Training Program in Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology

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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.