees. The faculty trainers are drawn from eight different Brown University departments: Neuroscience; Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences; Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry; Engineering; Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology; Biostatistics; Neurology; and Neurosurgery. They are a distinguished and energetic group of brain scientists that collectively cover the spectrum of modern neuroscience research: they work with a wide variety of model organisms, from worms to humans, and use an array of modern neuroscience techniques, including functional MRI, applications of robotics and neuroprosthetics, optogenetics, advanced in vivo and in vitro electrophysiological recordings, mouse transgenics, behavioral studies, molecular manipulations of neuronal genes, functional proteomics, and human genome-wide association studies. We encourage and facilitate collaborations between labs as well as research in computational and translational neuroscience that typically reside at the interface of disciplines. Key features of the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Brown include: Excellence in research along with excellence in education and mentorship; a focused effort on addressing shortcomings related to diversity and equity across our program, including recruitment and retention of students as well as broad representation of trainer backgrounds; a history of interdisciplinary and translational research; rigorous training in experimental design and quantitative methods, and an environment of highly productive labs where graduate students are equal partners in the research process.