Interdiscplinary Predoctoral Program in Neuroscience

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted From The Abstract Provided By Applicant): The Interdisciplinary Program in Neurosciences (IPN) at Georgetown University is a broad-based, trans-disciplinary, non-departmental graduate program leading to a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. The program, established in 1994, aims to train students in the scholarly pursuit of research in integrative neuroscience, from the level of the cell to that of the intact behaving organism. The 32 core training faculty and 9 supporting faculty are drawn from 13 clinical and basic science departments on the Main Campus and Medical Center. They span a breadth of inquiry, ranging from neurotransmitter receptors and signal transduction, to behavior and human cognition. Areas of research strengths include 1) neural injury, cell death, and plasticity in the CNS; 2) regulation of neurotrophic factors and their receptors; 3) synaptic modulation by liquid-gated and voltage-gated channels, 4) brain-behavior regulation of endocrine, immune and autonomic function; and 5) telencephalic neural networks subserving sensory processing, memory and language. The Training Grant funds will support the first 2 years of predoctoral training (4/year); thereafter support comes from the thesis laboratory or individual fellowships. Aggressive recruitment of trainees from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups is a top priority of the Georgetown IPN. The training environment is ideal for collaborative, pandisciplinary research efforts of both faculty and trainees. Over 40% of the training faculty have their laboratories in close proximity in the New Research Building (opened in 1994), with state-of-the-art core facilities and custom designed laboratory and office space. Most faculty have previous and ongoing collaborations; students are encouraged to seek co-mentorship between faculty with overlapping interests and complementary approaches. All training faculty have research grant support and fully equipped facilities for training pre- and post-doctoral students. The Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and Computational Sciences, located in the New Research Building, has expanded the resources available to the neuroscience training program, in terms of equipment, facilities and faculty expertise. Other noteworthy facilities include the Research Resources Facility, a fully accredited, centralized animal facility housing a wide variety of mammalian animal species, and the Medical Center Library, one of the most advanced in the nation. The training program includes broad-based didactic coursework, as well as rotations in laboratories of the training faculty. The trainees participate in a seminar series, national professional meetings, journal clubs, intensive laboratory research, and training in several essential professional skills (writing and reviewing manuscripts, grantmanship, mentorship, teaching, conflict resolution, career choices, oral presentations) and their ethical dimensions. Opportunities for gaining practical teaching experience at the undergraduate and secondary school levels are abundant and encouraged.