Training Program in Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology

描述(由申请人提供)：本申请是为了续订加州大学洛杉矶分校的分子和细胞神经生物学(MCN)培训计划，该计划于1995年首次授予。当前应用程序更新了MCN计划。首先，以前的项目仅限于博士后实习生，而本申请包括博士后培训部分。其次，该计划的整体智力重点已经缩小。这种重点的缩小是为了利用培训教师的科学优势，也是加州大学洛杉矶分校神经科学界在过去十年中显著扩张和成熟的需要。加州大学洛杉矶分校的培训现在将重点放在一个特别强大的领域--广义上的神经可塑性的细胞和分子机制。MCN计划的总体目标保持不变：培养一批神经科学研究人员，他们将为大脑和中枢神经系统疾病开发下一代疗法和预防措施。为此，这项建议包括一个新的课程，在该课程中，所有受训人员，包括博士后和博士后，都被介绍给临床行为障碍。 这门课程的目的是使受训者能够概念化他们的研究与现代精神病学和神经学的潜在相关性，从而鼓励我们的受训者从事转化性生物医学研究；这种研究将促进大脑和行为障碍的新疗法的开发。MCN方案非常成功，其学员的整体素质很高。此外，在过去的十年里，随着聘用了主要研究分子和细胞神经生物学领域的新教员，培训环境得到了极大的丰富。MCN计划促进了跨部门和学科界限的教员合作的发展。我们预计，通过增加博士后实习生参加该计划，这种合作将在未来五年内加速。 培训计划将加强对精神分裂症、双相情感障碍、焦虑、自闭症和阿尔茨海默病等疾病的细胞和分子基础的了解。预计这些知识，加上学员的临床培训，将导致对这些疾病的更有效的治疗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is for renewal of the UCLA Training Program in Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology (MCN), first awarded in 1995. The current application updates the MCN Program. First, whereas the previous program was confined to predoctoral trainees, the present application includes a postdoctoral training component. Second, the overall intellectual focus of the program has been narrowed. This narrowing of focus is designed to take advantage of the scientific strengths of the training faculty, and is also necessitated by the significant expansion and maturation of UCLA's neuroscience community during the previous decade. Training will now focus on an area of particular strength at UCLA-the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neural plasticity, broadly conceived. The overall goals of the MCN Program remain as they were originally: to train a cadre of neuroscience researchers who will develop the next generation of therapies and prophylaxes for diseases of the brain and central nervous system. Toward this end, this proposal includes a new course in which all trainees, both pre- and postdoctoral, are introduced to clinical disorders of behavior. This course is designed to enable trainees to conceptualize the potential relevance of their research to modern psychiatry and neurology, and thereby encourage our trainees to engage in translational biomedical research; such research will facilitate the development of new treatments for brain and behavioral disorders. The MCN Program has been remarkably successful, as indicated by the high overall quality of its trainees. Furthermore, the training environment has become greatly enriched in the last decade with the hiring of new faculty members whose primary research is in areas of molecular and cellular neurobiology. The MCN Program has facilitated the development of faculty collaborations across departmental and disciplinary boundaries. We anticipate that such collaborations, enhanced by the additional of postdoctoral trainees to the Program, will accelerate during the next five years. The Training Program will enhance understanding of the cellular and molecular bases of such diseases as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, autism and Alzheimer's disease. It is expected that this knowledge, together with the clinical training of the trainees, will lead to more effective treatments for these disorders.