Training Program in Vision Science

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a new application for an NEI training grant from 31 vision scientists (21 preceptors and 10 associate preceptors) across 11 departments at the University of California, Davis. The goal of the training program is to produce vision scientists who will be capable of establishing independent research programs that will address significant problems in vision science. It will operate under the auspices of existing graduate programs at UC Davis as they offer the broad flexibility needed to achieve our training objectives. The training program requests support for 4 predoctoral and 3 postdoctoral trainees to be selected by an Advisory Committee. Predoctoral trainees will typically receive two years of support from the training grant, while postdoctoral trainees will typically be supported for one year. Internal support mechanisms and extramural grants will be used for the other years of training (~5 years for Ph.D. training and ~3 years for postdoctoral training). The trainees will participate in one or more of the five areas in which UC Davis has groups with vision science expertise: (i) molecular biology and genetics, (ii) anatomy and physiology, (iii) retinal imaging, (iv) central mechanism neurophysiology and behavior, and (v) functional imaging, computational modeling and psychophysics. Each of the 21 preceptors has an active program of vision science research, a strong commitment to training and sufficient extramural funding to support predoctoral and/or postdoctoral trainees. The training program draws on the rigorous research training of the admitting graduate programs, but also includes survey courses that cover the broader vision sciences and clinical vision science. Graduate trainees will be supported only after their first year of graduate school and will thus be a highly selective group that has completed much of their basic science curriculum. Predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees will participate in an active colloquium series in the vision sciences, journal clubs and a course on the ethical conduct of research. All trainees will be engaged in vision science research that will be presented at national meetings and submitted to peer- reviewed journals. Postdoctoral training will have a strong emphasis on achieving independent research funding.