Course Development in the Neurobiology of Disease

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is for planning support to establish a new neurobiology of disease course and track of graduate study at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). BCM has a long history of excellence in neuroscience research - both basic and clinical. This program represents a new effort to develop an integrated course and training track in graduate education that draws on the strengths of faculty from 10 basic and clinical departments, providing a formal course that includes a detailed first principles approach to the study of the underlying cellular and molecular processes of diseases that affect the nervous system throughout the lifespan. The collaborative effort approaches the study of the nervous system from the perspective of rigorous scientific analysis of the pathobiology of disorders from the realms of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and the special senses (Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology). The program will draw students from existing graduate programs in Neuroscience (currently supported by an NIH NIGMS Dr. Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA T32 training grant that is funded until 2009), the M.D./Ph.D. program and the newly formed Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine graduate training program at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as providing access to the neurobiology of diseases course to other interested students from graduate programs in molecular and cellular biology, developmental biology and genetics. The course will include team lectures from basic and clinical neuroscientists as well as exposure to clinical cases through rounds and visits to neuroscience clinical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. In addition, the course will serve as a standard component of the existing Neuroscience graduate curriculum for all neuroscience students as well as providing a focal point for students who plan to focus their research training primarily in neurobiology of disease. This initiative is being developed at a particularly auspicious time at BCM, in conjunction with the launching of a major strategic plan that includes translational neuroscience, the hiring of a new Chair of Neuroscience, the appointment of the College's first Director for coordinating Neuroscience Initiatives between basic and clinical departments and expanded graduate training initiatives in translational biology.