PREDOCTORAL TRAINING PROGRAM IN THE NEUROSCIENCES

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted From The Abstract Provided By Applicant): Disorders of nervous system function, caused by genetic abnormalities, trauma, disease, or aging, have an enormous impact on public health and quality of life. Additionally, with the enormous projected increase in the number of Americans surviving to old age, the cognitive disorders of Alzheimer's Disease will become a major public health burden in the next few decades. Finally, recent advances in human genetics, powerful new imaging techniques, and the emergence of "functional genomics" combine to make this a time for particularly rapid progress in neuroscience. The proposed training program will provide 2 pre-doctoral fellows in each of the first 2 years of study with the broad background and in-depth research training they need to make major contributions to neuroscience research in the coming decades. There is a compelling need for the proposed Training Program, due to the clear mismatch between 1) the strength in neuroscience research within the University of Miami and the strength and size of our applicant pool, and 2) the availability of funds to take advantage of this strength to train outstanding young researchers. The Program Director, Dr. J. Bixby, is an expert in the area of axon growth and synapse formation, and also an experienced program administrator and graduate student mentor. The Program Faculty, who are drawn from both basic science and clinical departments, are an outstanding, well-funded group of scientists and teachers whose research interests comprise a cross-section of modern neuroscience research topics, and who are proven leaders in graduate education. There is already an excellent pool of trainee candidates available; the numbers of these highly-qualified applicants are increasing. The overall aim of the program is to guide the trainees through the process of acquiring the research skills and the intellectual rigor needed to become independent neuroscientists. The Program achieves these goals through coursework, seminars and journal clubs, a research-based qualifying exam, and other program activities. The Program administration has adopted stringent criteria for the evaluation of trainees, faculty, and the Program itself. In summary, major strengths of the proposed Training Program include: 1) the research productivity, research funding, training experience, and proven administrative capability of the Program Faculty in general and the Program Director in particular, 2) the strong credentials of the current neuroscience students and the strength of the applicant pool, and 3) the opportunity to take advantage of and build upon the existing Neuroscience Program to offer a first-class training program in neuroscience.