THE MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BASIS OF BRAIN AGING

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The goal of this Training Program is to prepare promising graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for successful careers in the neurobiology of aging. We will provide broad-based training in modern concepts in the neurobiology of aging with specific emphasis on changing cellular and molecular interactions that occur in the aging brain. The unifying focus of the training faculty is our interest in understanding the mechanisms by which the nervous system responds to changes that occur with age under normal and pathological conditions. This Training Program provides the formal framework for faculty in different departments, who share a common interest in the molecular and cellular basis of brain aging, to provide in depth training in aging. The emphasis of the Training Faculty complement each other: some focus on processes that occur in the brain during normal aging, others emphasize the neuropathological diseases that predominate in the aging brain, and still others use in vivo and in vitro systems to model the aging brain. Thus, trainees will learn from faculty who utilize a broad spectrum of state-of-the-art methodological approaches to probe critical questions in aging research. During the previous granting period, our record of recruiting promising pre- and post-doctoral fellows, providing state-of- the-art training, and placing them in excellent positions is outstanding. Our success attests to our ability to identify, attract, train and place promising young investigators in the area of aging is clear due to our changing demography and the increasing average lifespan. Normal aging or pathology of the nervous system account for a large percent of deaths in the elderly. Only if we better understand the basic mechanisms that regulate the aging of the brain and apply this to the treatment of the elderly, can we hope to improve the quality of life during the latter half of the lifespan. Our ability to attract and train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to meet the challenges in the area of neurobiology of aging will be greatly enhanced by this Training Program.